Mount Elbert Mount Elbert Mount Elbert is the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the highest point in the U.S. state of Colorado and the entire Mississippi River drainage basin. The ultra-prominent fourteener is the highest peak in the Sawatch Range and the second-highest summit in the contiguous United States after Mount Whitney. Mount Elbert is located in San Isabel National Forest, southwest (bearing 223°) of the City of Leadville in Lake County, Colorado. The mountain was named in honor of a Colorado statesman, Samuel Hitt Elbert, who was active in the formative period of the state and
Mount Massive in 1873 during the Hayden Survey of the American West. Survey member Henry Gannett is credited with the first ascent. Its name comes from its elongated shape: it has five summits, all above , and a summit ridge over long, resulting in more area above than any other mountain in the 48 contiguous states, narrowly edging Mount Rainier in that category. Mount Elbert () is Mount Massive's nearest neighbor among the fourteeners; it lies about south-southeast of the peak. A matter of some contention after the Great Depression arose over the heights of Massive and its neighbor, Mount Elbert, which