Sawatch Range Sawatch Range The Sawatch Range is a high and extensive mountain range in central Colorado which includes eight of the twenty highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains, including Mount Elbert, at elevation, the highest peak in the Rockies. The range is oriented along a northwest-southeast axis, extending approximately from in the north to in the south. The range contains 15 peaks topping , also known as 14ers. The range forms a portion of the Continental Divide, and its eastern flanks are drained by the headwaters of the Arkansas River. The western side of the range feeds the headwaters of the
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