Elbert mountain

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Elbert mountain

Mount Elbert is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains of North America, at 14,440 feet (4,401 m), the highest of the fourteeners in Colorado, and the high point of the Sawatch Range. It is located in Lake County, approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Leadville. It lies within the San Isabel National Forest. The mountain is largely quartzite.However, the summit ridge consists of metamorphic basement rock, which is Pre-Cambrian in origin and about 1.7 billion years old.
There are three main routes up the mountain, all of which gain over 4,100 feet (1,200 m) of elevation. The standard route ascends the peak from the east, starting from the Colorado Trail. The most challenging is to take the Black Cloud Trail, with which it takes 10 to 14 hours to reach the summit. Near Mount Elbert there are two other peaks with elevations over 4,000 meters to the north Mount Massive (4,396 m) and to the south the La Plata Peak (4,377 m).