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Mount Elbert

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Mount Elbert
Mount Elbert in July
Highest point
Elevation14,440 ft (4,400 m) NAVD 88[1]
Prominence9,073 ft (2,765 m)[2]
ListingUltra
Colorado fourteener
U.S. state high point
Geography
Mount Elbert is located in Colorado
Mount Elbert
Mount Elbert
Colorado
LocationLake County, Colorado, U.S.
RegionUS-CO
Parent rangeSawatch Range
Topo mapUSGS Mount Elbert
Climbing
First ascent1874 by H. W. Stuckle
Easiest routeHike (class 2)

Mount Elbert is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains of North America, at 14,440 feet (4,401 m), the second highest mountain in the contiguous United States (after Mount Whitney in California), the highest of the fourteeners in Colorado, the fourteenth-highest mountain in the United States, and the highest 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 near Twin Lakes.

The mountain was named after Colorado statesman Samuel Hitt Elbert, who was active in the formative period of the State and was territorial governor of Colorado in 1873. H.W. Stuckle of the Hayden Survey was the first to record an ascent of the peak in 1874. The mountain terrain has a varying level of difficulties (Categorised as Class 2 Level or A+ under mountaineering parlance) and permits any enthusiast fit enough to attempt to reach the peak. Mount Elbert is fondly referred to as the “gentle giant” that tops all others in the Rocky Mountains. The northeast ridge is reported as the gentlest and the most classic.[3]

Geography

Mount Elbert is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains, the highest of the fourteeners in Colorado,[4] and the high point of the Sawatch Range. It is located in Lake County, approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Leadville, visible as an often-snowcapped mountain to the south from the town.[5] Twin Lakes is close by, Denver is about 130 miles away on its east, 50 miles south of Vail is 59 miles away, and Aspen is at 40 miles distance. Leadville, about 16 miles northeast is the nearest large town.[6] It lies within the San Isabel National Forest. Nearby fourteeners include Mount Massive to the north and La Plata Peak to the south. Its parent peak is Mount Whitney in California.

Originally measured as 14,433 feet (4,399 m) high, the height of Mount Elbert was altered to 14,440 feet (4,400 m), a decision which sparked protests.[4]; this revison resulted consequent to reevaluation of mapped elevations and necessitated revision in levels of all peaks in the world.[6] Mount Elbert is the fourteenth highest mountain in the United States.[a] There was even an effort by a few local partisans to make the Mount Massive, its next door peak as the highest in Colorado by fixing stone cairns at the top of the peak. However, this effort was thwarted by some one or the other by removing them. Thus, Mount Elbert has remained the highest peak in Lake County.[6]

Climatic conditions are changeable, and afternoon thunderstorms are frequent; lightning, as well as hailstorms and snow, are possible even in the summer. An electrical storm on the mountain's summit was reported in the July 1894 issue of Science.[8]

Geological evolution

Panoramic view of Mount Elbert in June

Geological formations of the Rock mountains of which Mount Elbert is an integral part, are the creation of three primary forces namely, “plate tectonics, volcanic eruptions, and glacial polishing." At the lowest rung of the mountains, was the Precambrian formations (600 million years age) which are basically of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The next phase of geological disturbance was about 300 million years ago when sand stones got formed on account of collision of continental plates resulting in rise of mountains. In the next stage reported about 250 million years ago, erosion resulted in formation of saline lakes and swamps. In the period between 250 to 100 million years ago, as result of climatic changes, the forests got formed (probably when Dinosaurs inhabited the area) but this period did not last long due to high temperature rise. In the period between 100 to 65 million years ago, marshy lakes dominated the area and swamps almost disappeared, and Colorado was under water in an “inland salty sea”. There was the period between 60 to 38 million years ago when the mountains reappeared. The most definitive era of these mountains was about 37 million years ago, when the geological plates moved, volcanoes resulted and peaks emerged. In deep inland (far away from the sea, not a normal setting) in Colorado when the dinosaurs disappeared and mammals like bisons, camels and buffaloes emerged. About one million years ago the cooling effect started and the mountains and plateau of Colorado took shape with its geological complexity of faults and rifts. When ice age came about 16,000 years ago, glacier rivers created a salutary effect in the land formations of deep valleys and gorges, when mammals like bison could only survive; and hunting of mammals started in the 1800s with human habitation. This situation with glaciers exercising a dominant role exists to this day.[9]

History

Elbert Mountain is named after Samuel Hitt Elbert

Grateful miners named Mount Elbert after Samuel Hitt Elbert, the governor of the then Territory of Colorado, because he brokered a treaty with the Ute tribe, which opened up more than 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km2) of Indian reservation to mining and railroad activity. The peak was first climbed in 1874, by H. W. Stuckle, who was surveying the mountain as part of the Hayden Survey.[4]

A matter of some contention after the Great Depression was developed over the heights of Elbert and its neighbor, Mount Massive, which have a height difference of only 12 feet (3.7 m). This led to an ongoing dispute which came to a head with the Mount Massive supporters taking it upon themselves to build large piles of stones on the summit to boost its height, only to have the Mount Elbert proponents to ascent Massive themselves and demolish them.[10] The first motorized ascent of Elbert occurred in 1949, when a Jeep was driven to the summit, apparently to judge suitability for ski development.[10]

Flora and fauna

Platanthera hyperborea

The summit of Mount Elbert is a fragile alpine environment, with plants such as Phacelia sericea (sky-pilot), Hymenoxys grandiflora (Old-Man-of-the-Mountain), and Geum rossii (alpine avens).[4] Also noted are Var. Pullata, Salix desertorum, Platanthera hyperborea, Thalictrum fendleri, Aquilegia canadensis, Chenopodium album, Gentiana Detonsa, Var. Hallii, and Bigelovia Parryi;[11] Some of the fauna reported on the climb to the mountain peak are grizzly bears (brown bears),[12] marmots, mule deer, pikas, pocket gophers; there are also many species of avifauna. [13]

Ascents

The north-east ridge
The north-east ridge

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 popular route approaches from the north, the North (Main) Elbert Trail, which is 4.6 miles (7.4 km) long, and has a total ascent of around 4,500 feet (1,400 m), starting from close to the Elbert Creek Campground.[14] An easier, but longer route, the South Elbert Trail, is 5.5 miles (8.9 km) long, climbing 4,600 feet (1,400 m) at a less punishing gradient than the North Elbert Trail, approaching from the south and then climbing the eastern ridge.[14] The most difficult is the Black Cloud Trail, a Class 2 climb which takes ten to fourteen hours depending on the pace, gaining 5,300 feet (1,600 m) in elevation, and also involves an ascent of the sub-peak, South Elbert, at 14,134 feet (4,308 m).[15] There are also routes approaching from the western face, and southwestern ridge, from South Halfmoon Creek Trailhead and Echo Canyon Trailhead respectively.[15]

Although strenuous and requiring physical fitness, none of the conventional routes require specialist mountaineering skill or technical rock climbing. The main dangers of the mountain are those of conditions – altitude sickness can affect anyone, even those who are acclimatised, and in serious cases can lead to high altitude pulmonary edema and cerebral edema, which can lead to difficulty breathing, paralysis, and death. Climbers are recommended to set off at or before 6 a.m. in the morning. Though the most conventional form of ascension is by hiking, the orator Anna Elizabeth Dickinson ascended the mountain on a mule borrowed from the U.S. government.[16]

Spoof magazine Weekly World News used a geological survey at the bottom of Mount Elbert as the premise for a news story, reporting that wreckage of "teacup ships" with a weapon like a "butter knife" had been uncovered at the base of Mount Elbert.[17]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ One source erroneously reports Mount Elbert as the third highest in the United States.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Mount Elbert". NGS Data Sheet. National Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  2. ^ "Mount Elbert, Colorado". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  3. ^ Dziezynski 2012, p. 151.
  4. ^ a b c d Enright, Kelly (2009). America's Natural Places: Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. ABC-CLIO. p. 12. ISBN 9780313353154.
  5. ^ Cate Starmer (ed.). Colorado (9 ed.). Fodor's. p. 132. ISBN 9781400004157.
  6. ^ a b c "Mount Elbert". Summitpost Organization. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  7. ^ Pettem, Sylvia (1991). Colorado Mountains & Passes: Day Trips in the Rockies (2 ed.). American Traveler Press. p. 46. ISBN 9781558381179.
  8. ^ Vetter, Jeremy (2011). Knowing Global Environments: New Historical Perspectives on the Field Sciences. Rutgers University Press. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-0-8135-4875-3. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  9. ^ Dziezynski 2012, pp. 1–3.
  10. ^ a b Dziezynski, James. Best Summit Hikes in Colorado. Wilderness Press. p. 157.
  11. ^ Porter, Thomas Conrad; Coulter, John Merle (1874). Synopsis of the Flora of Colorado (Public domain ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 2, 4, 64, 83, 111, 116, 128, 132–. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  12. ^ Dziezynski 2012, p. 49.
  13. ^ Holmes, Don W. (1990). Highpoints of the United States. Cordillera Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-917895-33-3. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  14. ^ a b "Mount Elbert Trails (Fourteener)". US Dept. Agriculture. Retrieved 13/05/2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ a b Roach, Gerry. Colorado's Fourteeners (2 ed.). Fulcrum guides.
  16. ^ Gallman, J. Matthew (15 March 2006). America's Joan of Arc : The Life of Anna Elizabeth Dickinson: The Life of Anna Elizabeth Dickinson. Oxford University Press. pp. 129–. ISBN 978-0-19-803654-8.
  17. ^ Rovin, Michael. "Flying teacup". Weekly World News. p. 26.

Bibliography

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