Mount Elbert
— — the high point of the Rockies, gentle in summer.
Not only on a wall.
“The highest peak in Colorado and in the whole Rocky Mountain chain, set in the Sawatch Range west of Leadville. Mount Elbert reaches 14,440 feet, but the standard route is a long walking ascent rather than a climb. In late summer the upper slopes turn copper with alpine grasses, and the peaks of La Plata and Massive stand close by on the same ridge.
Mount Elbert, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Mount Elbert reaches 14,440 feet, making it the highest summit in Colorado and the highest peak in the entire Rocky Mountain chain. It stands in the Sawatch Range of central Colorado, within San Isabel National Forest, about twelve miles southwest of the town of Leadville. The peak takes its name from Samuel Hitt Elbert, an early territorial governor of Colorado. The neighbouring Mount Massive, second-highest in the state, sits across the valley, and La Plata Peak rises to the south along the same ridgeline.
At 14,440 feet the air at the summit holds roughly 60 percent of sea-level oxygen, and weather can shift in minutes. Afternoon thunderstorms build through July and August almost daily, which is why the standard guidance is to be off the ridge by noon. The treeline on the east face sits around 11,500 feet; above it the slope is tundra, talus, and wind. Clear summer mornings give some of the longest sightlines in the lower forty-eight, with the Collegiate Peaks stretching south along the Sawatch crest.
The standard summit window runs late June through September, after the snow has cleared from the upper slopes and before autumn weather closes the trail. The most common route, the Northeast Ridge from the Mount Elbert trailhead, runs about nine miles round trip with 4,500 feet of gain, a long walk rather than a technical climb. In winter the peak holds deep snow and is the province of ski-mountaineers. The town of Leadville, twelve miles east at 10,151 feet, is the usual staging base.