Mount Massive

Mount Massive is the second-highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The prominent 14,428-foot fourteener of the Sawatch Range is located in the Mount Massive Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, 10.6 miles west-southwest of the City of Leadville in Lake County, Colorado, United States. Mount Massive edges out the third-highest summit of the Rockies, Mount Harvard, by 7 feet , but falls short of Mount Elbert by 12 feet . It ranks as the third-highest peak in the contiguous United States after Mount Whitney and Mount Elbert.
Mount Massive was first surveyed and climbed 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 14,000 ft , and a summit ridge over 3 mi long, resulting in more area above 14,000 ft 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 5 mi south-southeast of the peak.

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