Origin of 14er Names
MT. ELBERT 14,440 ft - highest peak in Colorado, named in honor of Samuel Elbert, sixth governor of the Territory of Colorado 1873-1874, Sawatch Range
MT. MASSIVE 14,421 ft - named for its massive size including five main points above 14,000 feet and a 3-mile summit crest, Sawatch Range
MT. HARVARD 14,421 ft - named in 1869 by members of the first Harvard Mining School class, while on expedition with professor Josiah Whitney, Collegiate Peaks, a subrange of the Sawatch Range
BLANCA PEAK 14,345 ft - Spanish for "white," as the mountain is capped with year-round snow, Sangre de Cristo Range
LA PLATA PEAK 14,336 ft - Spanish for "the silver." Named for the silver mining activity on and around the peak, Sawatch Range
UNCOMPAHGRE PEAK 14,321 ft - Named after the Ute word loosely translating to "red water spring," San Juan Mountains
CRESTONE PEAK 14,294 ft - Named derived from the Spanish word "creston," which means "top of a cockscomb," "crest of a helmet," or "outcropping of ore," Sangre de Cristo Range
MT. LINCOLN 14,293 ft - Named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, the president under whose administration Colorado had become a territory, Mosquito Range
CASTLE PEAK 14,279 ft - Name chosen for its purple color and austere ridges, lending to the appearance of a castle, Elk Mountains
GRAYS PEAK 14,278 ft - Named for botanist, Dr. Asa Gray, Front Range
MT. ANTERO 14,276 ft - Named in honor of Chief Antero, the head of the Uintah band of Utes, Sawatch Range
TORREYS PEAK 14,275 ft - Named for botanist, Dr. John Torrey, Front Range
QUANDARY PEAK 14,271 ft - A party of miners discovered some metal ore on the mountain and were unable to determine the character of it and said it was a "quandary," Tenmile Range
MT. EVANS 14,265 ft - Named in honor of Colorado's second territorial governor, John Evans, Front Range
LONGS PEAK 14,259 ft - Named for Major Stephen Harriman Long who led a government expedition for the exploration of Colorado, Front Range
MT. WILSON 14,246 ft - Named in honor of Allen David (A.D.) Wilson, chief topographer with the Hayden Survey, San Juan Mountains
MT. CAMERON* 14,238 ft - Named in honor of either Simon Cameron, a businessman and politician who served under President Lincoln or Major General Robert Cameron, Mosquito Range
MT. SHAVANO 14,231 ft - Named in honor of Ute Chief Shavano. His real name was Tarbiochaket, which he never went by. French fur traders gave him the name Chaveneaux, which was then shortened to Shavano, meaning "blue flowers," Sawatch Range
MT. PRINCETON 14,204 ft - Named for Princeton University, one of nine colonial colleges chartered before 1765, Collegiate Peaks, a subrange of the Sawatch Range
MT. BELFORD 14,203 ft - Named for Colorado justice, congressman, and attorney James Burns Belford, Sawatch Range
MT. YALE 14,200 ft - Named for Yale University, one of nine colonial colleges chartered before 1765, Collegiate Peaks, a subrange of the Sawatch Range
CRESTONE NEEDLE 14,197 ft - Named derived from the Spanish word "creston," which means "top of a cockscomb," "crest of a helmet," or "outcropping of ore," Sangre de Cristo Range
MT. BROSS 14,172 ft - Named in honor of Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, frequent visitor to Colorado and mountain climber, Mosquito Range
KIT CARSON PEAK 14,165 ft - Named in honor of Christopher Houston Carson aka Kit Carson, a wilderness guide, fur trapper, explorer, and US Army officer who became a frontier legend, Sangre de Cristo Range
MAROON PEAK 14,163 ft - Named for the deep red color of the sandstone, Elk Mountains
TABEGUACHE PEAK 14,162 ft - Named in honor of the band of Utes led by Chief Shavano in the area. The name means "People of the Sun," Sawatch Range
MT. OXFORD 14,160 ft - Named for the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world, located in Oxford, England, Collegiate Peaks, a subrange of the Sawatch Range
EL DIENTE PEAK 14,159 ft - Spanish for "the tooth," San Juan Mountains
MT. DEMOCRAT 14,155 ft - A group of miners were grumbling that a mountain had been named for a Republican (Lincoln) so O.J. Hollister suggested the name Democrat, Mosquito Range
MT. SNEFFELS 14,150 ft - Named after the Icelandic volcano, Snaefells, in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, San Juan Mountains
CAPITOL PEAK 14,130 ft - Chosen because of its resemblance to the dome of the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., Elk Mountains
PIKES PEAK 14,115 ft - Named in honor of the explorer, Zebulon Pike, Front Range
SNOWMASS MOUNTAIN 14,099 ft - Named for the large snowfield that lies on its eastern slope, Elk Mountains
MT. EOLUS 14,083 ft - Named after the Greek God, Aeolus, Needle Mountains, a subrange of the San Juans
WINDOM PEAK 14,082 ft - Named after William Windom, a senator and congressman from Minnesota, Needle Mountains, a subrange of the San Juan Mountains
CHALLENGER POINT* 14,081 ft - Named to commemorate the seven crew members of the space shuttle Challenger who lost their lives in 1986, Sangre de Cristo Range
MT. COLUMBIA 14,077 ft - Named after Columbia University in New York City, Collegiate Peaks, a subrange of the Sawatch Range
MISSOURI MOUNTAIN 14,074 ft - Named by miners who were either from Missouri or had departed from there to head west for the gold rush, Sawatch Range
HUMBOLDT PEAK 14,064 ft - Named by German settlers in the valley after the famous German scientist, geographer, explorer, mountaineer, and naturalist Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, Sangre de Cristo Range
MT. BIERSTADT 14,060 ft - Named in honor of Albert Bierstadt, an American landscape painter who also made the first recorded summit of the peak, Front Range
CONUNDRUM PEAK* 14,060 ft - Name comes from the creek and hot springs nearby in turn named by prospectors who found traces of gold in the creek but could never find the source, making it a conundrum, Elk Mountains
SUNLIGHT PEAK 14,059 ft - Most likely named due to the manner in which the rising sun bathed it in orange, Needle Mountains, a subrange of the San Juan Mountains
HANDIES PEAK 14,058 ft - Named after an early pioneer and miner in the San Juans with the last name Handie, San Juan Mountains
CULEBRA PEAK 14,047 ft - Spanish word for "snake," Sangre de Cristo Range
ELLINGWOOD POINT 14,042 ft - Named in honor of Albert Russell Ellingwood, often referred to as the "father of Colorado mountaineering," Sangre de Cristo Range
MT. LINDSEY 14,042 ft - Named in honor of Malcolm Lindsey, a revered member of the Colorado Mountain Club, avid mountaineer and well-respected water rights attorney, Sangre de Cristo Range
NORTH EOLUS PEAK* 14,039 ft - Named after the Greek God, Aeolus, Needle Mountains, a subrange of the San Juan Mountains
LITTLE BEAR PEAK 14,037 ft - The name came from the creek that runs from its slopes called Little Bear Creek, Sangre de Cristo Range
MT. SHERMAN 14,036 ft - Named in honor of General William Tecumseh Sherman, a general of the US Army, Mosquito Range
REDCLOUD PEAK 14,034 ft - Named for the mountain's scarlet appearance, San Juan Mountains
PYRAMID PEAK 14,025 ft - Named for its pyramidal shape, Elk Mountains
NORTH MAROON PEAK* 14,019 ft - Named for the deep red color of the sandstone, Elk Mountains
WILSON PEAK 14,017 ft - Named in honor of Allen David Wilson, the chief topographer with the 1874 Hayden Survey, San Juan Mountains
WETTERHORN PEAK 14,015 ft - Named after a famous mountain in the Swiss Alps, San Juan Mountains
SAN LUIS PEAK 14,014 ft - Most likely named in reference to the San Luis Valley which lies below it, which in turn was named in honor of Saint Louis, San Juan Mountains
HURON PEAK 14,010 ft - Named for the Huron Nation, a North American Indian tribe formally known as the Wyandot People, Sawatch Range
MT. OF THE HOLY CROSS 14,009 ft - Named for the snowy cross on its northeast face, Sawatch Range
SUNSHINE PEAK 14,001 ft - Most likely named for the sun shining on the peak as no specific reason was documented, San Juan Mountains
*Some people do not count these because they do not rise more than 300 feet above the
saddle of a nearby peak, and therefore are not technically considered individual fourteeners
For more history about the Colorado Fourteeners:
-Colorado's Highest: The History of Naming the 14,000-Foot Peaks by Jeri L. Norgren, Photography by John Fielder and Oil Paintings by Robert L. Wogrin
-Roof of the Rockies: A History of Colorado Mountaineering by William M. Bueler