CanningDates › Altitude › Colorado › Leadville
Canning at about 10,160 ft in Leadville
Leadville sits at about 10,160 ft — above the end of the published water-bath table. Pressure canning with a weighted gauge at 15 lb is the route with a published answer this high, and this page won't pretend otherwise.
LEADVILLE, COLORADO
- ELEVATION
- ≈10,160 FT
- WATER BATH
- NONE PUBLISHED
- DIAL GAUGE
- NONE PUBLISHED
- WEIGHTED
- 15 LB
Above 10,000 ft, published water-bath tables stop. Use a pressure canner with a weighted gauge at 15 lb, or ask your county extension office. Above 8,000 ft, published dial-gauge tables stop. Use a weighted gauge at 15 lb, or ask your county extension office.
canningdates.com
canningdates.com — Leadville, CO at about 10,160 ft, from the published USDA adjustment bands. Low-acid foods must be pressure canned. Above 10,000 ft, published water-bath tables stop. Use a pressure canner with a weighted gauge at 15 lb, or ask your county extension office. Above 8,000 ft, published dial-gauge tables stop. Use a weighted gauge at 15 lb, or ask your county extension office.
Leadville at about 10,160 ft
Leadville is the roof of this site: at about 10,160 ft, the highest incorporated city in the country sits past the last row of the water-bath table, which stops at 10,000 ft. The airport down the valley reads about 9,930 ft, but the town itself is the other side of that line — the rare place where the honest answer about boiling-water canning is that the published charts simply end below your kitchen.
Adjustments come in bands, not curves — and above 10,000 ft the water-bath bands simply end. The weighted-gauge table is the one written with no upper limit, which is why it keeps answering at about 10,160 ft while the others stop.
As for the number itself: most pages here read the USGS elevation service at the town's nearest NOAA weather station — but Leadville's station (LEADVILLE LAKE CO AP) sits below town, so this page uses the USGS reading at the town itself. Elevation shifts block to block anywhere; where the ground is this steep, the honest number is the one under the kitchens.
Not your kitchen? The altitude lookup turns any ZIP or town into a card like this one. Recipe already in hand? The processing time adjuster takes your recipe's minutes and applies Leadville's band for you.
Frequently asked questions
What are the published canning numbers for Leadville?
A weighted-gauge pressure canner at 15 lb — that table has no upper limit and covers Leadville, with the recipe's minutes exactly as tested. Nothing else is published this high: water-bath tables stop at 10,000 ft and dial-gauge tables at 8,000 ft, both below about 10,160 ft.
Why won't this page show water-bath minutes?
Because none exist to show. The published table adds minutes in steps up to 10,000 ft and then stops — and stretching the pattern one more step is guesswork with someone's dinner. For high-acid foods up here, use a tested pressure option for that recipe, or ask your county extension office what they advise for your elevation.
Is 15 lb on a weighted gauge really enough at about 10,160 ft?
It's the published answer, and the only one: the weighted-gauge table reads 15 lb at every elevation above its first band, with no upper limit stated. The minutes stay exactly as the tested recipe gives them — with a pressure canner, altitude changes pounds, never time.