Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: June 2003
After being very tempted to head right up the face and avoid the longer NW Ridge route, we thought better of it (seeing as nobody had ice axes or crampons to negotiate the couloirs with) and headed up the surprisingly fun and scenic ridge to the summit. The intial steep grunt into Missouri Basin will test your legs, so don't think these peaks are cake-walks.
Route Climbed: NW Ridge from Missouri Gulch TH Date Climbed: July 21, 2003
A fun climb for my first 14er of the season. I did this one with my cousin... it was his first 14er attempt ever and a good break in climb for him to introduce him to Colorado 14ers. The grassy slope up was steep, but a good challenge a day after coming from sea level. The ridge to the summit was a blast. Descent was down the scree slope from the big cairn on the summit ridge. A good climb on a fun mountain. I really liked this one!
Missouri Mountain is by far the best of the Belford Group. The summit view is very good, much better than many 14ers in the area. The view of the Pine Creek Drainage is magical. Also, the view of Emerald Peak is inspiring enough to make you go and climb it, which I did in 2002. If I were to climb Missouri again would for sure go for the West Ridge Route from the Rockdale TH. I hiked most of this route to climb Iowa Peak and there is a special grassy basin nestled under Missouri's huge west face. It's an intimate location that I will never forget.
Route Climbed: 5 September, 1999 Date Climbed: NW Ridge from Elkhead Basin
Starting from the Vicksburg trailhead, got to the top in 3 hrs, 3 min (I hate it when it's just a few minutes past the hour mark!!!). Had already done Oxford and Belford previously (ominous-looking clouds were moving in that first time, so I decided not to try for Missouri), so decided to rest on my laurels and call it a day.
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: 13 April 2003
This mountain becomes rather hard to do later in the day as the sum melts the snow into slush. There is also no trail to the summit other then the one I broke. Getting to treeline is also somewhat of a problem, 100 yds from treeline the snow gets waist deep, skies are the way to go here and snowshoes dont help at all.
big_g - Mar 3, 2003 4:20 pm Date Climbed: Jun 22, 2002
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge
Watch out for the marmots in Elkhead Basin! They can be relentless and there is no place to hang food.
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: August 21, 2002
I went on this one with my father. He decided he'd gone far enough when we hit the ridge. I raced up to the top, trying to beat a wall of clouds moving in over Huron. I lost the race and missed out on another chance for a good view.
Route Climbed: Clohesy Lake - 10,800 - 5 miles rt Date Climbed: July 7, 2001
This approach was 3,100 feet in 2 ½” miles. The hike got steep fast although it was a grassy slope all the way to the ridge. Once on the ridge we were already at 13,900 feet so it wasn’t that hard except for an area where we had to do a little scrambling.
At the top looking down at Missouri Basin were the views of the prettiest basin's I’ve seen to this date. The other side is Missouri Gulch and it was also pretty.
Missouri Mountain was short but steep. There was nothing technical and the majority of the hike was on tundra grasses. Above timberline this side of the mountain doesn’t have an established trail as of yet, but you can see the route the whole way.
Route Climbed: East Ridge Class 4 Date Climbed: September 1, 2002
Started hiking at 3:30am with the plan to bag Missouri, Belford and Oxford. After missing the turn for the standard route we wound up at Elkhead pass and decided to continue on by climbing the 4th class east ridge. We encountered some rotten rock on the toughest pitch but with careful hand holds we made it without any problems. Decided that downclimbing was not the safest option so we descended the scree gully off the summit which turned out to be quite fun and fast.
Route Climbed: West Ridge from Cloyses Lake Date Climbed: September 5, 1997
My son, Patrick, and I camped near the cabin above Cloyses Lake and started our climb at daybreak. I had tried the week before but I went to far up the upper valley before I tried to reach the ridge and it got too late so I aborted. We went directly to the ridge when we reached the upper valley. This is a really neat place. We followed the ridge with little or no difficulty except I lost one of my brand new gloves. We joined the Northwest Ridge Route and completed the climb.
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: Novemember 20, 1999
Late in the season this year but not a bad climb. Started out cold and sunny then hit a white out at the summit. Stayed foggy and a bit snowy the rest of the way down.
Route Climbed: from the west Date Climbed: august 17 th and 18th
summated huron around 9:00 at nightfall and descended from their to clousey lake just below treeline on missouri's western slopes, from there climbed up and unto missouri's eastern summit ridge. my flashlight went out but it was a clear night, no moon, but enough light to make out the trail along the summit ridge.
about 100 yards or so from the summit I came to a place where it was to steep to negotiate on either side without a light as I couldn't make out the route in the darkness.
curled up and attempted to sleep for an hour or so but it was very cold and windy, when it began to get light and there was enough light to continue on I went on and summated. Descended to the east towards belford from there.
sbkelley - May 12, 2004 6:17 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: June 2003After being very tempted to head right up the face and avoid the longer NW Ridge route, we thought better of it (seeing as nobody had ice axes or crampons to negotiate the couloirs with) and headed up the surprisingly fun and scenic ridge to the summit. The intial steep grunt into Missouri Basin will test your legs, so don't think these peaks are cake-walks.
f360driver - Apr 14, 2004 6:48 pm
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: June/03Fun climb. Chased off summit by weather.
hhsilleck - Jan 10, 2004 7:19 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: July 2001Steep, but better since the CFI trail work. Thanks guys!
bdewoody - Dec 3, 2003 6:41 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: July, 2003The first 14er of the year is always the hardest.
RyanS - Aug 25, 2003 11:25 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: August 24, 2003We climbed Iowa and Emerald, too, from the Rockdale TH. Great day! A TR is available here.
cmccall - Aug 10, 2003 4:53 pm
Route Climbed: nothwest ridge Date Climbed: august 8 2003only myself and one other person on this trail today
rob_runkle - Jul 30, 2003 7:09 pm
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch TH Date Climbed: July 22, 2003Belford, Oxford, Missouri, Emerald and Iowa. 5 peaks, 16.5 miles, 8180 feet.
kilimanjaro1 - Jul 29, 2003 6:37 pm
Route Climbed: NW Ridge from Missouri Gulch TH Date Climbed: July 21, 2003A fun climb for my first 14er of the season. I did this one with my cousin... it was his first 14er attempt ever and a good break in climb for him to introduce him to Colorado 14ers. The grassy slope up was steep, but a good challenge a day after coming from sea level. The ridge to the summit was a blast. Descent was down the scree slope from the big cairn on the summit ridge. A good climb on a fun mountain. I really liked this one!
Kane - May 27, 2003 7:30 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: 1996Missouri Mountain is by far the best of the Belford Group. The summit view is very good, much better than many 14ers in the area. The view of the Pine Creek Drainage is magical. Also, the view of Emerald Peak is inspiring enough to make you go and climb it, which I did in 2002. If I were to climb Missouri again would for sure go for the West Ridge Route from the Rockdale TH. I hiked most of this route to climb Iowa Peak and there is a special grassy basin nestled under Missouri's huge west face. It's an intimate location that I will never forget.
Diggler - Apr 24, 2003 7:09 pm
Route Climbed: 5 September, 1999 Date Climbed: NW Ridge from Elkhead BasinStarting from the Vicksburg trailhead, got to the top in 3 hrs, 3 min (I hate it when it's just a few minutes past the hour mark!!!). Had already done Oxford and Belford previously (ominous-looking clouds were moving in that first time, so I decided not to try for Missouri), so decided to rest on my laurels and call it a day.
chef007 - Apr 16, 2003 3:20 pm
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: 13 April 2003This mountain becomes rather hard to do later in the day as the sum melts the snow into slush. There is also no trail to the summit other then the one I broke. Getting to treeline is also somewhat of a problem, 100 yds from treeline the snow gets waist deep, skies are the way to go here and snowshoes dont help at all.
big_g - Mar 3, 2003 4:20 pm Date Climbed: Jun 22, 2002
Route Climbed: Northwest RidgeWatch out for the marmots in Elkhead Basin! They can be relentless and there is no place to hang food.
Colonelpyat - Feb 28, 2003 4:22 am
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: August 21, 2002I went on this one with my father. He decided he'd gone far enough when we hit the ridge. I raced up to the top, trying to beat a wall of clouds moving in over Huron. I lost the race and missed out on another chance for a good view.
Grant - Jan 20, 2003 10:31 am
Route Climbed: Clohesy Lake - 10,800 - 5 miles rt Date Climbed: July 7, 2001This approach was 3,100 feet in 2 ½” miles. The hike got steep fast although it was a grassy slope all the way to the ridge. Once on the ridge we were already at 13,900 feet so it wasn’t that hard except for an area where we had to do a little scrambling.
At the top looking down at Missouri Basin were the views of the prettiest basin's I’ve seen to this date. The other side is Missouri Gulch and it was also pretty.
Missouri Mountain was short but steep. There was nothing technical and the majority of the hike was on tundra grasses. Above timberline this side of the mountain doesn’t have an established trail as of yet, but you can see the route the whole way.
rmjwinters - Oct 6, 2002 2:27 pm
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: August 3 20015 hour roundtrip. Nice day.
xskier77 - Sep 7, 2002 7:27 pm
Route Climbed: East Ridge Class 4 Date Climbed: September 1, 2002Started hiking at 3:30am with the plan to bag Missouri, Belford and Oxford. After missing the turn for the standard route we wound up at Elkhead pass and decided to continue on by climbing the 4th class east ridge. We encountered some rotten rock on the toughest pitch but with careful hand holds we made it without any problems. Decided that downclimbing was not the safest option so we descended the scree gully off the summit which turned out to be quite fun and fast.
wayneaflick - Jun 28, 2002 10:32 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge from Cloyses Lake Date Climbed: September 5, 1997My son, Patrick, and I camped near the cabin above Cloyses Lake and started our climb at daybreak. I had tried the week before but I went to far up the upper valley before I tried to reach the ridge and it got too late so I aborted. We went directly to the ridge when we reached the upper valley. This is a really neat place. We followed the ridge with little or no difficulty except I lost one of my brand new gloves. We joined the Northwest Ridge Route and completed the climb.
ctruscot - Jun 17, 2002 2:27 pm
Route Climbed: Missouri Gulch Date Climbed: Novemember 20, 1999Late in the season this year but not a bad climb. Started out cold and sunny then hit a white out at the summit. Stayed foggy and a bit snowy the rest of the way down.
Zeke - Jan 16, 2002 7:35 am
Route Climbed: Standard route Date Climbed: Aug. 2001Combine w/Belford & Oxford, makes a great back packing/climbing weekend.
steve simmons - Jan 3, 2002 4:48 pm
Route Climbed: from the west Date Climbed: august 17 th and 18thsummated huron around 9:00 at nightfall and descended from their to clousey lake just below treeline on missouri's western slopes, from there climbed up and unto missouri's eastern summit ridge. my flashlight went out but it was a clear night, no moon, but enough light to make out the trail along the summit ridge.
about 100 yards or so from the summit I came to a place where it was to steep to negotiate on either side without a light as I couldn't make out the route in the darkness.
curled up and attempted to sleep for an hour or so but it was very cold and windy, when it began to get light and there was enough light to continue on I went on and summated. Descended to the east towards belford from there.
Praise GOD and JESUS CHIST, LORD Of ALL!!!!!!!