I'm looking to hike up to Belford, Oxford then to Missouri Mt and I was wondering if I can head up the ridge from Elkhead Pass to MIssouri Mt or if I need to drop back down into MIssouri Gulch then take the north route up to the summit. I'm comfortable on Class 2 and a bit of Class 3.
Any info would be great, thanks!

The ridge is described in Roach's 14er book as class 4 with lots of loose and rotten rock. That being said, there were a couple of people who did it during a Nolan's 14 outing in running shoes. They had scouted it out before hand.

I would not recommend it.

Sounds like I'm better off dropping back down into the gulch and finding a route back up from there. Thanks for the info.

The ridge is class 4 indeed. Here's a photo of it.

Um....yeah..... I think I'll find one of the easier ways up that mountain