Route Climbed: Mount Massive Trail via Colorado Trail Date Climbed: August 7, 2004
Climbed with two friends from work. Made the summit and it wasn't crowded at all. Snow squall chased us off. Camped the night before along Halfmoon Creek and was kept awake by all-night party goons.
Route Climbed: SW Slopes Date Climbed: Oct. 18 2002
I took the Halfmoon Creek Trail. This sucked. I was sliding back as much as I moved forward. Scree from hell. The trail was kind of hard to follow. Coming down was just as bad, falling on my ass the whole way down.
Route Climbed: S. Halfmoon Date Climbed: October 2004
What made this climb interesting was the snow. Had a small slab release on the summit ridge after my partner had crossed over and I was halfway accross. Made for some interesting verbage and slip n' slidage. Was nice to see Elbert again, one of my first 14'ers.
Route Climbed: Up Colorado Trail, down Mount Massive Trail Date Climbed: June, 2002
Got totally turned around from the get-go, ending up on the wrong trail, which I discovered when I could see Leadville from treeline. Still, it was a remarkably fun day on what is otherwise an unremarkable hump in the sky, or collection of humps. I bopped along the top from South Massive to North Massive, visiting all summits and sub-summits between. I believe I descended a scree-filled gulley and intersected the Mount Massive Trail for a quick trip down. Honestly, though, I probably wouldn't bother with Massive again.
Route Climbed: Willow Creek Date Climbed: January 16 2005
I turned around at 13,900 ft running out of time and strength in strong winds and poor visibility. To know more, see Scott's report below.
Scott - Feb 11, 2005 1:17 pm Date Climbed: Jun 22, 2013
Massive
January 15-16 2005
All Summitpost winter trip. Two of us made it, two of us got very close-but didn't reach the summit (including me), and one still got up really high. Great trip and great company. TRIP REPORT. Will go again next winter to attempt entire traverse!
June 21-22 2013
June 21
Shaylee, Kessler and I left for climbing Mount Massive. We wanted to get an earlier start, but after being too tired to pack the night before and after waiting for Pizza Hut in Leadville, we didn't get that early start. I thought it would be more pleasant to camp on the mountain than by the vehicles. We started the trail just after 7:30 PM and walked less than an hour before setting up camp. We camped at South Fork Willow Creek.
While I was filtering the water, Arthur and his dad walked up the trail. We were supposed to meet them at the campsite, so we all camped in the same place before heading to bed.
June 22
Our group of five woke up with a temperature of 33F. We quickly packed up and started up the mountain.
The trail up Massive is steady uphill, but never extremely steep. We made good progress up to the 13,900 foot saddle. After that there was some scrambling, but it was a straightforward climb to the summit.
It was Shaylee's (9 years old) highest summit to date.
Arthur and his dad when to climb the other 14er summits (unranked) of Mount Massive, but Shaylee, Kessler, and I only went to Massive Green as far as extra summits goes.
I was afraid that we would be beat if we tried them all in a day.
After climbing Massive Green, Shaylee, Kessler, and I went back over the summit of Massive and back down to camp. We took a nap while waiting for the other two.
When Arthur and his dad met us, they were beat. We hiked the short distance down the mountain and ate in Leadville. Because they were understandable tired, we cancelled the next day's climb and headed back home.
Route Climbed: Southwest Slopes Date Climbed: August 14, 1988
After a previous attempt on the east slopes route in September of the year before, when we had to turn back due to snow conditions above 13,500, we returned for the steep haul up the shorter route.
Route Climbed: Mount Massive Trail from Half Moon Road Closure Date Climbed: 16 Jan 2005
Reached the summit with Henrik (hmronnow) as part of the all-SP team also including Scott Patterson, Emilio (ungerfeld) and Joel (photo61guy). Started from the road closure on Half Moon Road and headed west into the woods. After six and a half hours of tedious trail breaking through consistently knee-deep powder we had only covered 1600' and about three miles, making camp just below the Colorado Trail. While camp was being set up Henrik, Joel, and I helped break trail up to treeline to speed the next day's ascent. The next day the wind was strong above treeline, but Henrik and I made the summit in the clouds after 4.5 hrs. Joel turned around just below 13000' while Scott descended with a fatigued Emilio after nearly reaching the 13900' saddle. The descent to camp took only 2 hours and with a still-broken trail the descent to the car only took 1.5 hrs! A fantastic trip on a challenging climb with great partners! Now's the time to climb Massive though with a veritable highway to the top - hurry before the next snow!!
Route Climbed: North Half Moon Creek Date Climbed: August 22, 2004
Had a great hike, but boy did we make it tougher than it should have been. Totally missed the "large rock cairn" marking the turn on the trail...not sure what we were looking at, 'cuz it was large and tough to miss!
Route Climbed: West Slopes Date Climbed: October 14, 2000
A very long day on this mountain. We missed the cairn so ended up hiking up the entire basin and climbing the scree slope to the ridge. We then had to traverse the ridge over the minor summit. Alot of wind at the top too! Spent over 9 hours on this mountain, which would have been quicker had we turned at the cairn.
Foxy Long Bottoms - Jun 20, 2005 6:09 pm
Route Climbed: Colorado Main Range Trail Date Climbed: 7/02One of my favorites so far. I like the long hikes.
km_donovan - Jun 10, 2005 9:25 am
Route Climbed: Southwest Slopes II Date Climbed: July 1, 2001This was my fist time to go solo. A harbinger of many more to come. I want to go back and do all 4 summits of Massive someday.
ktiffany22 - May 15, 2005 11:14 pm
Route Climbed: North Half Moon Creek Date Climbed: August 14, 2004A fun adventure! We camped at the base, then had a great time hiking it! We were the first to summit:-) Very enjoyable and easy!
Mike N - May 14, 2005 1:09 pm
Route Climbed: Halfmoon Creek Date Climbed: July 2003This is a slogfest. Great views of the whole valley. Save your knees on the way down.
mdavenport2 - May 14, 2005 9:11 am
Route Climbed: Mount Massive Trail via Colorado Trail Date Climbed: August 7, 2004Climbed with two friends from work. Made the summit and it wasn't crowded at all. Snow squall chased us off. Camped the night before along Halfmoon Creek and was kept awake by all-night party goons.
Brian Kalet - Apr 6, 2005 5:44 pm
Route Climbed: Mount Massive Trail Date Climbed: August 8, 2004I got off to a late start and lucked out with not running into any afternoon storms.
easleygone - Apr 4, 2005 1:29 am
Route Climbed: North Halfmooon Creek Date Climbed: Sept 1993A long and high attitude gain. The valley west of Massive is just gorgeous and drew me back several
times to camp and climb Mt Oklahoma and Deer
Mtn.
alpine master - Apr 3, 2005 11:06 pm
Route Climbed: SW Slopes Date Climbed: Oct. 18 2002I took the Halfmoon Creek Trail. This sucked. I was sliding back as much as I moved forward. Scree from hell. The trail was kind of hard to follow. Coming down was just as bad, falling on my ass the whole way down.
Old Ickabod - Mar 28, 2005 8:40 pm
Route Climbed: Colorado Main Range Trail Date Climbed: May, 2003Second attempt on Massive. First attempt failed via Willow Creek/East Slopes. A good hike ending in success!
altitude14er - Mar 20, 2005 7:24 pm
Route Climbed: North Halfmoon Creek Approach Date Climbed: 10/18/2004The winds were gusty but snow wasn't too bad, My climbing partner Mark was involved in a minor a slab avalanche but escaped unscathed
Asphazell - Mar 1, 2005 11:19 am
Route Climbed: S. Halfmoon Date Climbed: October 2004What made this climb interesting was the snow. Had a small slab release on the summit ridge after my partner had crossed over and I was halfway accross. Made for some interesting verbage and slip n' slidage. Was nice to see Elbert again, one of my first 14'ers.
Ratballs - Feb 21, 2005 9:08 pm
Route Climbed: Up Colorado Trail, down Mount Massive Trail Date Climbed: June, 2002Got totally turned around from the get-go, ending up on the wrong trail, which I discovered when I could see Leadville from treeline. Still, it was a remarkably fun day on what is otherwise an unremarkable hump in the sky, or collection of humps. I bopped along the top from South Massive to North Massive, visiting all summits and sub-summits between. I believe I descended a scree-filled gulley and intersected the Mount Massive Trail for a quick trip down. Honestly, though, I probably wouldn't bother with Massive again.
pebblehopper - Feb 21, 2005 4:03 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: August 22, 2004Nice climb!. Raced the thunderstorms down, but none the worse for the wear. View was great!
ungerfeld - Feb 18, 2005 7:41 am
Route Climbed: Willow Creek Date Climbed: January 16 2005I turned around at 13,900 ft running out of time and strength in strong winds and poor visibility. To know more, see Scott's report below.
Scott - Feb 11, 2005 1:17 pm Date Climbed: Jun 22, 2013
MassiveJanuary 15-16 2005
All Summitpost winter trip. Two of us made it, two of us got very close-but didn't reach the summit (including me), and one still got up really high. Great trip and great company. TRIP REPORT. Will go again next winter to attempt entire traverse!
June 21-22 2013
June 21
Shaylee, Kessler and I left for climbing Mount Massive. We wanted to get an earlier start, but after being too tired to pack the night before and after waiting for Pizza Hut in Leadville, we didn't get that early start. I thought it would be more pleasant to camp on the mountain than by the vehicles. We started the trail just after 7:30 PM and walked less than an hour before setting up camp. We camped at South Fork Willow Creek.
While I was filtering the water, Arthur and his dad walked up the trail. We were supposed to meet them at the campsite, so we all camped in the same place before heading to bed.
June 22
Our group of five woke up with a temperature of 33F. We quickly packed up and started up the mountain.
The trail up Massive is steady uphill, but never extremely steep. We made good progress up to the 13,900 foot saddle. After that there was some scrambling, but it was a straightforward climb to the summit.
It was Shaylee's (9 years old) highest summit to date.
Arthur and his dad when to climb the other 14er summits (unranked) of Mount Massive, but Shaylee, Kessler, and I only went to Massive Green as far as extra summits goes.
I was afraid that we would be beat if we tried them all in a day.
After climbing Massive Green, Shaylee, Kessler, and I went back over the summit of Massive and back down to camp. We took a nap while waiting for the other two.
When Arthur and his dad met us, they were beat. We hiked the short distance down the mountain and ate in Leadville. Because they were understandable tired, we cancelled the next day's climb and headed back home.
It was a great trip.
ColoradoScott - Feb 1, 2005 11:32 am
Route Climbed: Southwest Slopes Date Climbed: August 14, 1988After a previous attempt on the east slopes route in September of the year before, when we had to turn back due to snow conditions above 13,500, we returned for the steep haul up the shorter route.
Richrat - Jan 30, 2005 6:16 pm
Route Climbed: Mt. Massive Trailhead Date Climbed: August 2004Due to trail repair, there was a slight detour on the trip.
bc44caesar - Jan 17, 2005 1:41 pm
Route Climbed: Mount Massive Trail from Half Moon Road Closure Date Climbed: 16 Jan 2005Reached the summit with Henrik (hmronnow) as part of the all-SP team also including Scott Patterson, Emilio (ungerfeld) and Joel (photo61guy). Started from the road closure on Half Moon Road and headed west into the woods. After six and a half hours of tedious trail breaking through consistently knee-deep powder we had only covered 1600' and about three miles, making camp just below the Colorado Trail. While camp was being set up Henrik, Joel, and I helped break trail up to treeline to speed the next day's ascent. The next day the wind was strong above treeline, but Henrik and I made the summit in the clouds after 4.5 hrs. Joel turned around just below 13000' while Scott descended with a fatigued Emilio after nearly reaching the 13900' saddle. The descent to camp took only 2 hours and with a still-broken trail the descent to the car only took 1.5 hrs! A fantastic trip on a challenging climb with great partners! Now's the time to climb Massive though with a veritable highway to the top - hurry before the next snow!!
Natasha - Oct 14, 2004 3:41 pm
Route Climbed: North Half Moon Creek Date Climbed: August 22, 2004Had a great hike, but boy did we make it tougher than it should have been. Totally missed the "large rock cairn" marking the turn on the trail...not sure what we were looking at, 'cuz it was large and tough to miss!
mr_g - Oct 12, 2004 8:57 am
Route Climbed: West Slopes Date Climbed: October 14, 2000A very long day on this mountain. We missed the cairn so ended up hiking up the entire basin and climbing the scree slope to the ridge. We then had to traverse the ridge over the minor summit. Alot of wind at the top too! Spent over 9 hours on this mountain, which would have been quicker had we turned at the cairn.