Mt. Massive & North Massive Trip Report
Trail: West Slopes & ridge traverse to North Massive (Highly Improvised), Class 4, ~10 miles, 4630 ft elevation gain
Time Frame:
August 31, 2004
7:00 Leave Boulder
10:00 arrive at North Half-moon Trailhead
10:15 Set out on West Slopes
12:45 Summit Mt. Massive
1:05 Leave Massive
1:50 Summit North Massive
2:05 Leave North Massive
3:50 Arrive Back at North Half-moon Trailhead
7:00 Get Home, Eat take out Mexican Food
I hadn't been to the Sawatch Range all summer and decided that I would give Mt. Massive a try. I initially didn't think I would make it as I left my home in Boulder at 7:00 A.M. and didn't start hiking until 10:15. I figured that even if I turned back that it would still be a nice day out in the mountains.
I should point out that my motivation for going to Massive was spurred by a disappointing climb over the weekend. I had gone up the Kelso Ridge on Torreys with my wife and my friend Brian (the same Brian from my Torreys Peak trip report of last year) on Saturday. Brian wanted to go over to Greys from the top as he had not summated it before. I have to say I thought the ridge was pretty boring and not allot of fun (I know people will almost all disagree here). The views were only Ok and the rock was mostly loose with allot of slippery dirt. I guess I had built the ridge up in my head from all of the praise it received and maybe I was pissed the day turned out so nice and I could have been on the Ellingwood ridge but I just really didn't like the climb. Back to Massive.
Roaches book is ever so slightly off in the mileage to the 4WD parking and the lack of any noticeable intersection kind of threw me off. I ended up turning into the lower trailhead and driving across a stream before realizing that I needed to go farther. Once back on the road I threw the truck into 4WD and made my way quickly to the trailhead. It's impossible to miss the real trailhead, just keep going until the road ends.
My original plan was to go up North Massive and contour over to Massive. Since the weather was looking suspect I figured I might as well go right up Mt. Massive and decide about the traverse from the top. I never like the standard routes so I continued on past the SE Ridge exit towards the SW slopes. This proved to be a great idea. The route is gorgeous and it leads you into a basin surrounded by peaks, ponds, streams, and trees.
In one hour I made it to the trails end where you scramble up towards the ridge. I stopped to take a picture of a beautiful pond and the scree gullies I was about to attempt.
I started scrambling up the rocks towards the gully. It was at this point that I remembered how quickly you can gain elevation in the Sawatch. My altimeter was reading about 12400 which meant I had about 2000 feet to get to the ridge. I started up and took frequent breaks. I also remembered how much I despise and loathe scree gullies. One step up two steps back, wheeze for air, repeat process. The whole thing had me so frustrated I contoured over to a prominent rib about halfway up the gully. I made a couple tricky 4th to low 5th class moves and gained the rib. This was much better. I stayed on the rib as much as possible and when it ended I rock hopped across to another one farther up. Using a series of 3rd and 4th class moves I managed, from halfway up, to gain the ridge almost entirely on solid rock. This was so much better and a whole lot more fun.
Once on the ridge I wandered over to the summit and chatted with a few guys who had come up from a totally different trailhead. As it turned out they would be the only people I saw until I was half a mile from my truck. There is nothing as fine as a day in the mountains all to yourself.
I spent awhile relaxing on the peak and deciding whether I wanted to go for North Massive. The sky was blanketed with clouds and virga but I didn't feel any lightning was imminent. Knowing I could move really quickly if I needed to and that I carry enough rain gear to keep myself and my gear dry I figured I should head on.
Mt. Massive is really on awesome peak. I don't mean to belabor the obvious but it is BIG. The area above 14000 just goes on forever and I think I'd like to come back one day and do Massive Mania if anyone wants to car shuttle. It was really neat to stay that high for a long time.
The traverse over to North Massive started as a simple walk.
Once past the gentle portion of the ridge I contoured to the left and made my way over loose rock until I came to the third class section.
Roach says you can keep the difficulty down with route finding but that seemed boring to me so I headed straight over the top. I really recommend this route. It was allot of fun and unlike your typical Sawatcher it had some really cool moves. After the 3rd class stuff I found myself at the base of a narrow and steep dirt gully. There was a blocky summit to my left and a more peaked summit to my right. I didn't know which one was higher (the left one was) and didn't fancy the dirt so I shot up this really cool rock formation to the right.
I quickly moved over to the blocky summit, realized it was the wrong one, and headed to the true summit.
How Grays and Torreys are separate 14er's and Massive and North Massive plus Maroon and North Maroon aren't just befuddles me. I understand the strict topographical requirements but they don't take the reality of the approaches into play. I think this summer has made me decide to pursue the 59 peak list kept on 14erWorld instead of the typical 54, I can't cotton to any list that discounts North Maroon. Anyways, the weather was about the same but I figured I had had a nice enough day and shouldn't push my luck so I quickly headed off.
The route down involved walking down to the left from North Massive and basically dropping down a scree and rock covered slope once you were on the gentle ridge below North Massive. It's hard to miss where to turn off. Just head towards the ridge with the crazy looking tower at its end and drop left. I managed to get down in about 45 minutes and boot skied most of the way.
Once down from the ridge I headed back towards the trail. I stopped to take a scenic shot along the way and the obligatory marmot shot.
I contoured above the regular trail and dropped down several hills and rock slopes to regain it past the upper ponds. From here it was a quick jaunt back to the trailhead. I passed a bunch of rangers and CFI members on the way down and spoke very briefly with them. From here it was just a quick 3 hours to home where I enjoyed some Mexican take out food.