Mt. Massive

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 4/20/2025, By: shaines90
Info: The Good: The lower portions of the Highline Trail had mostly melted down to a few-inch layer of snow, or bare dirt by the time of my descent this afternoon. I used snowshoes starting at about 10500' on the ascent, and wore them back down from treeline to just before exiting the Mount Massive Wilderness. The upper portions of the Highline Trail are super well trenched out now all the way to treeline. The Bad: Lots of postholing later, on both the Highline Trail and the upper ridge portion. I kept snowshoes on until just about 13100' before switching to microspikes. The last 2000' of the East Ridge have gotten super wind drifted, but there is also a ton of punchy snow at multiple points. The Ugly: Our skin/snowshoe track on the main East Ridge got all but erased by wind and fresh snowfall through the day, to the point where I had to re-find the route on the way back and ended up horribly off route in a postholing mess of a descent. All that being said, the East Ridge is definitely open for business now until the next storm cycle rolls through. Although it took me about 11 hours to complete the route, it should go quite a bit faster for anyone doing it this week with a trench in place. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 4/12/2025, By: Roughrider23
Info: Trail was great to about 11200’ from there I needed floatation. Solid snowpack all the way to the summit. On the way down following about 11:00 the trail was turning into slushy ice. Thigh deep potholes from 11800’ to about 10200’ with the spring melt. Left a solid trench if it doesn’t all melt 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 3/9/2025, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Trail is a highway to the CDT. After that you need floatation. We slowly broke trail with skis from there to the ridge. We even more slowly took the ridge and our partner was nearly able to skin to the summit left of the ridge as the snow was supportive but not too hard. We avoided some ridge difficulties by taking the snow. Skied down the face and connected back w the up track at treeline. Snow had good coverage, was stable (we picked pretty conservative lines), and honestly great—a true wonder for a winter ski descent. Thank you to snowalien for the inspo on this route. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/27/2025, By: tothestars
Info: Summited East Ridge today starting at 8am from Fish Hatchery. Sunday I postholed the route from mile 3-5.5 to the treeline despite having snowshoes but today it was MUCH quicker with the trench nicely established, I cut a couple hours off the approach just to treeline. There are now 2 trenches that split off around mile 3.5. A skier took the slightly more south route and I took the route that meanders west through the meadow before going South. The two trails do meet each other around mile 4.5 (that's an estimate of mileage) Another hiker was out today and he helped pack it down even more, was nice to see another person out there and share some miles. Snowshoes can come off just above treeline around the first or second rock pyramid, your choice. Snow has melted from the basin at 12,500, and it's an easy hike to the rocky ridge where there are two nice choices: go through the keyhole in the rocks (hiker's left) and bootpack up the snow or stay right a bit and scramble through the rocks. I like both options, so I took rock scramble on the way up (it's slower) and snow on the way down. Ridge is easy to navigate and just used crampons but could've managed without them. Ascent was around 5hr 45min, descent much faster 3hrs. No wind today and highly recommend that vs Sunday's hurricane :) Enjoy the trench while it lasts - such a beautiful climb 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/24/2025, By: tothestars
Info: Long day, well worth it! There's a well packed trench to mile 3 where it intersects the Colorado Trail from day hikers and XC skiers. From there it's just a you and me baby---a few of us who are gluttons for some mountain punishment. At mile 3.5 I began the hard work as there was no visible route through the snow. Carefully following the GPX, but avoiding waist deep sections (well, trying to) I made it to treeline around mile 5.5. At times snow was waist deep, at times calf deep and occasionally I found remnants of the old trench. Trail meanders a bit around the meadows as I tried to find spots that weren't waist deep. Wind will scour and make sections disappear but hopefully my hard work will help someone else summit! At treeline I followed the GPX track and thankfully this snow was beat down from wind, not much postholing. Took snowshoes off before the rocky scramble section around mile 6-6.5. Crampons may be helpful for packed snow and ice but can manage without them. Very, very windy! A ski mask and goggles were super helpful. By mile 6 there's not much snow. Beware, tree section from Fish hatchery to the treeline is nearly 6 miles of WORK, but once you hit the treeline the views are incredible and honestly worth the fact that 2 miles of postholing/trench building took nearly 4 hours. All in all, this route is 14.5 miles and a long day 11+ hours with the deep, deep snow (and being solo) 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/29/2025, By: Near-miss
Info: A group of 5 trenches all the way to treeline. Trench is hardened and will be there till next storm cycle. Summited on 29 Jan. Ridge is snow filled which requires some interesting selections for the route. A few wind loaded slopes, but all avoidable. 

Route: None
Posted On: 1/3/2025, By: backcountrybrodes
Info: **DID NOT CLIMB** Snapped some pictures of Mt. Massive/N Massive from Hwy 24. Healthy snow pack even on ridges, in the first picture you can clearly see slide activity on the slopes of N Massive. Guessing it was really recent. Surprised CAIC doesnt have the northern Sawatch at 4/5. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/8/2024, By: Novicewhofailsmore
Info: Very good weather, some wind. Many false summits which was very frustrating. Trail is very defined so just be patient and you will complete it also. Only saw one other hiker. 8.9 miles RT. Left at 7, summited at 1pm and returned to vehicle at 5:30. Mostly class 1, hardly any class 2. This mtn is very doable but a lot of work due to elevation gain and several peaks at the top which was confusing. In my opinion all 7 or so peaks are over 14,300 ft. You will know when you reach the right peak cuz there is a register and signs to hold for pics between a big crack in a rock formation. Its the last peak of a triplet to the north. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/7/2024, By: dpradas
Info: Driving detour! Route 44 closed, use route 10 detour to the south. Google maps did not have this detour automatically. Conditions on peak were perfect. No snow. Parked at North Halfmoon Creek Trailhead using modified Jeep. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 10/10/2024, By: Chelsie
Info: Went up the standard route from the main trailhead. To break up the long hike, we camped for 2 nights at a designated site right above Willow Creek near the trail, about 3 miles up. Conditions were downright summery--very warm, relentlessly sunny and calm weather. (I was hiking near treeline at dawn in just a t-shirt.) Not much wind until nearing the summit. The trail is extremely easy to follow up until the talus below the saddle. That's where the trail seems to break up a little bit into social trails. They'll all get you up, but some not as easily. Gorgeous views and a really rewarding hike! I'll note that there was a detour trying to get to Halfmoon Road that was less than ideal. The day we drove in, it was really poorly marked and we did some needless circling on forest service roads. It seemed a little better marked on our way out, but just know that the detour adds 15 or 20 minutes to the trip, and the detour forest service roads are a bit rougher than the main route to the trailhead on Halfmoon Road. I think a 2WD vehicle could probably still handle it, but I was glad we had a big 4WD truck just the same. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: Krispy
Info: Totally dry conditions today for a glorious hike. Stunning scenery and had the mountain mostly to ourselves, except for the 6 goats who barred the trail. Colors not quite what I'd hoped, as many of the aspens have already lost their leaves. Kind of beating the proverbial dead horse, but the road gets a bit gnarly .5 miles from the trailhead. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/28/2024, By: josephsiefers
Info: Trail is completely dry without any lingering snow from last weekend. Busy day today on the summit. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/14/2024, By: ihalawe
Info: Parked 0.3 miles from trailhead due to a very rough section my Subaru couldnt navigate. Trail is easy to follow. Several creeks until you get above tree lines. Its a steep climb with lots of switch backs over a relatively short distance. Nice mix of terrain. Once you get up to the ridge easy hike to the summit. On the way down its easy to miss the junction on the ridge that takes you back to go the southwest slopes. Overall a tough, beautiful hike with great views. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/8/2024, By: dr_j
Info: Still looking like summer out there, dry trail, low water at creek crossings. Went up the standard route, down the SW slopes route, which was very steep and it wasn't clear where it joined the main trail. We overshot it on the way down, and had to traverse back to find the trail. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 8/20/2024, By: WalkingGood
Info: lower half of trail is wet. (mosquitoes and flies) access to creek water for first half of the trail so you dont need to carry a ton of water if you have filter. i missed the junction coming down near South Massive. be careful its not signed/cairned. beautiful day on the mountain.