Mt. Massive

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 8/16/2024, By: jkuntzman
Info: Just like others have posted, trail in great shape, parked about .5 miles from trail head but with good clearance and off roading expertise, getting to the trail head really shouldn't be a problem. Saw what appeared to be a stock honda pilot make it up. Definitely a steep trail. I had dogs with me, they made it but it's definitely not the easiest trail for dogs with all the boulder fields and would say some form of protection for their paws is a must 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/23/2024, By: The Stadler
Info: The hike itself is incredibly scenic. And even in the rock sections, the trail is pretty easy to follow. The only problem right now is this haze of wildfire smoke that's taken over our mountains. From the summit, you could barely make out anything past Elbert to the sound, the first line of peaks to the west, nothing to the north, and really nothing to the east either. If views are a big part of your adventure, prepare to miss out. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: ssowalskie
Info: Summer conditions on the whole route, no snow at all on the trail. Small patches of mud or water on the trail above tree line from melted snow. Lots of wildflowers. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/10/2024, By: ReachingHigher
Info: A little bit of snow on the ridge after joining the East slopes trail, but it is easily avoidable. TONS of wildflowers in bloom, including a few I havent seen before. So beautiful!!! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/10/2024, By: ReachingHigher
Info: A little bit of snow on the ridge after joining the East slopes trail, but it is easily avoidable. TONS of wildflowers in bloom, including a few I havent seen before. So beautiful!!! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: JJEII
Info: Today I hiked all four of the Mt. Massive peaks (Mt. Massive, "Massive Green", "North Massive", and "South Massive"), and all snow is now entirely avoidable except a very short section on the main SW Slopes trail that will be gone very soon. (It's currently shallow and heavily footprinted, right through and down to the ground.) Also, there's a bit of water-flow on the trail in a few places, but it's avoidable. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: Evey1134
Info: Trail is incredibly close to summer conditions, most of the snowfields on the way up were either gone or severely deteriorated. Given that everything below treeline is clear and the longest stretch of snowfield was not more than 50 feet. The trail below the notch connection was pretty wet with a stream running down it so be ready for lots of mud. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: TateMarshall
Info: I did the Traverse in reverse, took some friends up Columbia then continued on solo to Harvard. Coming that way the trail was non-extistent and near impossible to follow even with CalTopo. Definitely ended up being more than class 2 for me. Coming down Harvard was absolutely a slushy mess. Had a really fun ~750 foot glissade and "fell", more like it was way deeper than expected, into a slushed over creek that crossed the trail. Overall a fun and long day but would not recommend to everyone right now. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/22/2024, By: colingoodman
Info: Lots of snow fields over the trail. Microspikes are a good idea. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: KarissaEden
Info: Parked half a mile or so from North Half Moon trailhead. That was as far as we felt comfortable driving. No snow for the first half of the trail and then we started encountering snow fields. They were on very steep terrain, and covered the trail we blazed our own trail around them and used crampons to cross where needed. By 10 or 11 the snow was just a bit melted which helped traction stick better. There is only one really scary crossing at the top of a long snow field; someone had slipped on it early when it was covered in ice and got badly hurt, so definitely make sure you have crampons or some type of gear (and don't do anything stupid like sledding down, as fun as it may look). More snow fields along the top ridge next to the 3 false summits. Some of our group (and the dog) did not like the idea of going down the steep snow fields we had come up, so we went down the East slopes. Much longer trail with several snow fields. Walked through more snow, but it was on more level ground and had well-worn footsteps through it in most places. Nice loop to do, if you want to do it in a loop. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/19/2024, By: StevieRay
Info: Trail up to tree line is essentially snow free. One large snow field around 11,900 and a few spots up to the ridge line. Was fine in the morning but post holed a bit coming down around 10:30am. The ridge to the summit still has some snow as well but it wasn't difficult to mostly navigate around it 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/17/2024, By: RobMcG
Info: Weather was warm and very windy today. Easy drive up the 4x4 road to North Halfmoon TH, except one spot that definitely required high clearance. Some water running down the road for about 75 yards that didn't seem to be doing much damage. Conditions in the morning were great, frozen snow and hard pack, so definitely recommend micro spikes. We walked right up the snow fields that lead straight up the middle to the saddle between Massive and South Massive. Some might do without spikes by avoiding those big snow fields, but it was mando for me, and definitely made the top ridge easier to walk. Made a rather slow ascent, which was fine, but didn't get off the top until 11am. It was a great view although super windy. By the time we came down, using the normal Halfmoon Trail, the snow was really soft and slushy. Creative navigation to avoid the snow fields would be helpful if you can manage it. Recommend sticking to an early schedule and get down before the snow gets too soft. By 11am the snow was really soft. From the top, the East Slopes Mount Massive Trail looked clear as far as we could see it. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: Jolly
Info: Started at 5 AM, navigating multiple snow fields that were crusty in the morning. While the snow sometimes covered the trail, it wasn't hard to follow the general route. Microspikes are recommended, but if your partner forgets hers at home, you'll still manage to summit while she borrows yours and laughs at you slipping. On the descent, the softening snow made for some nice butt sledding! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/13/2024, By: AllADream
Info: The trail into the basin has a few small creeks and mud patches on it. The bottom half of the SW slopes is snow free. The top half of the trail is mostly still covered in snow. I took an off trail route on the edge of the snow to get up. The summit ridge has about 6 snowfields to traverse, I postholed pretty deep a few times around noon, but most of the steps were still pretty good. Either follow footprints or stay on top of the ridge. Micro spikes recommended to get up the SW slopes. The front of the mountain is melting pretty quick too! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/30/2024, By: PeakMiller
Info: I followed the east route until Willow Creek and then started ascending. I found this line to be pretty nice for heading up and down. The snow was excellent and continuous to treeline.