Mt. Massive Trip Report 07/02/2011

Peak(s):	Mt. Massive - 14,427 feet
Date Posted:	07/02/2011
Date Climbed:	07/01/2011
Author:	kyriestone

Perfect Day on the East Slopes
After my usual 3 hours of sleep the night before a 14er hike, I made the 2.5 hour trip from Longmont to the trailhead, getting there about 5:30am. Only 2 other cars were there at that time. I hit the trail around 5:40 and summited about 9:15. From a weather standpoint, things couldn't have been better- a 'bluebird' day to be sure. Temps were warm and skies were sunny. And, surprisingly, there was very little wind, even on the summit! Crowds? Well, I had the trail to myself for most of the way up. Approaching the saddle, I finally saw my first fellow hiker, who turned out to be another 14ers.com member, TurboCat. Upon arriving at the summit, we ran into 4 other people, 3 guys from Boulder who climbed the NW route, and hansolo35 (I believe I have his handle right). These were the first 2 14er.com members I've had the opportunity to meet, which I thought was pretty cool! Don't know if the other 3 were members or not, but one I believe had just summited his 1st 14er, also very cool! Snow fields? This was my main question going into the day, but the beta I saw from some of the condtions reports was right on. There are a few small to medium snow fields you have to cross, but if you follow the steps, they're not a problem. There is some snow on the ridge nearing the top, but this was pretty avoidable. On the way back down, I post-holed a little bit through one, but no biggie. There was also some ice on the trail on the way up you had to be careful of, but it was gone on the way back down- just a little slop. Glissading opportunities abound on this hike also! Since I don't have an ice axe, I didn't opt for this opportunity. However, it was fun watching hansolo35 and his dog do it! There were also a number of others who had done it also, apparently fairly recently. On the return trip back down, I passed only 2 other hikers who were nearing the summit, but then just a handful of people on the Colorado Trrail heading up. I got back to the car about 12:10. The parking lot was still not full, but more people were starting to show up. The Elbert lot looked very full as I drove past on the way out. All in all, an awesome day! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Perfect Day on the East Slopes

After my usual 3 hours of sleep the night before a 14er hike, I made the 2.5 hour trip from Longmont to the trailhead, getting there about 5:30am. Only 2 other cars were there at that time. I hit the trail around 5:40 and summited about 9:15.

From a weather standpoint, things couldn't have been better- a 'bluebird' day to be sure. Temps were warm and skies were sunny. And, surprisingly, there was very little wind, even on the summit!

Crowds? Well, I had the trail to myself for most of the way up. Approaching the saddle, I finally saw my first fellow hiker, who turned out to be another 14ers.com member, TurboCat. Upon arriving at the summit, we ran into 4 other people, 3 guys from Boulder who climbed the NW route, and hansolo35 (I believe I have his handle right). These were the first 2 14er.com members I've had the opportunity to meet, which I thought was pretty cool! Don't know if the other 3 were members or not, but one I believe had just summited his 1st 14er, also very cool!

Snow fields? This was my main question going into the day, but the beta I saw from some of the condtions reports was right on. There are a few small to medium snow fields you have to cross, but if you follow the steps, they're not a problem. There is some snow on the ridge nearing the top, but this was pretty avoidable. On the way back down, I post-holed a little bit through one, but no biggie.

There was also some ice on the trail on the way up you had to be careful of, but it was gone on the way back down- just a little slop.

Glissading opportunities abound on this hike also! Since I don't have an ice axe, I didn't opt for this opportunity. However, it was fun watching hansolo35 and his dog do it! There were also a number of others who had done it also, apparently fairly recently.

On the return trip back down, I passed only 2 other hikers who were nearing the summit, but then just a handful of people on the Colorado Trrail heading up. I got back to the car about 12:10. The parking lot was still not full, but more people were starting to show up. The Elbert lot looked very full as I drove past on the way out.

All in all, an awesome day!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

kyriestone	Picture Captions 7/2/2011 1:25pm Some of these pictures have repeating captions from previous shots. For some reason, I couldn't get rid of these. My apologies!
dannyg23	Way to go Buddy! 7/2/2011 2:56pm looks like a good day man, looks like a pretty awesome view from up there.
hansolo35	Well done! 7/4/2011 1:44am it was a beautiful day and climb. My doggie and I tried to catch you on the way down but you were just too fast for us. Nice meeting you
kyriestone	Hope you guys had a great weekend! 7/4/2011 3:21am dannyg23- How was Sherman? hansolo35- Nice to meet you as well! I got your glissade complete with dancing dog on video. A little far away for the Flip, but I thought I'd see how it turned out.
turbocat	Bluebird day for sure... 7/4/2011 11:11pm Good meeting you up there. Beautiful hike over to North Massive and the glissade off the ridge was great...but very soft and slow. Cheers!
kyriestone	Nice meeting you as well 7/5/2011 2:44am Glad you had a good hike to North Massive! Best of luck on completing the top 100- one heck of an accomplishment!

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