Two 50-somethings decided to celebrate Columbus Day with an attempt on Mt Massive (Southwest Slopes) and set out optimistic that weather and trail conditions would be conducive to summiting. The intimidating view of snow-flocked Mt Massive (photo 1) as we left Leadville gave us pause, however. What the heck. We figured whatever attempt we made was worth a future mug of cocoa back in town.
Monday weather conditions were perfect -- about 26 degrees to start and light wind, with only blue skies aloft. Considering the weekend's weather, we didn't know about the trail conditions, which, after an easy start up the trail (photo 2) from the North Halfmoon Creek Trailhead ended up a little dicey in spots until about 13,900. In fact, most of the snow on the mountain seemed to be right on the trail, which wasn't too difficult ascending (although it did slow us down), but the descent several hours later was treacherous as the southwest slopes had received gorgeous sunlight all day, and surfaces were slick with melting snow. We were not using snow equipment. How glad we were, however, that we had chosen the SW Slopes trail, since we had sun on us the entire route.
When we took our eyes off the trail, the scenery was breathtaking. Many of the nearby peaks were new to us (tho' my trail buddy had summited Elbert before), and I've been informed that we spent much of our time gazing across the valley toward Mt Oklahoma and neighbors to the south (photos 3 and 4).
Most of the snow we encountered was only 2-4 inches deep on the trail, although a few windswept areas had sections of 2.5 - 3 foot snow. Again, most of this was on the trail, which was still difficult to follow in some sections, as cairns were sparse, and, as advertised, the trail in some sections, snow or not, was hard to follow. Thoughts of "exactly why are we doing this?" occurred periodically as we sought the ridge above us that would lead us to the summit (photo 5). Happily, once on top, we saw that there was very little snow to speak of...just glorious views of the Arkansas Valley and snow-capped peaks on the other side (photo 6). Once we found the junction of our trail with the East Slopes trail, we knew the top was near.
Our results...did we summit or not? We're still trying to figure this out, as we followed the 14er.com route description closely, yet once we got past the (at least) two false summits and ascended the trail from the lower saddle to what we felt was the true summit (photo 7), we couldn't find either summit register or benchmark...only a pole sticking skyward from the highest outcropping and an old sandwich someone had left (photo 8 ).
A look to the north revealed another summit along the ridge and seemingly about the same height, so we concluded that that location must have been the real Mt Massive (we ran out of time and energy to confirm).
Or was it? It looked about half to three quarters of a mile north along the summit ridge from our original expectation of the true summit, with a significant saddle between us and this other peak, and virtually nothing was north of this outcropping along the ridge. A reference to photos suggested it might have been the North Massive. If so, we are still wondering where the Mt Massive benchmark and climbers' log are. Any suggestions?
Having started later than we wanted (about 10:55 AM), and not knowing whether we summited or not (at about 4:20 PM), it was time to head back. We raced the sun, stopping briefly for a photo (photo 9)showing the deepest snow we'd encountered on the way up. Timberline was a welcome sight (photo 10), but the 4.0 mile trail advertised at 14er.com seemed much more like the 6.2 mile Southwest Slopes trail discussed by Roach. At least, it felt that way to our old bones. Thanks to a nearly full moon, we finally got back to trailhead and our car at 7:30 PM, a total trip time of about 8.5 hours. No record-setters here, but we were safe, heading for supper in Leadville, and, summit or no, it was a glorious, but exhausting day on the Massive massif.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
|
