Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: Strugglr Info: Dry all the way up. Some snow along the ridge to North Massive but no traction was needed. Aspens starting to look really good in spots. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/20/2023, By: eekare Info: Started at 5:15 am on Sep 20th. Trailhead was near empty, I was the first person on the summit, and saw about 20 people on my way down. The storm the previous day left snow above 11,500 feet. Even with this, the trail was clearly visible. The deepest spots were only 3 inches. The wind was very chilly before the sun warmed things up. I brought spikes, but did not feel the need to use them - however, it may be icy early tomorrow when the snowmelt freezes. Upon descent, most of the snow had melted. Elevation gain is tame. The route is in great condition. |
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Route: Massive Mania Posted On: 9/18/2023, By: sarahmariekirk Info: Mount Oklahoma (13,845) yesterday along with the Massive Mania route - Northwest Massive (14,171), North Massive (14,337), Massive Green (14,311), Massive Proper (14,427) and South Massive (14,157). The class 3&4 scrambling along the ridge from Oklahoma to Massive was sustained and so much fun - the best part of the day by far. The climb up to North Massive and to Massive Green is intermittent class 2 and class 3 scrambling; we stayed on the right side of the ridge and this seemed to be the best route on our way to Massive Green. We did not see a soul until the Massive proper summit, and the last peak of the day was South Massive which was a quick jaunt up to the summit and a good finish to the Tour. Fantastic day up high and an incredible route. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 8/25/2023, By: Ariella6 Info: Trail is good and in summer conditions. Was a quiet day on the mountain without a lot of people out which was nice. Weather was perfect. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 8/17/2023, By: Benito_Esposti Info: Road up was in alright condition up to ~.25 miles from the trailhead. From there it got pretty rough but my subaru outback was able to get through with some careful line picking. If you have anything with less that 8 inches of clearance I'd recommend parking below this point. The trail is in good condition. It is steep and slightly loose in places but nothing too bad. Final ascent to Massive once you join onto the East slopes trail is good, stick near the ridge. We then went over to Massive green and North Massive. Hike to Green is chill and obvious. Once you get to the saddle between Green and North the trail fades. We went right (northeast) of the first large tower and traversed on some rocks above snow. This definitely felt like class 3 if not harder. Alternatively you could go across the snow, but it did not feel very stable to us which is why we avoided it. Beyond that you have to find much of your own route up to North. We stuck left (west) until we were just below a large face with lots of black rock on the lower section of the face. Apologies I forgot to get a picture. We then scrambled directedly up to the base of the face and traversed left until we were just right of the final tower before the summit, but again this felt much more like class 3. From here it was pretty easy to get up onto the ridge and reach the summit, just again pretty loose. We followed the same route down. There were a few cairns along the route but they were few and far between. Keep an eye out for them. Enjoy! |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 8/5/2023, By: Abowser7 Info: Beautiful conditions, summer conditions all the way to the summit. Decently busy for Massive. Southwest slopes route is in great condition and the trail looks well maintained. I was able to make it all the way to the trailhead in my 4runner with a 3" lift. Saw lots of stock rav4s and subarus up there too, shouldn't be an issue if you have 4wd. There is one relatively rough section of the road about .2 miles from TH, pretty easy to pass, just hang left when going up and stay right going down. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 8/5/2023, By: Hiking_TheRockies Info: Summer conditions. Tons of people on the trailsummit was packed. If you dont like crowds then try to go on a weekday! |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/23/2023, By: BiggasPanda Info: Started hiking at 6:30 am. The morning sun wasn't very hot once we got passed treeline, and the occasional gust of wind helped a lot. There were a ton of people also on the trail. We were cooking with gas by our standards and got to the summit in 3 hours 3 mins. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/12/2023, By: Abraxas Info: Oddly the Massive parking lot was full at 7am (so it's not Massive, har har), which I thought was odd considering there is no overnight parking and it was a Wednesday. Talked to people at the summit--all but one of whom had come from the SW slopes--and they believed the "no overnight parking" was not enforced. Whatever the case, the trail is fantastic. No need to touch snow. Tiny amount of mud and streams on the trail, both trivially avoidable. As mentioned, where the SW slopes trail merges with the East Slopes trail, there are multiple clearly-used routes that are probably a function of the amount of snow at the time. It is slightly confusing, and on the way back I ran into people similarly confused. But all roads lead to Rome. I went "low" going to the summit (from that point) and returned "high". Nothing complicated. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 7/12/2023, By: DigDug Info: Ideal weather conditions and the route is completely snow free. Easy to lose the trail in the talus fields between 11k and 12k feet, but also easy to refind. Only encountered about a dozen other hikers on this route, so the solitude was nice relative to a standard route. Made it to the upper trailhead in my stock '07 Pathfinder. Also saw a Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, Toyota 4-Runner, Subaru Legacy, and a Transit Van at the upper trailhead. At the nasty spot beyond a parking area, stay left on your way up, and right on the way down. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 7/9/2023, By: catward77 Info: Road to southwest slopes easily drivable w/ Subaru outback until about 0.3 miles from trailhead. Started at 4:00pm (tons of people were headed down), summited at 7:45pm. 100% summer conditions. Stayed for sunset and began descent at 9pm. Back to car at 11:30pm. Sunset was EPIC, visible milky way later, and I had the entire mountain to myself... on a Saturday... highly recommend as a sunset hike! |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 7/8/2023, By: aholle88 Info: Both SW and east slopes are completely free of snow. Bits of running water and mud on the east side trail above treeline. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 7/4/2023, By: mcosby Info: Went up the SW slopes in the afternoon. Patchy weather brought rain, snow flurries, graupel, and sun, but no electricity. Route is basically dry, traction not used at all. Summit was beautiful, and descent was fast and easy. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: yanks8190 Info: A few snow patches above 13.5k on the trail that are completely avoidable and snow on the summit ridge but otherwise, summer conditions. Road was subaruable but slow. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/27/2023, By: Ptglhs Info: 99% summer conditions. Snow patch near 13.2 and snow on summit ridge. Neither were supportive even early a.m. Recommend going climbers left through each. Trail disappears a bit in Boulder fields but generally easy to spot a cairn or 2. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/25/2023, By: marekso Info: Great conditions, with one slightly sketch 20' snow patch that you could mostly avoid before merging with the Southwest Slopes Route. Much much lower, there were ~three other short (~20') patches of snow on low-angle to flat terrain. On the final 1/4 mile to the summit (after you've merged with the Southwest Slope route), there was still a good amount of snow, but the grooves were deep and very well packed down. If you start really early, the mini snowmelt brook that runs on the trail for a bit at 13,000'ish will be icy/frozen over (but there are plenty of rocks to avoid it or you'll just crunch/break the 1 /8 thick ice straight to the ground). I brought microspikes, but never used them. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/25/2023, By: PearsonJohnP Info: Solid conditions on Friday 23 June. That snow patch at 13,200 was still there. Micro spikes were not needed, poles were very helpful. Coming down we probably couldve put spikes on but just scooted instead. Theres snow on the top of the final summit ridge line but you can navigate it fairly easily. Was not very crowded, maybe 10-15 people the whole up and back. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/24/2023, By: BarneyHobbes Info: Pretty much summer condition with a lingering snow patch that's doable without spikes esp if you get there early enough. Parked at the junction 0.5 mile from the actual TH - drove there with a Subaru Outback. Started at 5am and summited at 830am |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/23/2023, By: mmagann17 Info: Similar to previous reports, almost summer conditions! There is one melting icy patch around 13200 that some may want spikes for, though I left mine in my pack (and so slipped my way up and down the thing). A few other quick snow crossings are around, then some more extensive snow on the summit ridge. All these snow patches were well tracked out, and on the summit ridge, largely avoidable by sticking to the ridge. Probably worth bringing spikes for that one patch at 13200, though its certainly passable without them. A stunning day, with barely a cloud in the sky. A bit windy up top, but nothing too harsh. Made it to within 1/2 mile of the trailhead with my Nissan Rogue Sport - the road is good until then, then turns very steep and rocky. Not a bad walk at all from where I parked to the official trailhead. |
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Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: kennedy_josh Info: Trail is in pretty good shape overall. Same as conditions reports from past 2-3 days, a spicy snow patch about 13,200' that I put on the microspikes for. Had to make a diagonal climb through that. Rest of the trail did not require, even through a few snow patches on the summit ridge.. I could not a sign up there, so if you are looking to take the obligatory summit pic with sign, you make have to make one and carry it up. But I did toast a nice cold brew to the crew of Army copter 26378 that crashed on Massive in 2009 (I knew two of the crew members); the memorial marker is near the TH. 4hr 20min to ascend for this Alabama resident. Going down: same snow patch at 13,200 that was getting softer in the sun. I started to cut down the diagonal with microspikes but ended up with an impromptu glissade that could have gotten out of control very quickly. Probably 2-3 more weeks of sunshine before that snow patch gone. About 3hrs to descend. Extra note: road sign at start of FS110 says "High Clearance Vehicles Only" and they mean it! I had a rental Nissan Frontier with onyl 2WD, slid backwards in two spots just short of the TH. Managed to get it in reverse, back down, then get some momentum over the rocks/ruts. If it is wet back there, you may consider 4WD high clearance. |
