Mt. Massive

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/30/2025, By: madmattd
Info: Full summer conditions on the trail proper - I took all of 2 steps on thin snow on the upper ridge just below the false summit. A few minor spots of wet trail in the upper basin from nearby snowmelt. Disappointed to see trail braiding starting to happen in the basin - like it or not, the rocky path is the trail, not the dirt/flowers parallel path, hike accordingly! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/28/2025, By: dbennettnow
Info: Weather was beautiful, a brisk 36 at my 4:30am start. Slight breeze at the top around 9 am, clear skies. Trail is steep AF, and really hard on the knees on the way down. I usually descend very fast, this descent took 4 hours. Lots of loose rock, big and small. I wouldn't recommend dogs on this trail. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/27/2025, By: eastcoasthiker
Info: After you drive within .4 miles of the N Halfmoon Creek trailhead you will encounter two very serious 4x4 moves. A young lady managed to get over the first one in a Honda crossover and I have no idea how. She should get a medal. The whole road is straightforward until that point and then it throws a couple big curveballs that were not easy for my very capable Land Cruiser. Trail was steep! Literally everyone on the mountain was doing the southwest slopes and there was nobody coming up the standard route. One goat on top. 99% dry trail. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/23/2025, By: Sportyspice 725
Info: Road is easy to navigate, any car can make to trailhead. Arrived 5 this morning only a couple of cars. Trail is easy to navigate, last 2 miles are rocky. Winds were intense today, saw some mtn goats and bear close to summit.. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/18/2025, By: wmagnuson7
Info: First off, what a gorgeous trail! Kudos to CFI and all those who have made this an incredible trail, which is now my favorite of the Sawatch 14'ers. Almost the entirety of the SW slopes is now in summer conditions. There are a couple small snowfields to cross, for which you may want poles, but they are so short it would be annoying to put microspikes on for such a short section (can also leave gaiters at home). God bless and enjoy! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/16/2025, By: zackj99
Info: Great conditions for a climb on Mt. Massive! Started at 4:15 and summited at 9:15. A few snow fields below the basin and then on the ridge. No traction required and I wore trail runners for the duration of the hike. Glissade down the Eastern face was fun. No wind on the summit, lots of pretty flowers, and not a cloud in the sky. A great day! My cousin's first 14er! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/16/2025, By: slawrence2011
Info: I skied Massive yesterday, it is holding much better than Elbert. You have to walk down 10 feet below the summit, and then can ski 1K feet without taking off the skis, and then with five more horizontal boot walks to keep going to the northeast aspects of the Gully just N of the standard ridge, managed to get another 1K feet, down to 12,3. Standard trail is almost summer conditions, other than a couple snowfields around 12K, and a few on the summit ridge above 14K. Soft enough that I didn't need microspikes. I hope it lasts with this heat. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/12/2025, By: srtaylor1317
Info: I parked just after the junction (don't both trying to go further with only a standard SUV). I set out at 4am. The beginning of the trail is just delightful. When you get to the turnoff for Mt. Massive, note that the sign was damaged by avalanche debris. There are some mostly flat snow patches in the valley that I just walked across--no traction needed. After the boulder fields, there are several large snowfields that really do require some sort of protection. Microspikes and trekking poles were perfect for maintaining good grip, and I stayed on the snow as long as I could (I prefer snow to rock, given the choice). Once you are approaching the summit ridge, though, you can put them away. The snow on the summit ridge will already be soft by 7am. For myself, I added some new postholes, but mostly just scampered across the actual ridge line to avoid the soft snow. A few well-compacted boot paths are unavoidable, but are firm. I hit the summit around 8a. For the return, I put on gaiters and was able to descend probably close to 1000 feet with a combination of plunge stepping, short glissades, and the good 'ol slide-on-your-butt method. Just make sure to pick your runs carefully. Some of them are pretty steep. I got back on the trail shortly before the boulder fields, and was back at the car by 11a, for a 7hr RT. And just in time! The first peal of thunder came as I was loading gear into the back. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/11/2025, By: ny30mil
Info: Blue bird morning, Temps in 30s to start. Started at 435am with headlamp at main trailhead going up Colorado trail and came down halfmoon trail. One other car in parking lot, only saw two hikers all day. At 4 miles just past treeline, you come to the biggest snowfield of entire hike. I reached it at 630am and it was easy to cross cause snow was solid. Happy to have started early for this reason. Lots of icy sections in early morning between 12.5k-13.5k, just be careful. Microspikes were helpful for last 200ft of climbing, also had poles. Summited at 820am and winds were 10mph, some postholing began shortly after on the descent. Easy to navigate down halfmoon. The last 1/2 mile of halfmoon road between the two trailheads is definitely rutted, bouldery and not the best. If you want to start at halfmoon trailhead, a 4x4 and high clearance vehicle is needed. I was back at the car at 1145am, temps were in the high 50s. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Parked about .5 miles below North Halfmoon Creek TH due to some pretty huge ruts in the road. A jeep, 4runner, or truck could do it. Started at 4AM. Trail runners, micro spikes and poles ended up being the perfect kit for the day, no flotation necessary. No snow on the first 2 miles of the trail, then some snowfields on the southwest slopes. I picked my own line and went up the weakness at the saddle between Massive and South Massive and was able to avoid most of the snow. Solid bootpack snow on the summit ridge. Bagged North Massive, Massive Green and South Massive while I was up there as well. There is snow from Massive to North Massive (no bootpack) but South Massive was totally dry. I'd say both the east and southwest slopes would be good skiing still; you could probably bang out 2000+ feet on a good line that stops near tree line. Kind of wished I brought the skis today; definitely seemed worth it. 11.16 miles / 5,525' gain / 7 hours, 30 minutes 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/2/2025, By: asmith9118
Info: Started @ 6:30am and summitted around 11:45am. Below treeline the trail is almost entirely clear of snow and it is a very pleasant, easy walk. Above treeline ; intermittent patches of shallow-medium depth snow, postholing required in sections up and down the approach hill towards saddle. Summit ridge is still mostly covered in snow. I used microspikes, gaiters, and trekking poles. You will get very wet descending in the slushy snow/muddy trail if you summit around noon like I did. I would expect Spring conditions to persist until late June based on this experience. Garmin logged 13.96 miles RT from trailhead. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/31/2025, By: Caedmonn
Info: Just a few snow patches until above tree-line then we were able to consistently skin. Perfect weather, we stashed skis right below the summit ridge. Was able to ski from summit ridge down to about 11,500'. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/23/2025, By: wyattjohns
Info: got a late start on the east slopes approach, got on trail at 10, hit the fork at 11.10 there are intermittent snow patches on the lower trail, then after the fork the trail gets quite hard to follow as its feint and there are more snow patches, post holing is a must through parts, though there is not enough snow for a skin track in still in tree line there is still quite a lot of snow. exiting tree line there is a short section where snow shoes would be nice but its less than 1/2 a mile till the snow becomes intermittent for the rest of the hike. I wore micro spikes for this. once past that the trail kind of disappears under snow comes back near the top. I did it in trail runners and didn't regret it, for the distance mountaineering boots and snowshoes would have been too much. to the top is chill just exposed. I went down where there were 2 sets of ski tracks, it was a good glissade then traversed the bowl back to the trail and was able to follow it better on the way down as I had put tracks in. wrapping up was chill just a hike back. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 4/22/2025, By: Splitboard14ers
Info: Not enough snow coverage to skin first 2 miles. Colder overnight conditions kept snow firm, so stayed on foot till past tree line, just walking on firm snow. Skinned from above treeline to ridge, then resumed climbing on foot to Summit. On the way out snow was manageable on skins. Hiked out last 2 miles on foot. Warmer temps could change snow down low in next few days, but cloud cover and wind kept snow cold up high. Recommend study the approach for trail junctions and changes, or put screenshots on your phone so you know the route if not using GPS. 

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.