Mt. Massive

Route: East Slopes and West Slopes
Posted On: 3/28/2026, By: andy_schlichting
Info: Didn't summit, but was out for a trail run on the CDT and then back to the North Halfmoon Trailhead. CDT is clear (minus a large tree that fell down on the trail) for the first half mile from the summer trailhead, but intermittent snow for the next mile and then pretty consistent snow where I turned around 1.6 miles from the trailhead. Not sure how the trail is above the CDT (though I can see from my house in Leadville that above treeline it looks dry), but I don't think flotation would be needed to hike the CDT here. It was just annoying to run on. The road to this trailhead was completely snow free.

If your vehicle can drive to the North Halfmoon TH in the summer, it can drive there now. There are a few snow spots, but they've been driven over and would be a non-issue for vehicles. I didn't go up the trail, but that west face of the mountain looks real dry, even in the trees, so I'm guessing most of the west slopes route would be snow free now.

Side note--does anyone know what all the logging along the road before the Elbert TH is all about? They've cleared acres of trees and they don't look like dead trees. Hope it's fire prevention and not the government deciding to just start clearing that forest for money. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 3/22/2026, By: Connor1
Info: Started at the fish hatchery. Conditions were very dry for the first little while. Then consistent snow from 10500 all the way up to the point I turned around at 11600. Flotation is a must at this time. The snow was weak and did not get a good freeze over night. Lots of post-holing. Snow depth was just inches deep at lower elevation to waist deep up higher. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/8/2026, By: Jschramm87
Info: Good boot pack starting at the hatchery. First couple miles you can really cruise. After Highline intersects with the Colorado trail, the trench narrows considerably with some shallow post-holing even at 7 am. After I left Highline, I followed a single track up through the trees. Lots of knee and waist deep post holing (wallowing?) in this section. Lasted for an hour, maybe? Felt like more! Snowshoes would’ve probably helped for this part. Once out of the trees, the snow was pretty avoidable. Many dry sections along the ridge. Some fun rock features to scramble on. I wore microspikes for some icy sections near the summit. Summited in about 6 hours, 7.4 miles from the TH. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/1/2026, By: Maricopa Mountaineer
Info: Excellent, well packed trench from the fish hatchery up to the turn off onto the frozen lake (3mi) from the highline trail, after that it was an hour and a half of hell. I solo trenched from the lake up to tree line so get it while its there, mostly knee deep but some waist deep in sections. You'll probably still be sinking into it still so I suggest hitting it EARLY. Once above treeline you'll be cruising to the summit. Most, if not all snow is avoidable. 

Route: East face of N.Massive
Posted On: 1/14/2026, By: jacolc
Info: Well packed first 4 miles of trail to start east ridge of Massive. However not a sign of any track to south. Other reason I decided to try North Massive first was the strong wind from north. Thanks to some trancher, his track, although wind blowed, was helpful for next one and half mile or so. After my descent, it is now excellent trench, especially in tree. Above tree line, I adjust my plan again and head to east face of North Massive do to wind again. Used the snowshoe all the way until last bit of ridge below summit. At this point start using micro spike. Going SE on the ridge, traversed on right, sunny side of ridge. Just at main summit of Massive, wind increase to over 50mph (forecast 20). This forced me to stay more on east side of east ridge while going down. Again do to the hurricane wind. At 13400' I decided to leave the ridge and try the basin I approached at morning. This was good decision.
At the map: yellow/white= my planed route; pink= my actual route, blue=var
My GPX at library 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/12/2026, By: globreal
Info: 5 of us climbed Mt Massive via the standard route. We did not take/use snowshoes. It was a long day taking us 12 hours round trip. The lower trail in the trees is reasonable without snow shoes. No real (but some) post holing. Above tree line there was a section about a quarter mile where there was knee-deep snow. Snow shoes would be the better option. With 5 of us taking trail trenching turns, we did fine. (I still think the no snow shoe choice was fine.) Above the South Massive saddle, there was some sketchy sections of crossing snow slopes, which could be Avy danger. We avoided most sketch snow by rock climbing through scrambling rock sections. The false summits are discouraging, so be mentally ready. But the upper traverse goes reality quick…less than an hour. Our pace was 7.5 hours up, 4.5 hours down. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/17/2025, By: sgharris
Info: Broke trail through a couple feet of snow up from the Highline trail to treeline. Once up on the ridge, it was possible to never step on any snow or ice the rest of the way up. Summer conditions with no wind. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/15/2025, By: rixa77
Info: Nearly summer conditions today on the east slopes - few tiny areas of ice/packed snow that weren't bad so didn't bother using the spikes. Storm blowing in tomorrow so not sure how long they will last. Parking lot nearly empty all day with 3-4 cars, was amazed at hiking a popular 14er in "summer" conditions with the place to ourselves. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/12/2025, By: AlejandraOutside
Info: NOTE: Nearby Elbert restroom is closed for the season. Road to trailhead was clear of ice and snow.

Trail was mostly snow free below tree line though there were some snow packed spots and a couple of ice patches. All easily avoidable or traversed. Personally did not feel the need use spikes at all. Above treeline there are larger 6 inch+ deep patches of snow sporadically, but I only potholed once, and most snow could be avoided easily. Minimal ice/ snow accumulation 13kft+ 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/26/2025, By: Maddyleane
Info: Went up the southwest slopes and down the east slopes. Negligible snow on/off through the trees, but consistent starting as around 12,500 feet, anywhere from a couple inches to knee deep. I was clearly the only person who had attempted the southwest slopes since snowfall this year, but there was a nice trench to follow on the east slopes. Potentially was the last nice day of the year, wind forecast looks less than ideal for the foreseeable future. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 10/18/2025, By: gmatlock13
Info: Few inches of snow starting at roughly 13,000 feet. At most 8-10 inches in a couple spots, but mainly only a couple inches and overall many exposed rocks to step on. Made it slow going as we dug into the snow a little, later in the day. Had spikes but never used them as it wasn’t frozen hard. Overall a good day on the mountain! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/5/2025, By: Cruiser
Info: Great conditions today on massive. We started late cuz it was cold last night which kept us in the tent kinda late this morning. The ground was frozen all thru the forest on the approach. There was a little snow on the summit ridge after the false summit but it was nothing that we would've wanted traction to handle. Leaves are past peak but the understory is still outstanding with tons of color everywhere we looked. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/29/2025, By: ilikereds
Info: At TH @0400. Plenty of spots left. Zero snow in the trees and very little snow present on the mountain, and what was present was melting on the way down. Weather was great and very little traffic compared to the summer. Ideal time to knock out this peak. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/20/2025, By: terribletigzy
Info: Route was snow free, summer conditions at the moment. Weather has been unpredictable, this may not apply if it snows. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/20/2025, By: Smurgu
Info: At 4 am parking lot was almost full. Spotted two pairs of mountain lion eyes approx 2 miles in. Snowed at the top and poor visibility. I used spikes on the way down from the summit for ~ 0.5 miles. Overall a great experience!