This was sort of a silly trip. I knew there was a good trench set up from the Fish Hatchery to Mount Massive for the east ridge route. I've done that route a few times with my Nolan's 14 attempts and Slowlans trip, but I also thought it would be somewhat funny to take the east slopes route, knowing that it emphatically wouldn't be trenched out. Get an old school Winter 14ers experience. I also didn't really want to camp within the Fish Hatchery.

To add to this, the bus from Frisco to Leadville doesn't allow bikes on it in the Winter, and the Half Moon Road wasn't plowed after it turned to dirt anyways. So, I just decided to walk the extra 26 miles round trip from.to the Leadville Safeway.

So, scene set: I went off around 2pm, as that's when the bus made it to PbVille. Booting it from Leadville wasn't too bad, albeit a little unexciting. Far more traffic than I thought would be on CR4 and Rd 5, but it beats the pants off of trying to hiking Highway 24, which shutter. A little more chill once I crossed over onto CO 300. Everything was well plowed until the road closure, but Halfmoon Road saw enough snow machine traffic to allow it be walked without 'shoes. But once I passed the purple house with the horses, I'd not see another person until I hoofed it outta there.

Night fell, and I made camp a little up the Colorado Trail on the Elbert side of the road. I didn't want to camp right by the creek to try to not be in a cold river of air. Stamping down a proper area to put up a tent was somewhat hilarious, as there was several feet of snow to contend with. Many different weak layers, I "whomped!" through. Area stamped, I proceeded to put up the 10oz trekking pole tent, which didn't work too well, as tent stakes are absolutely required, and they weren't catching in the snow. But long story short, it was erected, and I slithered in.

Up at 2am, I start the slog. Going was so slow just getting to the trailhead was a comedy. I didn't actually know if this trip was going to realistically work given it was a few miles to even the junction with the Mount Massive trail. I followed the CT as best I could but came short of that junction after sunrise (sigh) and was a bit impatient, so I turned off and made my way up in the general direction of the route. Broke through treeline and actually got some sun.

The only thing I was worried about was the brief snow slope up the final above treeline tundra walk, but with a quick avy analysis, it seemed (and was) OK, I heard "whomps" all day, so the snowpack was a bit twitchy.

Very windy above treeline, but I just mushed forward, until there was no more up to go. 11 hours from my tent to the top! Dear Gawd that's under a mile an hour! I waged I wouldn't make it back to my tent until 10:00pm at this rate. But given the route was a lot easier to follow, somewhat trenched and almost completely downhill, things went faster than I had estimated, and I got back at ~8pm. All I really wanted to do was go back to sleep, but I thought it best to sort gear and get ready for the 13 miles back to Leadville.

Happy I did, as I awoke to snow falling, and having to sort gear in a storm doesn't sound as fun. Broke down camp, and left around oh 3 or 4am in the storm, bound back for Leadville, making the coffee shop around 9:30am. Grabbed a quad shot Americano, and waited for my bus from Leadville to Frisco to Denver to Boulder. Another public transportation Winter 14er tick!