"North Massive" (14,340), "Massive Green" (14,300), Mt Massive (14,421), "South Massive" (14,132) by Brian Schultz Thursday August 30, 2001
What an undertaking! We tossed around the idea of climbing only North Massive, since it's almost an official fourteener by itself, until Tim suggested we try the West Slopes extra credit route (9.4EC in Roach's book). That route would have us climbing North Massive first, then grabbing the remaining summits on the ridge before descending the Southwest Slopes route. Tim and I met in Leadville at the Super 8 motel. After eating in town and catching up on pictures from our last trip, we set the alarm for 4:30 AM and turned in.
Hoping our early morning start would bring success on this ambitious route, we drove past the Mt Massive parking lot where we dropped off my car, and jostled along the bumpy four wheel drive road in Tim's truck to the North Halfmoon Creek trailhead. Flashlights were needed when we began at 5:35 on the well marked trail.
We hiked up through the trees and stopped for breakfast at first light. The large flat rock we stretched out on offered scenic views while clear skies gave promise of a fine morning. Continuing up the valley, we paralleled below the higher Massive ridge on our right and eventually topped out on a hill above North Halfmoon Lakes. The vantage point showed our steady progress but we had a long ways to go with considerable elevation yet to gain. Above the hill was a large looming ridge of towers that we hiked around on its right side while staying to the left of a small lake. A steep grunt put us into the basin below North Massive, with one more steep climb remaining up a long slope. Though a snowfield was helpful ascending the slope before we hit the scree, the elevation gain was fast and furious until reaching the top. The miserable loose junk was a pain, about as bad as Conundrum yesterday if not worse, but at least it topped out onto a nice flat area where we took a long rest and contemplated whether to make the run to Point 14,169. Time was a factor and we wanted South Massive more, so we skipped the Point.
North Massive was just a short jaunt above us and we easily dashed up the rocks to its summit at 9:25. It took nearly four hours to climb almost 4,000 feet elevation. After a few pictures we climbed the east summit also, then prepared to descend to the 14,100 ft saddle, which Roach calls a "lively descent." At the bottom of it we looked at each other and laughed, for Mr. Roach definitely has a sense of humor. I would describe it as wildly wicked.
The rocky towers of the ridge were bypassed on the left side and downclimbed when necessary to get to the 14,060 ft. Massive Green saddle. We contoured to the left below Massive Green and started straight up when it looked feasible. This was very easy climbing and we made its 14,300 ft summit at 10:30, staying just moments because it started sleeting. The wonderful weather from earlier was changing quickly so we scrambled up to the main summit and signed its register at 10:55. Large snow pellets hailed on us, the skies darkened, and we stayed only twelve minutes. I was certain our climbing was done for the day but since we had to descend to the South Massive saddle anyway, we could decide there whether to continue or not.
It didn't look so good when we got there but with a break in the storm activity we chanced it and surprisingly made South Massive in 13 minutes. When I was here in 1997 it seemed so distant that I didn't even bother trying. After a quick bite to eat we hurried down to the saddle and at 12:09 began our descent, grateful to have trekking poles because of the steep slope. Within one minute we heard thunder rumbling and pushed to get down quickly. The Forest Service had people scouting the lower area and told us they were considering making a new route up the slopes, not a bad idea because the trail is sketchy and totally disappears at times. After catching up to the main trail below and finding the identifying cairn covered by tall weeds, we agreed that route-finding would be a challenge for many climbers ascending this route. Five minutes before reaching the truck it started raining- we made it back at 1:50. Tim dropped me off at my car and left for home. I talked to a fellow hiking the Colorado Trail who just got down from Mt Massive by the standard route- he was the only other person who'd signed the summit register today and gave me a funny look when I told him we were up there too!
This was a rewarding day and a fun finish to my second Colorado trip. I headed home with five more fourteeners climbed along with several unofficial ones.
North Halfmoon Creek trailhead to North Massive- 3 hours 50 minutes
North Massive to Massive Green- less than an hour
Massive Green to Mt Massive- 25 minutes
Mt Massive to South Massive- less than an hour
South Massive summit (Southwest Slopes route) to trailhead- 1 hour 50 minutes
Total hiking time- 8 hours 15 minutes (including all breaks)