14er Report #10: South Massive, Mt. Massive, Massive Green, North Massive, Point 14,169′ (Late Summer/Early Fall, Southwest Slopes & Tour de Massive)

The Mt. Massive Massif, #3. From near Leadville, Colorado, 2014

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”
― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

Ah, karma…

I probably shouldn’t have gone on this trip. My cranium was filled to the brim with other worries–family issues and scheduling matters mostly–and I was not very focused or in the moment. Result: I managed to leave a very expensive camera lens somewhere along the Massive-South Massive ridge. I just wasn’t paying attention and it fell out of a side pocket of my backpack where it had been improperly secured. (Yes, I did go back and look–essentially climbing both Mt. Massive and South Massive twice from the saddle–but no luck.)

It reminded me of those dark days you sometimes have running errands (or, worse, doing something even more serious) when nothing goes right. You hit all the red lights, the person you need to see at the Acme office is out on vacation, you set a plastic bag down on a hot stove top, you temporarily lose your wallet or purse in the house then find it in a stupid place, you drop your cell phone in the toilet, you discover you are supposed to be in two places at the same time for appointments, the dog barfs on the sofa, and so on.

When you run upstream against the universe like that (and you do know it when it is happening if you pay attention), maybe it’s time to just back off and try to climb those peaks or run those errands on another day. If you do that, often you’ll find yourself flowing easily with the downstream current of the universe and the peaks get climbed in a snap and the errands get done in a jiffy-pop.

Unfortunately, I didn’t listen to the echo of the universe today. The peaks got climbed, but the needle on my enjoyment meter was bouncing against the “Low” mark on the far left of the dial. I also paid much more attention to foot placement on the scree, loose boulders, and scrambling sections, as I figured today–based on karma–would be the day I’d fall or twist an ankle and have to get carried out ignominiously on a Stokes litter.

Luckily, that didn’t come to pass.

So, if you happen to be up on Mt. Massive’s summit ridge over the next few days, you just might come across an abandoned Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens resting quietly among the rocks enjoying the view. Please let me know if you do. A monetary reward as well as lunch at the Walnut Café in Boulder will be waiting for you.

Mt. Massive (14,421′) Trip Report

Route:

Up the Southwest Slopes Route from the North Half Moon Creek 4WD Trailhead. Then along the ridge–first, over to South Massive (twice), then up Mt. Massive (twice), continuing on to Massive Green, North Massive, and Point 14,169′. Down via the West Slopes Route. This may be backwards from the way many people do the loop, but I feel like it was the best choice for me–I was going up an easy-to-follow trail in the dark, and down a harder-to-follow trail in daylight.

Timeline:

Left Boulder at 11:30p.m. and on the trail by 2:25a.m. Made the right turn onto the Southwest Slopes Trail at the trail split at about 3:05a.m.

Arrived at the Mt. Massive-South Massive saddle around 5:45a.m. as first light began to fill the night sky. On the summit of South Massive maybe 20 minutes later. Departed South Massive at 6:15a.m.

At sunrise, about 6:45a.m., while nearly up to the top of Mt. Massive, discovered the lens was missing…spent the next 45 minutes in jog-walk-search mode back down to the saddle, up South Massive, then back again to my “horrible realization point”. Continued on…pissed and bummed.

On the summit of Mt. Massive by about 7:55a.m. Over Massive Green and on the North Massive summit by 9:30a.m. (includes photo and lunch breaks). Left North Massive at 10:00a.m., tagged Point 14,169′ at 10:20a.m. and started the descent.

Back to the trailhead at 1:30p.m.

Weather Conditions:

The forecast called for only 10% chance of late afternoon thunderstorms, and that was sort of accurate–by 2p.m. there were some pretty heavy clouds over the Sawatch Range. Temps in the high 30s at the start, and absolutely not a breath of wind. The skies stayed clear, with the exception of a few high scattered cirrus, until the first light cumulus started forming around 9:30a.m. Until then, the wind was ringing-in-the-ears, eerily calm–I swear I could hear someone on Main Street in Leadville chatting away with a friend…or so it seemed. Only in mid-morning did light breezes spring to life. I wore shorts and a long-sleeved single layer during the descent. So, a beauteous, bodacious, fall day in the high country.

Trail Conditions:

First, the road. I did see a Subaru wagon at the 4WD trailhead, but most lower clearance vehicles elected to park about 1/2 mile below this…there are two pretty rough spots in that last section past Forest Road 110J.

Now, the hike…I always worry I’ll be able to follow a trail by headlamp in the no or low moon morning dark, but I didn’t have any issues with that today. The trail was quite obvious going up along Half Moon Creek and the trail junction in the meadow described in most route descriptions was signed and cairned. Once climbing up the Southwest Slopes, the angled increased significantly, but the trail remained easy to follow, even through the boulder fields, thank to the sweat of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative volunteers (beautiful stone steps, thanks!).

If you plan on also climbing South Massive, don’t leave the Southwest Slopes trail too soon to contour over to the saddle or you’ll end up on a pretty messy scree and cliff field–wait until you are almost atop the ridge even though you’ll have to go downhill to the saddle. The trail along the long ridge from South to North Massive is mostly obvious and offers up some classic high country views.

The only challenging section is from Massive Green to North Massive–there you’ll find some fun Class 2+ to Class 3 scrambling. I used a combination of information from 14ers.com and Gerry Roach, along with some instinct, and a dash of Sherlock Holmes work to follow the various goat/human trails around the cliffs and gendarmes. Look for packed dirt and boot prints here and there. It is hard to describe what I did…you’ll just have to work it out yourself. If it exceeds Class 3, you are probably off route. With snow, some sections in this area might be easier, and other sections harder.

When you drop down from North Massive (or Point 14,169′), assuming a West Slopes descent and return, favor the slope to the left (east) then, once you have a better view down into the valley, beeline for the ridge with the pinnacles that divides the two main basins in the upper Half Moon Creek valley. This ridge will help you get down the steeper sections of the upper basin, but you’ll still do some scree sliding to make the lower area. Walk some rocks, then the soft tundra littered with a handful of massive boulders, then drop down near the larger lake and you’ll pick up the Half Moon Creek Trail. There are bits of trail and occasional cairns from near North Massive down to the main trail, but they are intermittent and may not take you the best way. Use your own judgment.

Photography Issues:

–Well, obviously the big issue was losing an expensive lens on the mountain. Oh, the stupidity…I need to make sure I always follow my “personal system” for packing and unpacking whenever I stop. One should always take a minute to look around the ground, do an inventory, and check the backpack closures.

–The MeFOTO Daytrip Tripod is working fine with its new ball head with full-sized clamp. Good choice for now unless I find something better. I can leave my L-bracket on the camera and switch between mini (for backpacking) and biggie (out-of-the-car work) tripods no problem.

Unusual Events / Comments:

The goat! I found him just below the Mt. Massive summit right on the trail. He liked the trail, and so did I, so I sort of followed him (pursued him?) up and over the Mt. Massive summit. He would stop every so often and glare back at me: “Why the hell are you following me?” He certainly has a home with a view. I wonder what his red blood cell count is?

The Half Moon Creek valley is gorgeous. It would be worth it just to backpack in, camp, and explore. Wonderful and wild.

Colorado 14er Senior Challenge summit count: 15 of the basic list of 58 (p. xxiii in Gerry Roach’s 14er “Bible”, Colorado Fourteeners, 3rd Ed.); 20 of the long list of 73 (pp. 347-348, with South Wilson added, also in Roach’s “Bible”.

Selected Images: