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Mt. Massive(14, 421 ft)
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Mt. Elbert, is Mt.
Elbert's shorter neighbor to the north by 12 feet. There are 5
summits that make up Mt. Massive, all over 14,000ft! Mt. Massive
is easily visble from Leadville to the west, and seen from US 24 on the
drive into Leadville.
Mt. Massive Routes:
East Slopes
Route(Class 1/2)
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Approaches:
East Slopes
Route(Halfmoon Campground): To get to this trailhead, take
I-70 from
Denver to the Copper Mountain/ Leadville exit. Take this exit
and stay left toward Leadville on highway 24. This highway goes
over
the mountains and down into Leadville with a good view of Mt. Massive
along
the way. In Leadville stay on this Highway 24 all the way through
town, but watch the speed limit. Speeding tickets appear to be
one of the major contributors to Leadville's "Boom Days" festival.
Continue on 24 and look for CO300 on the west(right)side of the
road. Turn west(right) onto CO300. Look for County
Road 11 a little over 0.5 miles from the US24/CO300 junction.
Take a left onto County Road 11. Look for signs to Halfmoon
Creek. Take a right turn just shy of 2 miles from the CO300 &
County Road 11 junction that follows the Halfmoon Creek signs.
You will pass Halfmoon Campground and find the Mt. Massive Trailhead on
the righthand(north) side of the road. There should be pleanty of
parking here.(CLICK HERE to jump to route
description) |
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Hiking Details |
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East
Slopes: Total RT Distance from TH Parking: 13.65
miles (7.0 hours) approx. 4,440 vertical feet
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Obstacles: Access
to TH may not be open till significant snow melt has happened.
This adds significant distance to the route is this is the case.
Watch out for people on horses; especially when they are banging their
heads on trees.
Hazards: Other than weather,
altitude and usual hazards, nothing stands out.
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East Slope Route:
Head north from the parking area on the very good, easy Class 1
Colorado Trail. You will head in a northerly direction through
the forest, and accross two creek crossings befor reaching the Mt.
Massive Trail. This junction is at 3.28 miles(as measured by
GPS), so call it 3.3. The Mt. Massive trail does west from the
Colorado trail up the slopes in front of you. Climb this slope by
the most obvious trail to land yourself at the saddle between S. Mt.
Massive(14,130) and the main summit. From this saddle, head again
in a northerly direction toward the main summit. Don't let the
short route description fool you by how brief it is. All that
means is that the route is straighforward, but the distance is
long! This was a very long day on our climb.
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