Mt. Massive SE Ridge Route - difficulty level?
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dianeshelton
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Mt. Massive SE Ridge Route - difficulty level?
A friend and I are planning to try the SE Ridge route up Mt. Massive on Thursday. We've done a couple of 14ers (Shavano and Yale), but only on the main trails. Any experts out there with tips and advice for staying on course and making it to the summit?
Re: Mt. Massive SE Ridge Route - difficulty level?
I did this route in mid-August about 5 years ago. It is a beautiful, aesthetic ridge run and remains one of my favorite non-standard routes to date.
It is quite a long hike, so you'll want to be confident in your weather window as you head up from timberline. Bailing off of the ridge shouldn't be terribly difficult, but the resulting bushwack back to the Colorado Trail could be less than pleasant.
The trickiest route finding is between the departure from the Colorado Trail and timber line. You will want to leave the CT as it begins a long left-hand turn from the north-east to north-west. If memory serves, this is about 1.5mi from the trailhead. From there, do you best to head directly west, and uphill. The forest is dense in places, but as long as you are consistently ascending, you should break timberline without too much issue. You will want a decent map, and compass for this section of the route. The route description Roach's 14er guide was helpful as well.
Once you break treeline, the route finding becomes significantly easier. The SE Ridge is obvious. You will find yourself traversing every major point between the base of the ridge and the summit.
We descended the standard East Slopes route after reaching the summit.
Good luck, and safe hiking.
It is quite a long hike, so you'll want to be confident in your weather window as you head up from timberline. Bailing off of the ridge shouldn't be terribly difficult, but the resulting bushwack back to the Colorado Trail could be less than pleasant.
The trickiest route finding is between the departure from the Colorado Trail and timber line. You will want to leave the CT as it begins a long left-hand turn from the north-east to north-west. If memory serves, this is about 1.5mi from the trailhead. From there, do you best to head directly west, and uphill. The forest is dense in places, but as long as you are consistently ascending, you should break timberline without too much issue. You will want a decent map, and compass for this section of the route. The route description Roach's 14er guide was helpful as well.
Once you break treeline, the route finding becomes significantly easier. The SE Ridge is obvious. You will find yourself traversing every major point between the base of the ridge and the summit.
We descended the standard East Slopes route after reaching the summit.
Good luck, and safe hiking.
Re: Mt. Massive SE Ridge Route - difficulty level?
I did this a year ago, and thought the route finding was pretty easy and the hike was not as difficult as anticipated. It is mostly stable tundra and talus, without many large boulders or nasty scree. I think Gerry Roach overestimates this route in terms of RP's. The hardest part was the steep slopes leading to point 13,630.
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bjkent76
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Re: Mt. Massive SE Ridge Route - difficulty level?
The forecast for Thursday looks like high chance of snow and/or thunderstorms. I was planning on doing this route Friday, which has a much more favorable weather forecast.
Just FYI.
Just FYI.
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dianeshelton
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- Joined: 8/25/2014
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Re: Mt. Massive SE Ridge Route - difficulty level?
Very helpful, thank you! Guess we'll keep an eye on the weather for Thursday...
