Missouri Mountain East Ridge

[MileHighAMC]

I made a YouTube video about the experience:

https://youtu.be/ogVSr_gU7q0

[Scott P]

I tried to descend Missouri Mountain East Ridge. We had to quit. It was a terrifying experience! I am happy to have survived.

Just curious. What was the reasoning of choosing this route in particular?

[handonbroward]

I think people choose it because it seems like such a huge shortcut over to the pass, and there is plenty of conversation here about doing it, so they think they can just wing it. Which is not the case. There is plenty of discussion here about how incredibly dangerous it can be if you don't know what you are doing and where you want to go.

I am curious if he researched on here at all before deciding to descend, or just saw that it goes and went for it. It was very evident from some of the video that they were on the ridge proper quite a bit, which is not recommended for the East Ridge.

Another observation, especially when it comes to a mountain with rock known to be this loose: If you really feel your life is in danger, it might not be the best time to be carrying a hand held camera. Head mounted GoPro is fine, but no footage is potentially worth your life.

[MileHighAMC]

I tried to descend Missouri Mountain East Ridge. We had to quit. It was a terrifying experience! I am happy to have survived.

Just curious. What was the reasoning of choosing this route in particular?

We climbed Missouri Mountain and decided that we wanted to summit Belford and Oxford as well. We were not aware of the East Ridge route. But it looked like it could be done. We descended Missouri Mountain via East Ridge to get to Elk Pass. We chose this route as it appeared to be a shortcut to bag all three peaks. All of us were very experienced and athletic climbers. We got too confident in our ability and were looking for a dangerous challenge. We almost made it across the ridge. We ended up going too far down off the ridge and the rocks became very loose. The loose rocks ended in a deadly cliff. We could not find a good route down. We had not choice but to make the climb back up to the top of the east ridge. We hiked back up the east ridge to Missouri Mountain summit and down the standard route. We did not successfully summit Belford-Oxford. It was a very scary and humbling experience. However, I learned so much about mountaineering, had a lot of fun, and proved to myself I can handle class 4 climbing. Missouri Mountain was my 16th 14er. It was my first time doing class 3/class 4. It was a group of three. We all made it out safely and with a new outlook on life. I have a YouTube video that shows this route/experience in great detail. The crazies thing about this was that we did not even know anything about the East Ridge route. We just winged it. Not a smart decision!

[MileHighAMC]

I think people choose it because it seems like such a huge shortcut over to the pass, and there is plenty of conversation here about doing it, so they think they can just wing it. Which is not the case. There is plenty of discussion here about how incredibly dangerous it can be if you don't know what you are doing and where you want to go.

I am curious if he researched on here at all before deciding to descend, or just saw that it goes and went for it. It was very evident from some of the video that they were on the ridge proper quite a bit, which is not recommended for the East Ridge.

Another observation, especially when it comes to a mountain with rock known to be this loose: If you really feel your life is in danger, it might not be the best time to be carrying a hand held camera. Head mounted GoPro is fine, but no footage is potentially worth your life.

I did not research the East Ridge. We just winged it. I did not film any footage when I felt I was in danger. The most dangerous parts were not filmed. I may lack experience in mountaineering. But I am a very strong athletic person with a strong mind. Also, I will admit that I am a little crazy when it comes to seeking adrenaline. Believe me, I have learned from this experience. I will only get better.

[Monster5]

All of us were very experienced and athletic climbers.

I too used to say this back in the day.

[Eli Boardman]

We chose this route as it appeared to be a shortcut to bag all three peaks. All of us were very experienced and athletic climbers. We got too confident in our ability and were looking for a dangerous challenge. We almost made it across the ridge.

"Don't take no shortcuts" ~ Virginia Reed, Donner Party

[RichH]

I've been scouting out Nolans and started up from Elkhead around the south side a couple of weeks ago. In the end I decided it wasn't faster than going down to the junction and going up Missouri the normal way. The south side is better but still awful loose rock.

[Monster5]

One of the previous 50 or so threads on Missouri's East Ridge had a couple time comparisons. I think Krupicka said it was a wash for him.
For me, it depends on direction: the ridge is faster going Elkshead to Missouri, and the trail is faster going Missouri to Elkshead. I'm sure the ridge or some variation would be decently fast to descend with enough scouting. But that sounds incredibly dull.

[skweiler17]

I did east ridge yesterday and found it to be trivial 3rd class on the ascent from Elkhead Pass. I stayed just to the left of the ridge proper(no long traverses on the south side across gullies) and climbed up to the ridge on mostly solid rock, at least no worse than other mountain traverses. I climbed up to the ridge quite soon, as I had a lot of ridge left to the summit. I just followed what looked easiest, not rocket science. Not sure why people get so worked up about this. It was direct, easy route finding and allowed for all three peaks to be linked w/o a bunch of shenanegans. Maybe folks don't have a tolerance for loose rock. It would be difficult to find the easiest direct route while descending however.

[ericahlstedt]

I did east ridge yesterday and found it to be trivial 3rd class on the ascent from Elkhead Pass. I stayed just to the left of the ridge proper(no long traverses on the south side across gullies) and climbed up to the ridge on mostly solid rock, at least no worse than other mountain traverses. I climbed up to the ridge quite soon, as I had a lot of ridge left to the summit. I just followed what looked easiest, not rocket science. Not sure why people get so worked up about this. It was direct, easy route finding and allowed for all three peaks to be linked w/o a bunch of shenanegans. Maybe folks don't have a tolerance for loose rock. It would be difficult to find the easiest direct route while descending however.

This was my experience as well. Makes a lot more sense and more direct than the "standard route" imo. I thought about making a trip report with photos and lines drawn on it, but am just going to leave it for other people to also "discover"

[justiner]

I did east ridge yesterday and found it to be trivial 3rd class on the ascent from Elkhead Pass.

Do you have a track? I've been all different ways and even with my sandbagged sense of classes, I've never found anything that's Class 3. (ericahlstedt same q)