North Massive Trip Report 04/01/2015

Peak(s):	"North Massive" - 14,337 feet
Date Posted:	04/01/2015
Date Climbed:	02/17/2015
Author:	moneymike

North Massive Beta
Stats: Elevation gain:~4700' Round trip distance:~15mi Ascent time: 6:08 Rount trip time: 9:07 The morning of February 17, 2015, I left home and headed to the Leadville National Fish Hatchery. The goal was to ski the North East ridge of North Massive. I judged this route to be a possible avy safe route to the summit. And with the CAIC avy rating in the green or yellow, and no reported avalanches for over a week, I wasn't unnecessarily concerned about avalanches. My main concerns were about if I'd be able to find the trailhead, and the correct trail in the dark without wasting too much time. I figured it would be a long day. I arrived at the trail head, without any difficulty, just as it was getting light. However, I'm confident that anyone capable of reading a road map and road signs can easily find the trailhead in the dark. During my last ski tour, my ski partner noticed that my skins were not gliding well. I noticed it too as we skinned next to each other. Today was my first day on new skis and new skins to fit them. As soon as I hit the trail (at 6:41 a.m.), I could feel how well the new skins glided. After six years of fourteener skiing with one pair of skins, I completely forgot that skins are supposed to glide. I was as giddy as can be to be reminded that skins can glide. New skins are sooooo much more efficient than fuzzy old ones. Lesson learned! My next concern of the day was whether I would be able to navigate through the maze of trails around the ponds and find the highline trail. Again, this proved to be a no-brainer. The highline trail is very wide and well signed. Fortunately, it was also well packed down. After a little over a mile, the foot prints disappeared under a layer of fresh snow. The depression left from previous hikers ranged from slightly visible to plainly obvious, and the trail was wide enough to easily follow. I also had the foot prints of a solo dog to follow. Above the intersection with the Colorado trail, the trench and any other remnants of human tracks periodically disappeared in some sparsely treed, and therefore wind affected areas. Without the dense timber to make the trail obvious, the possibility for getting off route exists. However, if you are uncertain where the trail is, just pause and look around. If you are not too hasty, you will find it again. You might even be lucky enough to be following a dog who knows his own way up the mountain. The goal was to follow the highline trail westward until it takes a turn to the north, around 11,630' at a pond. I would then leave the trail and head north west to gain North Massive's obvious N.E. ridge . Around 11,200' however, I completely lost the trench and the dog prints in a meadow. This is where the true trail breaking occurred. North Massive was visible at this point so I knew where I wanted to go. North Massive Massive Left, North Massive right Taking the path of least resistance, I periodically noticed cut trees and assumed that I must be occasionally rediscovering the trail, even though it wasn't visible. Eventually I came to the pond, and then headed North west through a meadow to tree line. I gained the North East ridge just below tree line. Gaining the ridge here, exposes you to slopes that could avalanche. It is steep enough to slide, and the trees are sparse enough to offer little to no protection. However, I judged the snow pack to be safe. In fact, it was near bullet proof. Looking east toward the Mosquitos. Mt. Sherman and Sheridan in center The ridge I want to gain N. Massive and the ridge Once on the ridge, the route to the summit is obvious...just keep following the ridge. Above 13,000' the ridge steepens, but is low angle enough to skin the entire way. I found that booting up was so simple that I continued booting all the way to the summit. The entire ridge was easy class 2 climbing. Follow the strip of snow to the summit As an interesting little side note, at a wind protected section of the ridge, I came across the dog's footprints...both uphill and downhill prints. Previously I had only seen uphill tracks. The tracks were fresh and the dog appeared to be retracing his steps. I made the summit at 12:49, enjoyed the views, and took some pics before gearing up and skiing down. Looking back on the ridge from the summit Looking at Massive from N. Massive's summit I was able to ski directly off the summit. The snow was an ocean of sastrugi. Twice, I had to remove my skis to traverse over to the next continuous stretch of snow. For those of you who have never experienced sastrugi skiing, you should watch this pov video. And in order to get the full sastrugi skiing experience, I recommend you ask a friend to shake your head violently while you watch it. Did you enjoy the sastrugi skiing experience? Not really? That's ok, no one really does, but it's still a lot better than walking down the mountain. Descending of the mountain, I simply retraced my tracks. I have to say, the ski out was one of the easiest and most enjoyable egresses off any fourteener with a comparable approach. The trail was wide and the angle was perfect. I skied continuously all the way back to the car. I even caught sight of downhill tracks of the mysterious North Massive ghost dog. I concluded the day at 3:48 p.m., for a round trip time of nine hours, seven minutes. I hope the beta was useful, and I definitely recommend this as an enjoyable and safe winter route. The only avy concern was gaining the ridge. I considered it to be of little concern when I did it, but if you do this route during uncertain avalanche conditions, you might want to search for a safer way of gaining the ridge than the direct approach I took (the opposite side of the ridge is likely to be wind scoured and could be an option). Thanks for reading. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

North Massive Beta

Stats:
Elevation gain:~4700'
Round trip distance:~15mi
Ascent time: 6:08
Rount trip time: 9:07

The morning of February 17, 2015, I left home and headed to the Leadville National Fish Hatchery. The goal was to ski the North East ridge of North Massive. I judged this route to be a possible avy safe route to the summit. And with the CAIC avy rating in the green or yellow, and no reported avalanches for over a week, I wasn't unnecessarily concerned about avalanches. My main concerns were about if I'd be able to find the trailhead, and the correct trail in the dark without wasting too much time. I figured it would be a long day.

I arrived at the trail head, without any difficulty, just as it was getting light. However, I'm confident that anyone capable of reading a road map and road signs can easily find the trailhead in the dark.

During my last ski tour, my ski partner noticed that my skins were not gliding well. I noticed it too as we skinned next to each other. Today was my first day on new skis and new skins to fit them. As soon as I hit the trail (at 6:41 a.m.), I could feel how well the new skins glided. After six years of fourteener skiing with one pair of skins, I completely forgot that skins are supposed to glide. I was as giddy as can be to be reminded that skins can glide. New skins are sooooo much more efficient than fuzzy old ones. Lesson learned!

My next concern of the day was whether I would be able to navigate through the maze of trails around the ponds and find the highline trail. Again, this proved to be a no-brainer. The highline trail is very wide and well signed. Fortunately, it was also well packed down.

After a little over a mile, the foot prints disappeared under a layer of fresh snow. The depression left from previous hikers ranged from slightly visible to plainly obvious, and the trail was wide enough to easily follow. I also had the foot prints of a solo dog to follow.

Above the intersection with the Colorado trail, the trench and any other remnants of human tracks periodically disappeared in some sparsely treed, and therefore wind affected areas. Without the dense timber to make the trail obvious, the possibility for getting off route exists. However, if you are uncertain where the trail is, just pause and look around. If you are not too hasty, you will find it again. You might even be lucky enough to be following a dog who knows his own way up the mountain.

The goal was to follow the highline trail westward until it takes a turn to the north, around 11,630' at a pond. I would then leave the trail and head north west to gain North Massive's obvious N.E. ridge . Around 11,200' however, I completely lost the trench and the dog prints in a meadow. This is where the true trail breaking occurred. North Massive was visible at this point so I knew where I wanted to go.

Taking the path of least resistance, I periodically noticed cut trees and assumed that I must be occasionally rediscovering the trail, even though it wasn't visible. Eventually I came to the pond, and then headed North west through a meadow to tree line.

I gained the North East ridge just below tree line. Gaining the ridge here, exposes you to slopes that could avalanche. It is steep enough to slide, and the trees are sparse enough to offer little to no protection. However, I judged the snow pack to be safe. In fact, it was near bullet proof.

Looking east toward the Mosquitos. Mt. Sherman and Sheridan in center

Once on the ridge, the route to the summit is obvious...just keep following the ridge. Above 13,000' the ridge steepens, but is low angle enough to skin the entire way. I found that booting up was so simple that I continued booting all the way to the summit. The entire ridge was easy class 2 climbing.

As an interesting little side note, at a wind protected section of the ridge, I came across the dog's footprints...both uphill and downhill prints. Previously I had only seen uphill tracks. The tracks were fresh and the dog appeared to be retracing his steps.

I made the summit at 12:49, enjoyed the views, and took some pics before gearing up and skiing down.

Looking back on the ridge from the summit

Looking at Massive from N. Massive's summit

I was able to ski directly off the summit. The snow was an ocean of sastrugi. Twice, I had to remove my skis to traverse over to the next continuous stretch of snow.

For those of you who have never experienced sastrugi skiing, you should watch this pov video. And in order to get the full sastrugi skiing experience, I recommend you ask a friend to shake your head violently while you watch it.

Did you enjoy the sastrugi skiing experience? Not really? That's ok, no one really does, but it's still a lot better than walking down the mountain.

Descending of the mountain, I simply retraced my tracks. I have to say, the ski out was one of the easiest and most enjoyable egresses off any fourteener with a comparable approach. The trail was wide and the angle was perfect. I skied continuously all the way back to the car. I even caught sight of downhill tracks of the mysterious North Massive ghost dog. I concluded the day at 3:48 p.m., for a round trip time of nine hours, seven minutes.

I hope the beta was useful, and I definitely recommend this as an enjoyable and safe winter route. The only avy concern was gaining the ridge. I considered it to be of little concern when I did it, but if you do this route during uncertain avalanche conditions, you might want to search for a safer way of gaining the ridge than the direct approach I took (the opposite side of the ridge is likely to be wind scoured and could be an option).

Thanks for reading.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

jam6880	crappy skiing 4/2/2015 4:25am good music
BillMiddlebrook	S**tstrugi 4/2/2015 12:19pm Nice job, Mike. Ya know, I’ve spent many days ice fishing on Turquoise Lake and looked up at that strip of snow and thought "that’s an interesting line" but I was never driven enough to actually get up there. I’m glad someone skied it – too bad conditions were not ideal. If it matters, I also thought the same thing about the "Y" chute on Galena Mountain, in case you’re looking to ski a line which I doubt ever gets much attention. Just a crappy 12er, though.
lodgling	Shake your head violently 4/2/2015 5:31pm Really captures the thrill of sastrugi
SnowAlien	Dang 4/2/2015 7:45pm Now I really wish we went up that ridge vs a silly ridge on Massive which wasn’t much fun with skis. Oh well. Thanks for the beta.
moneymike	jam6880: 4/2/2015 10:08pm I feel the music is a good match for that kind of skiing, don’t you? BillMiddlebrook: It was more the 14er status than the "interesting line" that drove me (I’ve included both south and north massive into my ski project). I’ve never heard of Galena. SnowAlien: "SnowAlien"? No more nkan02? I hope "Alien" refers to your residency status and is not because you’re going around anal probing skiers with your ski poles. Or maybe you’ve just abducted Natalie and are pretending to be her lodgling: If you have two friends, you can have one push your upper body forward while the other holds your feet still. That’s also a great feeling.
BillMiddlebrook	Galena Mtn 4/3/2015 1:23am Galena Mountain is a 12er just NW of Turquoise Lake and has a Y–shaped set of steep chutes which drop from the summit. It runs 50–55 degrees on the upper portions. In spring it can be full, making it a great looking line. Unfortunately, I’m too lazy to go up there and ski it. Anyway, great job getting N Massive. Looks like you needed a mouth guard for that bumpy ski down.
moneymike	Don’t talk like that, Bill. 4/3/2015 4:26pm Maybe this year I can finish up this stupid 14er project, and then force your lazy ass up Galena for a ski descent
SnowAlien	Galena 4/3/2015 9:21pm Bill – you can crash at Uncle Bud’s hut, rest/drink for a couple days and THEN hit Galena mtn from the hut. How does that plan sound? Mike – it refers to my former resident status and some cool ski boots I should aspire to ride in p.s. and I can certainly probe too ;)
AeroDan	Galena pic 4/4/2015 4:57am Galena on Jan 10th, 2015 from Uncle Buds Hut. Not too familiar with the peak nor the Y chute, but I’m guessing the Y chute is right of the peak in this image. Edit: Damnit. Link to Google Drive doesn’t seem to work despite making it public. Too lazy to figure it out. I’ll just say it looks worthy. I fell asleep looking out the hut’s window at it one night while dreaming of spring.

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