CT Day 18: Mount Massive

We woke up as early as possible, leaving our gear about 1/2 mile from the Mt. Massive trailhead. We were moving by 7 or 7:30 that morning. A little later than we'd hoped, but early enough for safety. But the weather had us very concerned about our climb and our ascent. Fog and clouds surrounded us on all sides. We spent most of the morning wondering when, not if, it would rain on our parade.

Still, we continued on undaunted, determined to tick another mountain off of our list. For David, this would be his third or fourth "14er" if I'm not mistaken. For myself, it would count as the tenth Colorado "14er" I had climbed. I've also been up Mt. Whitney and White Mountain Peak in California.

To date I have climbed:

1. Pikes Peak
2. Windom Peak
3. Sunlight Peak
4. Mt. Evans
5. Grey's Peak
6. Mt. Princeton
7. Mt. Elbert
8. Mt. Beirdstadt
9. Torrey's Peak
10. Mt. Massive

Mt. Massive was, on the whole, much as I expected it to be. It definitely ranks among the easier Colorado Mountain's I've climbed. It still turned out to be a magnificent summit. While we were disappointed and concerned about the weather early on, things cleared up later in the morning. On the main trail, there is one final saddle to gain before ascending along a ridge to the North. The weather cleared just moments before we arrived at the saddle, giving us unobstructed views above the clouds. I hadn't such views since climbing Mt. Fuji in Japan.
While the clouds came and went for most of the afternoon, they parted at various times to give us views of everything around, both East and West. Most of the time though, we felt we were in an ocean of clouds.
We didn't start descending until 10:30 or so, after spending some time on the top. After descending, we had hoped to position ourselves better for Mt. Elbert tomorrow, but my ankle started bothering me significantly, so we only hiked 4 miles further South along the Colorado Trail.

CT Day 19: Mending My Ankle

The Colorado Trail Story