Mt Massive — Local services in Leadville

I took South East slopes, about 14 miles out and back . West slopes twice shorter but way way steeper. Up to you which one you take. One of the easiest 14ers I've done so far. Its a long hike, but it's super chill. Maybe the easiest one, actually. It took me only 1 hour to be done with the first 3miles. The whole hike you pretty much only fight the altitude, there is not much of a steepness whatsoever. The last 300-500 feet are a little bit of scrambling right before the ridge, scrambling itself is not very exposed so I won't say it's dangerous up there, but of course be careful! It took me 7h20 min out and back. 4ish hours to get to the summit, where I spent about 20min enjoying the view. And about 3 hours to get down. I took a few breaks here and there too. The hike itself is quite easy on legs and I've seen some people are running back down. The distance total from the parking lot and back was 13,8 miles, so just the long hike itself probably will make your legs feel tired, but I noticed that compared to other 14ers my knees are not killing me. So yeah, the hike is a pretty awesome and the views are incredible. The weather was just perfect, no snow or ice up there, and no cloud in sight. Started at 7am and was back by 2:20pm. Met maybe 10-15 people on the way. A few great camping spots on the way to the trailhead. Also, the trail is very well maintained and easy to follow. Good luck ! p.s. hiked on...

8/4/19 Great Acrophobia Therapy. 6.98 miles to the highest summit comming from the trailhead. 1st mile is up, 2nd and 3rd miles on the divide trail you gain little altitude. Once you hit the tundra its all up from there. There will be 4 times you will think you are at the highest, but arent. There is a stick sticking in the highest summit.

This is one of the steeper runs/climbs I have done. So give yourself extra time. Summit took me 3:30 vs 2:20 for 6.5 miles to Long's Keyhole.

Beautiful views at the top. For those that do not like heights. There's plenty of distance on each of the trail before ledges. Trail hugs the east side which is less steeper than the West. A handful of areas where you have to climb a 4-foot rock but nothing higher. Was still some snow and ice at the top. But nothing you had to cross or couldn't go around. Less crowded than Longs. 6 at sunrise versus 40.

What you need: Helmet (optional), headlamp, jacket and pants if going for sunrise, gloves, high carb snacks, sunscreen if you burn, sun glasses, I bring 5L of water.

As always, start early and finish early. I like to start at 0200 and be down by 0930. Been in Denver for 2 months and 95% of the days lightning pops off around 1200 in...

I got lost on this mountain as a child with my two little cousins amd Uncle. We were hiking all day started about 7 or 8am and just ended up off trail somehow (there was snow everywhere the more we went up) and idk why but we kept going. Ended up having to explore the dang mountain just to find service for my phone which luckily I brought because I was the only one with one (lol one of those razor ones) finally got some bars called 911, and at first they thought we were pranking them and ignored us we called for hours and they never listened until our family at the campsite called the Ranger they FINALLY got to us at around 7 pm but couldn't take us in the helicopter because of the layout of the mt. So we had to follow the helicopter down the side of the mt. And it was the worst possible side, broken trees everywhere. Took us like 2 and a half hours to get through that, and none of us even got hurt until we had to do that last haul down the mountain 😂 we didn't get back to our campsite until like 11pm that night because of dealing with the ambulance and everyones injuries and reports being filled out. It was the longest day of my life and...