On June 2nd and 4th, 2022, I climbed two routes up the northeast face of Mt. Massive. I was living and working at Outward Bound at the time, located right next to the Leadville fish Hatchery, which provides great access to Massive’s whole east side. The NE face is pretty broad and offers several options, with shorter and steeper gullies at the top of the face. It averages maybe 35 degrees, with some of the gullies at the top of the face reaching maybe 50 degrees. There are also lower angle options across the entire face between North and Main Massive.
I approached via the Highline Trail, which can be gained from the Fish Hatchery, and followed the same general approach for Massive’s East ridge. At the lakes before the trail descends, I turned left on a very faint game trail and climbed into Massive’s broad NE basin, continuing up the low angle valley floor to the bottom of the face.
On Jun3 2nd, there was a fantastic inversion covering the whole upper Arkansas valley. On the 4th, I left at midnight, summited just after 6 AM, and managed to make it back down to the OB base for work at 8:30 AM! It is a phenomenal place to be, high above the Arkansas valley on a remote high alpine face. Hopefully you get to appreciate it as well.
