Mountain of the Week - Mt Massive

September 30th, 2008 Wade

I’ve been slacking on the Mountain of the Week posts… okay slacking is being generous.I haven’t done one in months. I will be picking these back up though as peak bagging season ends to give us all something to plan for when we get out next summer.

Mt Massive

(14,421 ft)

Mt Massive is big… no no, massive. It is also a mountain of massive stats, as mountain stats go.

As if one summit wasn’t enough, this one has 5. The summit ridge is 3 miles long and the round trip standard route comes in at 13.6 miles. Mt Massive is the 2nd highest peak in Colorado. It is situated just next to Mt Elbert, which is #1 when it comes to altituitude in the state of Colorado.

Massive also boasts being the 3rd highest peak in the lower 48, not to mention it is the 29th highest peak in all of the North American continent. It has over half a square mile of land ABOVE 14,000 feet. I was out with some friends peakbagging in the area a few years ago and we climbed Elbert next door. The view of Massive from the summit was amazing. Since that day it’s been on my list.

From Wikipedia:

Mount Massive was first surveyed and climbed in 1873 during the Hayden Survey of the American West; survey member Henry Gannett is credited with the first ascent.^[3] Its name comes from its elongated shape: it has five summits, all above 14,000 ft (4,268 m), and a summit ridge over 3 mi (4.8 km) long. Mount Elbert is Mount Massive’s nearest neighbor among the fourteeners; it lies about 5 mi (8 km) south-southeast of the peak.

Entry Filed under: General, Mountaineering, Peak of the Week