Training Sufferfest
This years goal list requires a lot of training. Colorado is a great state for that as there are no shortages of playgrounds in the Rockies. For this week I chose a 14er (peaks over 14k ft; Colorado has 58 of them) I haven’t summited yet: Mount Massive.
Mount Massive lies within the Sawatch Range in Colorado and is a popular peak during the summer and fall seasons. It’s the second highest point in Colorado and a stones throw (not literally) from the highest point: Mount Elbert. I attempted Massive already in November, but had to turn back above tree line. My climbing partner was experiencing some serious altitude mountain sickness.
The peak is rated as a Class I or II depending on the route you take, but that is with ideal conditions. Climbing 14ers during winter with ideal conditions is rare. There are many variables to consider: weather, snowpack, and avalanche risk to name a few. The route with the lowest avy risk is East Ridge. This is the route I attempted back in November and chose it again because of the low risk. Colorado has had some gnarly avy risk on a variety of aspects and elevations.
The route is 14mi with 5k ft of gain up to 14,427ft. The majority of it is “back country” meaning there is no trail to follow. No blazes, signs, cairns or other helpful navigational aids. You must study the route and pictures as not to get lost or into trouble. Sometimes getting off route on 14ers you can “cliff out”. Find yourself on a cliff and no where to go. This happens more than one would think and climbers are forced to request a recuse from local Search and Rescue (SAR).
Having attempted it before I knew there is lots of trenching and deep snowpack. Currently Colorado’s snowpack sits at 89% and the Sawatch Range has received more than 6ft of snow since October. With that beta, I looked for individuals to join a Type II sufferfest. I posted on a 14er forum on social media and linked up with five others to give it a go. One I climbed with before on Castle & Conundrum (two other 14ers in the Elk Range).
We formulated our plan, watched the weather closely before and up to the date of our attempt, mapped the route to avoid avy risk, and shared gear ideas. We decided to start at 3am due to the amount of trenching and set a turn around time of 2pm. This gave us 11hrs to summit. A 2pm turn around time during the Summer is a death wish due to lightening and storm activity. In winter it’s fairly normal.
We linked up at the trailhead at 2:30am, discussed the route again, made one final gear check and stepped off. The first 3ish miles follows the Highline Trail and even crosses the Colorado and Continental Divide Trails at certain points. The first couple of miles were boot and skin tracked which made for easy travel and good time.
At mile 2 we donned snowshoes because we were starting to post hole. At mile 4 we reached a frozen pond and turned into the back country. This is where the sufferfest really begins because of deep snow pack that no human has traveled on.
The snow pack was soft fluffy powder and even with snowshoes on we were sinking. It was knee deep and sometimes waist deep in snow drifts up slope angles ranging from 10 to 20 degrees. Exhausting and brutal.
We utilized a rotating system of who was in the lead for breaking trail. The first person would lead until they were tired, then the next person in line would take over. The person who just finished breaking trail would join the line at the rear because it’s easier in the back and you essentially take a break while still moving. We repeated this process over and over. Despite using this method, our progress was about a mile an hour and sometimes slower.
At near 11,900ft I noticed a hard slab when I was in the lead. Persistent slabs plague Colorado snowpack during the winter and these are prime candidates to cause avalanches even below tree line. I immediately stopped and surveyed the terrain and slope angels we were traveling across. We made the decision to cross the slab one at a time just to be safe.
We exited tree line around 12,000ft and finally got a reprieve from the exhausting snow shoeing. The snowpack changed from deep to wind scoured across the landscape. Great news for us, but the travel time to this point was 9hrs. We still had 2400ft of elevation and more than a mile to the summit along a windy ridge with 2hrs left till our turn around time. We stashed our snow shoes, marked them with a way point, and headed towards the ridge.
Once the ridge was in full view we took a look at the remaining route and how to avoid possible avalanche hazards. You could see where a slab broke off along the east aspect and a wind loaded slope that we would need to avoid on the way up. We would pause periodically and look back where we traveled from to note terrain features to find our way back. It’s easy to lose your way back if you don’t use this trick. Remember there is no trail, no signs, and no cairns.
At 1:00pm and at 12,600ft, we decided to turn back. There was no way we would even reach the ridge before our turn around time and our legs were exhausted by this point. It was hard for me to accept this, but we all agreed on these parameters before even stepping foot on trail.
Thoughts running through my head consisted of “all this hard work is wasted without a summit”, “what if I can’t attempt this again before the next storm cycle fills the trench”, “this is the second time not making the summit on this peak”. Having climbed challenging peaks before I knew making the summit is the easiest part. Getting back down is hard. Considering how hard it was to this point, the realization of not making the summit sunk in.
It was by no means a “failure”. I met new people just as crazy as I am, got more experience in the back country, more confidence in my route finding and gear, and of course a great workout. I’m still at 29/58 14ers for Colorado and the next storm cycle is in a week so who knows…maybe there is time for another go 😁
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!
To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.
Comments 1
Stephen this was such an awesome read! Great photos and a really rivetting adventure. I’m moving out to Colorado soon and have never hiked a 14er, much less navigated avalanche risk 😅 Not really a problem in Ohio. So happy that you met some awesome new hiking buddies. Massive’s summit awaits!