"Route finding wasn’t much of an issue although we did see some people going a more difficult way on the scramble (not on purpose). The last part was a scramble and some exposure, but not difficult. " — AmyScrambles • Sep 1, 2025

"Went down half moon road all the way to the Southwest Slopes trail white knuckling the whole drive past the main trailhead. Uphill the whole time, barely any sections that mellowed out on elevation gain. Mtn Goats at top! Great views, and accomplishment! " — lizzieamancio • Jul 14, 2025

"June 15, 2025. A beautiful day for a summit. Stunning views, heard pika, saw a white-tailed ptarmigan, rosy finches, American pipits, and lots of marmots. Minimal snow patches; brought micro spikes but did not need them. " — runningvegan • Jun 15, 2025

"Very windy day. Lost my hat, almost lost my gloves and sunglasses, had to walk at a 20 degree slant at times. Quickly booped the main summit and bailed on an attempt to descend the south ridge. Haze from fires visible to the northeast, clear skies otherwise. Also tried to help two guys bag their first 14er but they turned around due to altitude and weather." — cheeseishappiness • Oct 24, 2020

"Beautiful day with cooperative weather and friendly hikers. We stayed on the summit for about 45 minutes enjoying lunch and the other hikers. Massive, she's a steep one. Gorgeous hike. We saw a goat!" — wendyglitterhippie • Aug 25, 2018

"Climbed the steep route up from the South / South West (half-moon Camp) and took the gradual route down to the main trail head for mount Massive. Beautiful day despite weather reports warning of thunder storms. We did have some menacing looking clouds roll in and we waited in a gully with some boulders as shelter just above tree line. From there if the light show got impressive we where going to bee line it down a scree field below tree line. Luckily all that really happened is it brought in some hail for about 15 minutes and then we where on our way to the summit. We met 5 other hikers at the summit. Three where with us on the way up taking shelter from the storm. So I believe the poor weather reports kept the masses from an attempt that day. All and all a beautiful day for a hike to the summit. Our hiking distances are approximate but much longer than what is necessary as we hiked not from the trailhead but from our camp that was still a few miles from the Mount Elbert and Mount Massive trail heads. " — jouv236 • Jun 15, 2018

"Hiked up the Southwest slopes via Half Moon Trail, made the summit and returned on the main Mt Massive Trail making a full loop. The Southwest Slopes was very difficult for me, but the scenery is so worth the effort! Got to photograph a Mama Mountain Goat with her Kid at the summit!" — Brandon-Shinsplint- • Aug 26, 2017

"Great day in the mountains. Easy to lose the trail in snow over 13k and wound up going up some loose talus. Conditions were perfect for glissading on the descent- 3800' in only 2 hours!" — Christopher • Jun 11, 2017

"My second summit of Mount Massive! This was my first time climbing it via the East Ridge. Not an easy route! It is about the same distance as the standard route, but with more elevation gain. You can see the standard route just a few miles south while on this route. The last 3 miles up the ridge are by far the worst! There are tons of ups and downs on the ridge, and because of the snow there were some places that were class 3. Also, everyone should know that the bears are starting to wake up and become active for the season. We broke trail on the way up. On the way down there were huge bear tracks following our path for quite a while before they broke off and went back into the woods. They were for sure not there on our way up, and were very fresh. Since it had only been a few hours since we were in that area, my guess is that we just barley missed running into him. He perhaps even bailed off the trail because he heard us coming. " — IanWright • Apr 13, 2016

"A nice sunny day to take in the all the scenery as we climbed up the east slope then scrambled along the ridge to the summit bump. Hung out for awhile until the summit got a bit crowded. " — Nimblefoot • Jul 29, 2015