10/17/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 10/20/2026, By: elliebeauchamp Info: Pretty snowy after 12k but too soft to wear spikes for us. We were able to make it to the 110J parking area in a Honda CRV, here are some photos! |
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10/10/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 10/10/2026, By: CaptainSuburbia Info: Had whiteout conditions from South Massive to Massive summit for this. A couple inches might have accumulated on ridge, but it was melting fast when sun came out as it was very wet. Snow melted immediately below 14,000 feet so no snow on Southwest Slopes getting to ridge. Spikes were not needed on ridge. Surprisingly, lots of folks climbing during this brief snow squall and getting the summit. |
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9/19/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 9/25/2026, By: MrDeesh Info: Cold and wet at the trailhead, colder and snowy above tree line. trail was in great shape and easy to follow, save for the last .25mi push for the summit where the trail is not extremely well defined. |
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8/19/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 8/25/2026, By: BillMiddlebrook Info: The Halfmoon Creek road is now open and so is the North Halfmoon Creek 4WD TH for Mt. Massive's Southwest Slopes route. That route is now open. |
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8/19/2026 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 8/25/2026, By: BillMiddlebrook Info: As of 8/19, the Halfmoon Creek road is open but the trailhead and standard trail for Mt. Massive's East Slopes remains closed. |
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7/2/2026 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/3/2026, By: BillMiddlebrook Info: All hiking routes and trailheads for Mt. Massive are closed. Additionally, this includes the trailhead for the standard route (NE Ridge) on Mt. Elbert because the Halfmoon Creek road is closed due to the fire. |
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6/30/2026 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/30/2026, By: aholle88 Info: All routes for Mount Massive and Elbert are closed. |
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6/14/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/15/2026, By: PilotDoggo Info: Highest I've stood on solid ground to date! Great hike with a running buddy of mine, decided on SW Slopes since shorter & prettier basin. From TH to junction between Massive summit & Halfmoon lakes, trail had zero mud & was well maintained, aside from 3 fallen trees (2 of which had notable scurry-around side paths). From junction up to summit, trail was steep but very easy to follow. ZERO traction needed at all; NO snow whatsoever!! Just be smart and do not attempt to get to TH unless you have VERY high clearance vehicle... had to park the Pathfinder like .4 from the TH since there was one super sketchy boulder/pothole section. I'd recommend just parking .6 to .7 miles below TH, since that avoids any real trouble. |
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6/8/2026 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/9/2026, By: edgeofmountain Info: Only a few patches of snow. Microspikes were not needed. Ideal conditions! |
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6/7/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/8/2026, By: OilyOrca Info: Camped below upper trailhead and hiked to summit. There were some small patches of snow near the summit that could be easily traversed or circumvented. Conditions overall were good- hikeable in trail runners with no difficulty. |
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6/5/2026 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/6/2026, By: JustLuke Info: Pretty much the same as the prior report. One 30ft is snow crossing prior to making the ride. There are 3 10-20ft snow crossings once on the ridge, these were slightly tricky to navigate with a dog, but should be easy enough for a human. No spikes worn. Trail is in great shape, basically summer conditions. |
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5/31/2026 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/1/2026, By: 20CM25 Info: There's not a lot of snow on the hike. There's one section before you get to the ridge, otherwise everything else was on the ridge. There are a few sections where microspikes would be beneficial, but I did fine without them and it would've been more annoying to slip them on and off. Existing footprints on compacted snow helped. Slid down on my butt a few yards on the way down on one of the steeper sections because my foot was sliding. Snow sections were probably no longer than 30-40 yards long. |
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5/31/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/1/2026, By: KHay Info: Beautiful day. Made it .5 miles to the upper trailhead in my Outback. Not sure I’d go father and without a spotter I opted to park and walk. Trail was dry up to the ridge with small snow patches on parts of the summit ridge. No need for spikes or tools if you are there later in the day. I was there around noon and it was soft. Trail was mostly empty and I had the peak to myself. |
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5/31/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 5/31/2026, By: Connor1 Info: Trail was dry all the way up to 14300 ft. Then some unavoidable patches of snow on the summit ridge to the summit. I brought micro spikes and an axe, but never needed to use them. All of the snow crossings have boot packed trails through them which made for easy crossing. |
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5/24/2026 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 5/24/2026, By: mtoensing Info: Crowded back there in half moon road area. The road to get to half moon trailhead was worse than I expected. Just rough and bumpy for a few miles. Totally Subaru-able, but doubt you are getting a sedan back there. I parked my truck about a mile before as there was an open spot and I wanted to start walking. The rougher spots on the road where the hill gets steep looked tough! Not worth it in my stock truck and happy to have walked it. Trail is excellent! Snow free until the upper part and it’s melting quick. More snow when you join the east slopes route on the ridge but it’s minimal and some can be avoided. |