The first part of this epic trek is the steep mile climb to Windsor Lake. Once you've found the trailhead (lots of parking on the opposite side of the road), cross the culvert on the plank bridge and follow the signs to the register several yards beyond. After signing in, it's a mile of steep trail hiking to one of the most picturesque high alpine lakes in the state. Windsor Lake and a small companion lake sit in an absolutely breathtaking meadow, with a high ridge taking command of the views to the west and various smaller peaks and saddles to the south. On this particular day, the lake was rimmed with frost and the marshy meadow was frozen solid from a cold night. The previous day had seen a cold summer storm come through, and there were traces of new snow on the ridgeline along with plenty of hoarfrost around the lake. I was glad I had brought an extra layer of clothes - even with the sun starting to peek over the trees, it was still pretty cold - probably mid 30's.

From Windsor Lake comes the route-finding challenge of this trip. The well-defined trails fades to nothing on the southwest side of the lake, and the task now is to continue southwest through the high valley and gain the ridge to the west via one of the gullies south of rocky Point 12,740. From the lake, there is a very inviting looking notch directly to the south, but that's not the goal! The area above the lake is generally wet and marshy, so be careful of your steps, lest you find your boots sunk a foot into the mud. Where possible, avoid the telltale marsh plants and try o stay near the rocks. Once you get into the small cirque below the ridgeline, there are two or three gullies that are possible to climb, but the centermost one (with alpine grass most of the way to the top) is the easiest.

About an hour from the lake I finally crested the ridgeline, and now found myself not just on the North Ridge of Mount Massive, but also straddling the Continental Divide. A sharp, cold wind made itself evident as soon as I reached the ridge, and would be my companion for most of the day. Looking to the south, the main summit of Mount Massive is clearly evident in the distance…waaay in the distance! The summit is about 4.5 miles from this point, and looks impossibly far away. In between, several small points ranging from 13,000' to the 14,340' North Massive. Looking down, the upper Fryingpan Valley was laid out below me to the west, and beyond that the Maroon Bells and Elk Range were clearly discernable in the distance. The day was cool, bright, clear, and didn't hold any threat of bad weather, so I chowed down a Clif Bar and headed off along the ridge towards Massive. Again, there's no trail, but it's pretty obvious where to go.

The hike along the ridgeline is quite an experience. The views are breathtaking throughout the trek - Leadville and the Arkansas Valley to the east, the rest of the Sawatch Range to the south, and gradually higher sub-peaks as the ridge approaches Massive. Along the first two-thirds of the ridge trek these points can be avoided to the right (west), along broad, grassy slopes. Eventually the preferred path starts trending towards the left (east) side of the ridge. After a couple hours you come to a blissfully flat section of the ridge, and the next gentle climb places you on top of Point 14,169 - a broad, rounded summit just beneath North Massive, and directly above the permanent snowfield on Massive's east face. This semi-glacial area is easily visible from Leadville, retaining snow throughout the year. From here, the Continental Divide turns south, but the trek to Massive continues along the ridgeline and quickly becomes a boulder-scramble to attain North Massive. The easiest variations smmed to be to the climber's right (west).

From the top of North Massive, the views are as impressive as they are along the entire ridge - the main point of interest being directly east-southeast…the main summit of Mount Massive. The remaining 0.9 miles is still daunting, and made even more difficult by the Class III nature of the next 0.4 of a mile or so. Roach calls it a "lively traverse", and it is that. After 6 miles of hiking (4 above 12,500' and 2 above 14,000'), it's also exhausting. From the summit of N. Massive, the first task is a Class III downclimb of a loose, gravelly gully for about 80~100 feet. Try to stick to the left side of the gully, where the rock is pretty stable and you'll also spy a couple good spots to exit the gully and pick your way amongst the boulders to a small tower a few hundred feet beyond. You'll bypass this obstacle on the left and see the obvious Class III downclimb on solid rock from here. There are a couple cairns here, so you'll have no trouble identifying the route on the return trip.

Now you're at the low saddle point between N. Massive and Massive, just above 14,000', and with about 0.5 miles to go. The ridge that climbs from low point has a couple options - a faint trail cuts across the east face of the ridge, or you can go straight over the top. There's not much difference either way. One more small saddle point, and then a series of 3~4 false summits before the actual summit of Mount Massive, piled high with boulders and the obvious high point on the ridge.

I finally touched the 14,421' summit at 12:10pm - about 5½ hours from the start of the trek, and almost exactly 7 miles by my GPS receiver (the Roach guide lists it at just under 6 miles). I plopped down, exhausted by the trek, and especially by the last portion from North Massive! I looked around briefly for the summit register, without any luck. Oh well. I pulled out my pack and made lunch - a self-heating package of macaroni and cheese! Man, did that ever hit the spot (even though I neglected to bring a fork or spoon, and ended up having to pour the contents into a Nalgene bottle and glug it out of that!).

Although I had the summit to myself for a few minutes, a number of climbers joined me, having hiked up Massive's main trail, from the east. These were the first people I'd seen all day, which is kind of a shock when climbing 14ers on a summer weekend. Even at mid-day, the skies gave no indication that any kind of adverse weather was forming. From horizon to horizon it was a clear blue day, just a couple clouds way off to the southeast, probably over the Sangre de Cristos somewhere.

As good as it felt to just sit on my butt, I knew I needed to get moving - it was a long trek in, and it would be a long trek back. Excusing myself from the growing summit crowd, I started the trek back towards North Massive. The return trip was just as exhausting, and by the time I had managed to pick my way back up to North Massive, I was really happy to know I wouldn't be doing any more scrambling! The trek north along the ridge became an endurance exercise - this is one heck of a long day and at high altitude! The omnipresent wind from the west was starting to sting a bit as the day waned on. It was right about 4:00 that I plodded back to my saddle point and gingerly picked my way back towards Windsor Lake. As tired as I was, I sure didn't want to turn an ankle at this point. Reaching the bottom of the gulley 25 minutes later, and the lakeside 10 minutes after that I breathed a sigh of relief - a mere mile down to the trailhead! At 5:15 I signed myself out from the register, noting that only 4 other parties had signed in during the day, all indicating the lake as their destination.

All in all, it was an 11-hour day, 14 miles and a total of 4,800 feet of elevation. If this kind of a day sounds like fun to you, I can't recommend this route highly enough. On top of these stats, it's a very rarely used route. From Windsor Lake to North Maroon there is no trail (although you can trick yourself into seeing indications of a trail here & there), and so sign that people have traveled this way before. So along with a day "high and wild", it's also a day of uncrowded enjoyment. If you pick this route, though, be sure to keep one eye always on the skies - this long, high ridge is nowhere to be caught during an electrical storm. Know when to turn around, because there's nowhere to take cover up here!