Mount Massive at midnight 🌌

This one is a wild one.

In my early days as a mountaineer, I always mischievously wondered what the mountains were like “after hours”, long after sunset. Only once before have I been atop a mountain at midnight - James Peak - and it was a magical experience.

I’ve chosen this weekend, in particular, because it should be just about moonless and aught to have marvelous stars!

The goal is to summit Mt Massive in the dead middle of the night via the Southwest Slopes route (8 miles, 4000 feet of elevation gain). I hope to attain the summit around 11pm and possibly hit one or two of the other minor peaks up there above 14,000ft before descending around 1am.

This might be VERY cold. Bring all your winter 14er gear - electric socks, thick mittens, emergency blanket. Be ready for frozen hell up there.

Lastly, the safety of this adventure is deeply dependent on the weather. The rain dates is the night before Sept 18th into 19th. I won’t go unless the sky is completely clear.