The northernmost fourteener in the Sawatch Range, famous for the cross-shaped snowfield on its northeast face and for a brutal double climb over Half Moon Pass.
The Half Moon Trailhead is reached via Tigiwon Road (Forest Road 707), a roughly 9-mile gravel road climbing out of Minturn into the Holy Cross Wilderness. From the trailhead at about 10,320 feet, the trail climbs roughly 1,000 feet over Half Moon Pass, then immediately drops about 1,000 feet down to East Cross Creek — elevation that must be regained on the way back. From East Cross Creek, the trail climbs steadily and eventually steeply through forest to treeline, then up a talus field marked by cairns to the North Ridge, with the last 300 feet being the crux: the steepest, loosest scree of the route, requiring some route-finding to stay on line to the summit at 14,005 feet.
Reverse the route back down to East Cross Creek, then climb back over Half Moon Pass a second time before the final descent to the trailhead — this second pass crossing, done on tired legs late in the day, is what makes this route feel disproportionately hard for its stats. Stay on the marked trail; following the fall line off the summit toward Cross Creek instead of the ridge is a well-documented mistake that has led to overnight rescues.