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 Peak:  Grays Peak
 Route:  North Slopes
 Range:  Front
 Posted By:  LizaLou
 Date of Info:  4/25/2014
 Date Posted:  5/20/2014
Details

The road was still covered with snow almost all the way to I-80. I was able to drive about 1/8 of a mile up, and there was evidence of others having gotten stuck attempting to go further up the road. So, from the exit of I-80, you can cross over the interstate and get to the mouth of the road to the TH.
Left the car about 6:30am, snow on road was still firm. I stayed on top no problem on my skis and my dog stayed on top in the morning on the approach. There were 2 places the road was melted out, but short enough I just skinned right across the dirt.

At the summer trailhead, followed snowshoe and boot tracks (I commend those that posthole for miles and miles...learn to ski!! I don't think I could do it.) Bridge was cross-able, but the snow bridge across the creek was also still very solid, so i just skinned around the bridge. Headed up the "Standard Route" from there. Great conditions for skinning, minor side-hill sloping to the left in places. Some point release slides from previous day or two on south facing slopes all the way in, as well as in the basin shared by Grays and Torreys.

I came up into the bottom of the basin to get a good look at the peak and the rest of my route, then cut left/south to gain what is probably the most commonly used summer route. Traversed right/north from there with a couple small switchbacks to gain the saddle between Grays and Torreys. The last 100 yards being very hard-packed and the most tense part of the entire ascent, side-hilling being the most challenging skinning maneuver in my set of skills.

Continued to skin for a while up the northeast ridge from the saddle until it got steep enough I packed my skis and booted up a friendly, meandering mix of rock and snow to the summit. Great summit conditions, got to hang out for a while, one other climber joined me. Just as I was leaving, a split-boarder and skier I had leapfrogged with all morning also arrived.

Descent was straight-forward and smooth, essentially back down my ascent route. Carefully side-slipped my way through some of the top sections peppered with rocks, hard-packed to saddle. Dropped a section of cornice off the saddle onto the slope below (my dog needed a little extra encouragement there. The slopes here were much softer, though not quite corn. My tracks are easy to distinguish because they have a dog's tracks running through the middle of them. Traversed out below the chutes off Torrey's and had to carefully pick my way around rock mounds to stay on snow all the way out of the basin.

The pair I left on the summit skied out Lost Rat Couloir and said they got some nice, powdery turns, crust in some places.



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