9/20/2020 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 9/22/2020, By: cwindler Info: Super windy for the vast majority of the hike! Layers and GLOVES are a must. There are some patches of slushy snow, but no need for spikes. Arrived at ~7:30am on a Sunday and had to walk 0.3 miles to the trailhead from where we were able to park. |
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9/18/2020 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 9/19/2020, By: thebeave7 Info: Patchy snow on the approach trail and upper face. Most of it is slushy by midmorning, didn't use spikes. |
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9/14/2020 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 9/14/2020, By: jryor121 Info: Trail was extremely dry. I left at 5:20 AM, and the snow wasn't a problem at all if you were okay with going slow and taking your time. I was trying to run/fast hike it so spikes helped tremendously on the ascent and the descent. https://www.strava.com/activities/4058689875 |
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9/1/2020 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 9/2/2020, By: chassis Info: Summited 9/1/20 at 9:15am. Windy, at least 20mph, possibly more. Snow from the night before, starting around 13,500 elevation. Snow was less than 2 inches at the summit, getting packed from hikers, and slippery in places. Air temp at the summit probably upper 20s plus wind. Bailed on Torreys from Grays summit because the saddle trail seemed slippery and exposed for us, adding to the cold and wind. Couldn't find the brass geodetic disk, we heard other people say the same thing two days later. No smoke from wildfires. |
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8/30/2020 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 8/31/2020, By: vmunson Info: Little bit windy in spots and the top of Grey's was a bit windy to where we did not want to hang out up there very long. Did this on a Sunday so it was very very crowded, like a parade of people the majority of the hike. Everything is easy to follow and well marked and maintained. Saw the 14ers.com crew doing their work about a mile from the top of Grays. Right when we got back to our car, about noon, the clouds were rolling in and a light sprinkle of rain was beginning. |
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8/27/2020 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 8/27/2020, By: Troyister Info: The road from I-70 to the trail-head is ROUGH! It is no problem for a high clearance vehicle you just have to take it slow. They have done some grading on it the last few days, so there are loose rocks all over the road, though I imagine the pot holes are better. Trail is dry and clear and this morning the air clarity was outstanding. Climbed Grays then ridge hiked to Torreys then returned to trail-head. Trail is in great shape and very easy to follow. Had to get off the trail in the saddle between the two peaks so a mountain goat could go by. Parking at 4:30 AM was 5-6 vehicles, and when I returned at 9:10 AM it was packed and overflowing. They were also pumping the pit toilets and the smell was rank, but should be good for the pits though. This is listed as a class 2, but I had trail the whole way and would say it is more of a class 1 hike. Great day and views. |
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8/6/2020 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 8/10/2020, By: dancool Info: Beautiful weather and conditions for climbing up the SW slopes. Two other hikers, a couple mule deer (?) and a couple mountain goats were all that the 3 of us shared the trail with. From the top, the main trail coming up the other side looked pretty busy, on a Thursday. Drove up the Jeep trail (Chihauhua Gulch Road) and started hiking about 6am. Had to do a little bit of searching for the trail, however, the route description on this site shows very clearly the junction that we missed in photo #3. But wasn't too hard to find the trail, since we had seen the trail a little higher up while hiking and driving the day before when going to Chihauhua Lake. The trail / old jeep road ends before going up the ridge, at about photo #8 in the route description. You just have to hike up the slope where ever you see fit. Getting up this slope was more difficult than expected; it's pretty steep. When on the ridge, the route is pretty obvious - stay on top of the ridge. There is one place to climb over some rocks about 1/3 of the way up the ridge that my wife (1st 14er for her) wasn't too excited about, but made it over. Then when within about 500' of the top (maybe a bit less, I didn't see the elevation exactly), it gets pretty steep through lots of loose rocks. There is a somewhat well defined trail here but it is very difficult to follow it from below. We just climbed the rocks to the top. I think that the way we did it, it's somewhere between a difficult class 2 and easy class 3 climb for that portion. On the way down, it was much easier to see and follow the trail, and much easier hiking while on the trail. Note: from far away, that last 500' to the top looks VERY steep, but it really isn't as bad as it looks when you finally get there. The 3 of us were very happy we took this route. A very different experience than the main trail. From where we started, it was right about 3100' of climbing and 3.75 miles horizontally. |
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8/4/2020 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 9/5/2020, By: bjbishop5280 Info: No snow on the ground and perfect weather on 8/4. Cool before sunrise, 40s maybe. Highs in 60s, light winds at the top mid-morning. Spectacular conditions! |
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7/31/2020 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 7/31/2020, By: mgilger Info: First things first, the road to the summer trailhead is an absolute mess. It has numerous rocks and ruts in it. We were driving an Infiniti QX60 and made it up with no problem, although we still bottomed out once or twice. There was a Honda Civic right behind us that got stuck and had to turn around. Arrived at 5:50 am on a Friday and just missed the last parking spot, so parked on the side of the road. Conditions were pristine. Sunny, perfect. We took the normal route up to Grays, although it seems to me the labeled distance was a bit off (7.5 miles). By my apple watch it was 4.1 miles each way from the trailhead to the summit, making this closer to an 8.2 mile hike round trip. Great day overall |
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7/16/2020 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 7/18/2020, By: geoffrey464 Info: As stated in previous reports, the road to the summer trailhead is rocky and has multiple large ruts in it. We made it up in a Subaru Crosstrek without problems, just make sure that the driver uses the whole road and picks their line carefully and you shouldn't bottom out. 4 wheel drive is highly recommended. We arrived at 5:45am on a Thursday and got one of the last parking spots, remember to plan to get there pretty early if you don't want to add the road to your hike distance. We did the standard route up to Grays, then cut over across the ridge to Torrey's. The only snow on the trail was a 100 yd section coming down from the saddle between Grays and Torrey's back down to the main trail, with a bit of good balance and reasonable shoes its not bad. Considering that this is one of the most popular trails in CO, expect to see a lot of people (the majority of without masks). Also remember, that while this is one of the "easiest" 14ers in CO it is by no means "easy". We took our time and completed the hike in ~6 hours, just missing the afternoon thunder storms. Enjoy seeing some mountain goats while you're out there! |
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7/9/2020 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 7/9/2020, By: theck927 Info: The road going up to the trailhead is rocky and not paved, but is easily done by 4x4s. The trail is easy until the last bit where rockfall danger could be higher because they are loose and could slide and knock you off the trail. No snow going up but there is lots on the saddle so if you are planning on doing both be sure to be prepared for snow. |
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7/5/2020 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 7/5/2020, By: keatonmoney Info: Great day on Grays! Started from the summer trailhead at about 5:50 AM. A note, we got one of the last parking spots, this trail is busy! Trail in great shape, there is one section of snow when descending from the saddle to rejoin the main trail. Keep in mind if you are planning to come down that way from Torreys. I would recommend micro spikes, as a slip and fall here could be costly. Mountain goats are out, fun to see. |
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7/1/2020 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 7/1/2020, By: borscht Info: Road update: I went up on Sunday night to hopefully summit Monday morning....only to realize I forgot my shoes. That night the worst section of road heading up to the winter lot was bad - my explorer scraped going both up and down and I saw a pickup bend its outside step on a rock. This section is roughly halfway up the road right where there is a pull off for a private drive and the road gets steep. As of last night/this morning (I brought my shoes this time) that section of road is a lot better for some reason. Trucks and mid to large SUVs will have no problem in that section and something like a crosstrek is probably fine too. In terms of the trail itself there were no problems. One snowfield well packed down that you need to cross if you're heading back from Torreys to the main trail via the saddle. Very windy up there this morning. Also spotted a guy (14ers Initiative I think) hiking up with wire to fix a section of rock....cages. Not sure what they're called. |
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6/27/2020 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 6/29/2020, By: briancarlcain Info: Hiked the standard route up Grays and over to Torreys, but then descended Kelso Ridge. Up to Grays and then over to Torreys - no snow to speak of whatsoever. However, the standard descent from Torreys (head back down to the bottom of the Grays-Torreys saddle and then drop back down into the basin to reconnect the with the trail) had one patch of snow that needed to be descended down and to skiers right. I'm certain most people did not have spikes, but I would want them for just that patch if I were to take it. This is a crazy-popular mountain/linkup, so expect an insane amount of people on the narrow trail. Almost nobody was wearing a mask. |
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6/25/2020 Route: South Ridge from Ruby Mountain Posted On: 6/25/2020, By: jryor121 Info: Started in Peru Creek at the Argentine Pass Trailhead, hiked up the south face of Ruby Mountain. Then headed over to Gray's peak, dipped down into Torreys Peak. From Torreys traversed over to the east ridge of Grays and summited Mount Edwards. From there hiked back down the Argentine pass trailhead. Good conditions, no snow patches anywhere on the hike. Got caught in the rain/hail at about 2 PM when descending from Mount Edwards to the trailhead. This was an extremely interesting hike and route. Would love to explain the route and everything involved if anyone is interested. Took just under 5 hours for 9.5 miles and 6,000' vert. https://www.strava.com/activities/3671166988 |
