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Grays Peak

Peak Condition Updates  
6/12/2018
Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 6/13/2018, By: mcklarry
Info: Nice day on the mountain. Kelso ridge step class three, and route finding. Many mountain goats on the Ridge, and on Gray's. The ridge is clear all the way with one small patch of snow that can be avoided. The knife edge rock is rather smooth, though short. Capitol's knife edge has better rock. One small patch of snow to go through over to Gray's. 
6/10/2018
Route: Ganley Ridge
Posted On: 6/10/2018, By: CaptainSuburbia
Info: Parked at Grizzly Gulch intersection. Hiked straight up Ganley Mountain and over McClellan and Edwards to Grays. All snow is 100% avoidable. Returned via Grays standard trail. No snow here either. Occasionally wet though. I did not do Torreys, but saw that there was a good size snowfield to cross on return to standard trail(image 6). 
6/10/2018
Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 6/10/2018, By: onetuffbuff
Info: Left Car at Summer Trailhead: 620am Summit Grays 845am Summit Torreys 945am, back to trailhead by 1225. No wind and lots of people on top. Both routes are in summer conditions with minimal snow/ice. Everything is melting out fast. 
6/10/2018
Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 6/10/2018, By: chuckstriker
Info: Beautiful day on grays and torreys. Spotted 10 mountain goats along the Grays route in small groups on the ascent and descent. One mother/baby pair. The trail back from the saddle to descend and connect with the Grays trail to return is single track through a wide snowfield. A long, long ways to slide if you slip and start going. 
6/9/2018
Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 6/11/2018, By: AltitudeAddict
Info: Left TH at 2am for the sunrise. Made the Grays / Torreys split at 3:30am, summit by 430am. Sunrise at 530 am. Left Grays at 6, Torreys summit at 6:45, back to the Trailhead by 8:30. Frigid temps at the summit before sunrise so pack an extra layer if you are hiking in the dark, temps were good until the summit, though. light wind 
6/4/2018
Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 6/4/2018, By: justjennieK
Info: Rockfall covering parts of the switchbacks along with patches of ice made the top part of the trail a little sketchy for a beginner. 
1
6/2/2018
Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 6/2/2018, By: adamski3119
Info: Beautiful day for a two-fer. As stated in previous reports, a percentage of the trail though the willows is a wet mess. Parts are passable, but waterproof footwear is recommended. Take caution if there's a freeze, as well, as it was plenty slick this morning. The remainder of the trail is in typical late spring/summer conditions with a few small snowfields. The descent trail from Torreys back to Grays still has a good sized snowfield. Traction wasn't necessary, but we did throw on the spikes on the way down to help with the softened pack. 
5/29/2018
Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 5/30/2018, By: Rosebud
Info: Started later in the day around noon, I did not summit I was just scoping conditions of Dead Dog Coulouir. From the upper parking lot across the bridge it got pretty wet, muddy, and snow packed. The trail at that point is a very small creek and will get your shoes wet early on if your not being careful. Intermittent spots of snow covered trail, mud, dry conditions exist through the first 1.2 miles of the hike. After 1.2 miles the trail gets really dry and great to hike through although there is one or two spots with a snow patch but nothing you can't navigate. From there it's dry up until the summit push. Again, I did not summit so I don't truly know the conditions beyond 2.4 miles into the hike. Dead Dog is ski-able but melting fast. 
5/26/2018
Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 5/26/2018, By: lizh
Info: Winter is coming to a close! Started ascent: 6:15 am Summit of Grays: 8 am Summit of Torreys: 8:45 am Back to TH: 10:15 am Much of the trail is clear, but what isn't has stretches of boot-packed snow. Totally solid on my way up. There was definitely some snow melt that had frozen overnight, so some sections with thin ice on them as well. Debated using my microspikes multiple times, but never actually did. On the way down, the snow was definitely starting to get soft and slushy, but I only post holed a couple times. Especially lower down, it started to get muddy. Great weather, and dozens of folks up there today. Happy trails! 
5/20/2018
Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 5/20/2018, By: DaneOMite
Info: Start: 845am Summit Grays: 1130am Summit Torreys: 1215pm Reach car (at summer TH): 245pm Snow free and dry enough all the way up the dirt road to the summer trailhead. Not driveable for a regular car (bumpy, rocky road) but accessible via SUV or other 4wd vehicle with ground clearance. If you dont have vehicle with ground clearance, the hike starts pretty much at I70, and that would be a long long hike. Flotation not need on the way up but the micro spike were much appreciated. Trail was snowy and angled so without traction you would slip a lot. 40-60 people on the mountain mostly in the AM. Snow was wet and soft on the way down, postholed quit a bit but doing it again, would still probably leave the snowshoes at home. 
1
5/20/2018
Route: Lost Rat Couloir
Posted On: 5/22/2018, By: oneill_dm
Info: Snow was holding on in the basin... Had a couple of moments where skis need to be removed on the ascent and then the slog back to the trailhead. The couloir probably has a week left of skiable conditions. The very top slid recently, leaving a field of scree and rocks that needs to be navigated, but beyond the choke is actually skiing really well. We were able to ski continuously from the summit of Grays into the couloir. 
2
5/5/2018
Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 5/5/2018, By: nomad_games
Info: TH road is driveable up to the abandoned building in a 4x4 if the snow is firm, but I wouldn't suggest going much past the fork to Grizzly, as the snow gets very soft in the afternoon and it looks very possible to get stuck on the way out. in the morning on the way up, I helped dig/push out some folks that tried to go past the old building, said they had been trying to dig out for 4 hours or so already. Trail is full on snow from about a mile before the actual TH all the way to summit. In the morning when the snow is still hard, you can just hike in boots and maybe microspikes (I didn't find them necessary). Once you go past the second/last trail sign and turn left after the ridge towards Grays, the snow gets really soft and deep. There were some folks not using snowshoes or skis that were postholing the skin track to death (not complaining, i realize there's one trail and it's multi-use), which made things a bit challenging the first half of the way up the north face. after that the skin track was solid all the way to the top. Skied down around 12:30. Snow was perfect on the north aspect, got a bit corny once you hit back up with the trail, snow on the road was very slushy. Heard a very loud avalanche somewhere in the vicinity but couldnt see it, no evidence of cracking on Grays. There were rollerballs on the east side of Kelso but not big slides. East side of Torreys had several big wet slides. 
2
4/29/2018
Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 4/29/2018, By: Nelson
Info: The top 2000 ft. Was firm today but not corn at 11:30. OK to ski. I used ski crampons going up and that made life a lot better on the very firm snow. Below 12,300 was very soft by noon . Flotation is a must. 
3
4/28/2018
Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 4/28/2018, By: justhike
Info: Hard packed snow almost all the way. In the afternoon at lower elevations snow is soft and beware of vegetation below! Can make you sink waist high! Use mini crampons at higher elevations. I did not have them and it cost me extra time to maneuver on switchbacks. Summer parking lot is inaccessible. Do not overestimate your car's abilities to drive through deep, partially frozen snow. I did walk from summer parking to the summit 4 hours, very few people on the trail. The weather was just fantastic! 
1
3/3/2018
Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 3/3/2018, By: markf
Info: Road to summer trailhead is melting out fast where it goes through the inholdings. I used skis/skins to about 12,500, then carried the skis the rest of the way to the summit. I skied the bowl between Grays and Torrey's. Lots of windpack/crust, and I ended up walking a fair bit of the way down. Some good snow, but also lots of walking back to 12,500 ft., then I skied back to the road and down the road to I-70.