Grays Peak

Route: Lost Rat Couloir
Posted On: 5/4/2024, By: stomblin7
Info: Hard packed road to summer trailhead in morning. Put on snowshoes within 1/2 mile of summer trailhead to make travel easier. Couloir snow is soft and not quite fully consolidated. We were able to kick good steps in but it appears there is a deeper layer of hard ice below in some sections and then 6-8 inches of newer softer snow overlaying it. The exit to the right was clear, there is a very pronounced cornice overhanging the left side of the exit. Lots of little roller balls coming off the snow in the rocks on either side of the couloir by 8:30 am. Summited grays and descended a combination of the ridge and standard route. Put on snowshoes once we reached the valley and for the first half of the roads descent. 

Route: NE Face
Posted On: 4/18/2024, By: jmanner
Info: Skied rhe NE Face today. A little bit of billygoating from 14,200- 14,100 to stay on snow but not bad. Tour I-70 to summit and skied back to the car. 3h up 35m down. 

Route: Lost Rat Couloir
Posted On: 4/16/2024, By: ejfahren
Info: Started from I-70 TH. Pleasant 5 mile skin to the base of the couloir, continuous frozen snow. Apron snow was still firm at 930am. Skinned to 12600' and booted with crampons to the NE summit ridge at 13700'. Patchy but continuous snow along ridge to summit. With a bit of creativity, you can still link turns from the summit along the NE ridge back to the couloir entrance. First few hundred feet were still very firm though there was some wet shedding already further down the couloir from the east facing band of rocks. The rest of the shot was progressively softer corn finishing with stellar turns in the apron. Continuous snow back to the TH made for a very fast exit. 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 3/11/2024, By: AlessiaAscent
Info: Summitted and skied Grays on 3/7. We started from i-70 because the road is undrivable, but it's packed with a snowmobile until the summer TH. Stayed mostly on the summer route, but after the summer TH, we turned left at the bridge and skinned up the drainage to avoid avy danger off Kelso Mountain. We also switchbacked up to the summit from 13,000 randomly, not really following a trail. Deep snow, there was about a foot of powder, but there were also hidden rocks (above 13k especially). Visibility went as we skied down - it was virtually a whiteout. Super fun day! The road adds a lot of gain and lateral, but it was almost entirely Type 1 fun. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 2/18/2024, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Attempted G&T today from I70 (Stevens Gulch). The 3 mile road walk in is packed from a snowmobile but the trench ends at the summer TH. We donned snowshoes at the start and followed a winter variation route, which resulted in epic willow wallowing but successfully avoided Kelso Mountain and its avalanche prone slopes. The willows sucked the life out of us today, and the wind and snowfall today filled in any trench that we made. There were two skiers ahead of us that climbed Kelso and triggered an avalanche on their ski down, which was validating for me, having taken a more conservative route. We ended up turning at about 13K due to white out conditions, wind / blowing snow. What a day!! 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 1/9/2024, By: cotezi
Info: Did Grays with a couple friends this past Sunday 1/7/2024. We were able to drive a 4Runner with stock tires all the way up to summer TH with zero issues. We were able to hike from TH to summit of Grays and back without floatation and only post-holed a handful of times. Yes, it was freezing, although not that as cold as mountain-forecast had predicted. Alas, we were all in disbelief at how little snow there was, for this time of year at least. Unfortunately, this won't be the case I don't think, with these next few storm cycles coming through this week... 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 1/1/2024, By: madmattd
Info: Generally packed snow with a few mild drifted sections. Upper few hundred feet to the summit have loose sugar snow. Spikes were fine, could probably manage without if desired too. We need snow badly... Thin snow cover on most of Kelso Mtn, so everyone is still taking the summer route through the basin - avy concern not really an issue right now. 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 12/16/2023, By: bfaulkne
Info: We were able to follow the North Slopes trail the entire way to the summit. We did not feel the slopes coming off of Kelso Mountain looked particularly threatening, but please assess for yourself. Only used snowshoes for a short bit around 12,000 ft when we got tired of postholing, but you can probably easily get by without them. Spikes were definitely helpful. Go get it! 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 11/11/2023, By: eastcoasthiker
Info: Super nice day today on Grays and Torreys. Would recommend spikes and poles at a minimum. A couple small areas where an axe would have made it safer. Some postholing here and there but nothing crazy. Very windy higher up and tracks were covering up very quickly. Glad I had full face coverage b/c the winds were really biting. Definitely do not try to drive to the summer trail if you don't have 4WD. My AWD crossover did not perform well but some Jeeps and a 4Runner did fine. 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 11/4/2023, By: kal_18
Info: Trail is mostly covered in snow. I was postholing in some places. Some ice on various sections as well. Used microspikes, gaiters, and poles, which were very helpful. Today was quite windy, and I slipped a few times due to that and unstable snow. Still a fantastic day, and the landscape is beautiful. 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 10/23/2023, By: KState14er
Info: Beautiful day on Grays on Sunday, 10/22. Trail was snow-free until the route turns south up to the ridge. Intermittent snow between there and the Torreys cutoff. Consistent ice and snow mix from the Torreys cutoff up the switchbacks on the north side. No traction on the way up, but used on the way down. Not necessarily but made the descent easy and quick. Minimal wind all day. 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 10/19/2023, By: Melinda27
Info: Beautiful day on Grays Peak but windy. Snow on trail off and on after the junction with Kelso Ridge. Snow covering most of trail after junction for Grays and Grays/Torreys connector. I took went left at this piont. Had yak traks for traction and was fine, snow was soft, not iced up. Made it to TH in Subaru Outback but that's a rocky road so definitely took it slow. Saw 4 majestic mountain goats! 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 10/4/2023, By: neurot1cal
Info: Plenty of snow above 13,000 feet. Microspikes helped from the saddle over both of the signs. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 9/23/2023, By: brody31
Info: Some snow up top on Grays, no snow on Torreys. It can be a little slippery up top, especially during the decent. We had some make it who were using tennis shoes, but I would recommend hiking/trail shoes of course. Conditions were very good. Very windy, especially on the ascent to Torreys, and on top of Torreys. No micro spikes needed. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 9/22/2023, By: cvillesweetljane
Info: A little bit of snow/ice on final ascent to Gray's/descent to saddle to Torrey's. Very few areas where at least some of trail not free of snow/ice. I usually don't climb with poles, but found pole helpful for stability due to precip on ground. Fine w/o microspikes. Torrey's completely free of snow/ice.