11/30/2013 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 12/1/2013, By: alreed Info: I did the standard route up Grays and Torrey‘s 11-30. Round trip from trail head to trail head took 7 1/2 hours. I WOULD NOT do this route without snowshoes or crampons and trekking poles. You really don‘t need them until you start the traverses across Gray‘s eastern face. The trails are easily spotted as you approach the peak. Unlike in summer though these trails are not nice and flat, but rather covered in snow, making the traverse tricky as you are crossing it at an angle of 30-35 degrees. The snow pack was stable here as long as you don‘t go out into the middle of an open area but still be careful and check each step, its a long slide down. The sketchiest part of the trip was going down Gray‘s north ridge to the saddle separating the two peaks. My snowshoes proved to cumbersome and large to navigate the partially snow covered talus field and it was very slippery with my boots once I took off my snowshoes. My biggest take away from this trip was that the wintery condition take much more time than it does in the summer. |
|
10/6/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 10/7/2013, By: dpm200 Info: Packed snow for most of the way once you begin climbing out of the valley. We hiked in boots and were fine. We didn‘t have spikes or gaiters, but gaiters would have been nice. Spikes were not necessary. |
|
9/28/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 9/28/2013, By: gnargrizzly Info: Lots of wind blown snow. We broke trail through 2-3‘ drifts on the switch backs that headed west. The switchbacks headed east had mostly no snow. Coming down, there was a mix of hard pack and powder. I‘d say gaiters and micro spikes will be needed after today |
|
9/1/2013 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 9/4/2013, By: sde789 Info: We got to the base at 6:15a and got to the summit by 10ish. I was pretty cold hiking up the entire time. Wore capris, tshirt, hat and my rain jacket but wished I had on pants, long sleeves, a beanie, and gloves. Pretty windy and cloudy at the peak too. It‘s getting to be autumn! Bring the layers! |
|
7/9/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 7/10/2013, By: COCardioCutie23 Info: Good conditions. Still some snow near the trail which is causing water to saturate certain areas on the way up. |
|
6/28/2013 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 6/28/2013, By: jsarche Info: There's a small amount of snow in places on the upper parts of the trails along this route, but not too bad. Very slick and icy at 6:30 a.m. (my sons and I did just fine without any special equipment), but they softened up very nicely by the time we descended. Today was just about the best high-elevation-hiking weather I've ever had while hiking - so glad I was able to get up there! |
|
6/22/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 6/26/2013, By: Rainbow-K Info: Road was passable for SUV‘s - snow blockage nearly gone. Route had lots of running water, some mud, and a few snow patches with some slippery spots. There was little snow on Grays summit, more on Torreys but not a ton. Lots of people were glissading down from the snow-covered trail between the saddle and main Grays trail. Microspikes or trekking poles would be useful, especially if hitting Torreys also. |
|
6/15/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 6/17/2013, By: brikalongo Info: The route was mostly clear, but the road to the trailhead was blocked by a large pile of snow roughly .5 miles from the trailhead. Some cars managed to make it over , but on our way down we saw someone digging out their SUV. The route to Grays was pretty clear. Lots of mud and running water on the trail, but nothing you can't cross easily. Many people choose to turn around at Photo #13; the north-facing ridge was clear everywhere accept for the foot trail. The more it melted, the more slippery it became and there were jagged rocks and a sharp drop. Yaktraks or Spikes would help, I manged with boots and a trekking pole... but take your time. Past that section, the route was mostly clear. One more snow field but it was not dangerous at all. With the rate at which the snow was melting, I wouldn't be surprised if the snow melts completely very soon. By the afternoon, many of the dry trails were soaked with snow melt and the snow/slush became harder to walk on. Still, the route was passable in just boots, many with just sneakers! We opted out of completing Torrey's peak, as we were running out of time. The path to Torrey's looked clear, but the trail leading down the mountain between Grays and Torrey's was still covered in snow. Several hikers were sliding down on their butts, however we opted out of that route as well. We left the car at 8:15 and finished the hike around 3:30. This included additional hiking time and distance due to where we had to park. We did take a few breaks and took our time. Spent a bit more time at the top than I would expect most people would. Roughly 7 hours round-trip! |
|
6/11/2013 Route: Lost Rat Couloir Posted On: 6/11/2013, By: FatBaxter Info: Lost Rat couloir receives very early sunlight and as such was softening quickly upon our 630 am couloir entry. The apron was quite soft with multiple post-holes. The exit was melted out with appox 40‘ of 45deg awful scree to a 70 deg snow/ice 10ft climb to the climbers left. |
|
6/8/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 6/8/2013, By: DanielL Info: Climbed and boarded Grays Peak‘s standard route this morning, in very windy weather! There is some snow on the lower route below the kiosk at 12,000‘, but the continuous snow started at 12,500‘ or so, above the Kelso trail turnoff. We were also hoping for Torreys, but decided not to in the end. The top of Grays is getting melted out fast, although there was some disconnected snow off the summit for 20 vertical feet or so. Below that, the snow was in great condition. We followed the snow down near the Grays-Torreys saddle and then dropped down the slope, almost under the saddle - steeper than the rest of Grays‘ East slope but the snow was excellent! |
|
6/4/2013 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 6/4/2013, By: atilsley Info: Still a lot of snow on this route. Just about the only bare spot was the final stretch up to Grays -- other than that, it‘s all snow. Luckily, the snow was hard enough in the morning to climb without microspikes, but it was definitely softening up by the time I got down, around noon (it was a sunny day, but with strong winds, which I think kept the snow hard a little longer). Not sure spikes or snowshoes would help because it‘s that slushy, soft snow that‘s not really good for anything but postholing. The snow makes the trail hard to follow at times, but it‘s very well boot tracked, so it‘s easy enough to pick a line to the top. Seems like the snow is melting fast, but there‘s a good amount of it left. |
|
2/9/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 2/12/2013, By: roonming Info: Hiked East Slopes on Saturday. The first half of the trail was boot packed snow, the second half turned into knee deep to waist deep powder. We got tired of post holing so we decided to bee line to the peak skipping the trail and staying on top of the boulders. This was still extremely tiring. The way down we stuck to the trail and packed down some of the deep powder. |
|
2/5/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 2/6/2013, By: mrschaible Info: Did the Grays/Torreys loop today. Hard pack/boot packed/bare trail all the way to summit. No need for snow shoes. Microspikes are pretty much mandatory. Trail is easy to follow. Beautiful day with no wind! Made it to the trail head in a Jeep! |
|
2/2/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 2/2/2013, By: mtn_nut Info: climbed the standard route up grays and torreys today. entire trail is boot packed and did not need snowshoes, but microspikes are a must. trail was easy to follow. |
|
1/3/2013 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 1/3/2013, By: markf Info: I used short snowshoes, other people got by fine with micro-spikes, etc. One or two people besides myself summited today, very easy for winter conditions. |
