5/23/2023 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 5/24/2023, By: Minotc02 Info: Beautiful conditions. You will need crampons or micro spikes, ice axe for descent. And snow shoes on the lower half after 9 am |
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5/20/2023 Route: Lost Rat Couloir Posted On: 5/21/2023, By: japigian Info: Skied Lost Rat on Saturday (5/20). Very good coverage top to bottom. Skinned the summer route and dropped in around 9am, enjoying fun turns top to bottom. There were a few inches of fresh on a firm but edgeable base. The cornice, while ominous, did not show signs of slumping or cracking though I still would not hang out below it. Evaluate carefully if you go. The crux on this particular day was the apron - it was littered with refrozen chunder from past wet slides. Skied cruiser corn through the Gulch, softening considerably once we got back to the summer trailhead. Go get it. Enjoy. |
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4/29/2023 Route: Lost Rat Couloir Posted On: 4/29/2023, By: BillMiddlebrook Info: Awesome day in Lost Rat today but a pucker entry to get below the large cornice. We skinned up the standard Grays route and skied the ridge (swung over to the south side for continuous snow) down to Lost Rat. Narrow, steep entry on skier-left of the cornice, then a short chalky section before deep snow, with a softening crust on top. |
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4/1/2023 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 4/2/2023, By: AndyJB444 Info: Great snow coverage on the road from bakerville to the summer trailhead. Great coverage in the creek past kelso. The wind has knocked down a lot of the sastrugi. Typical winter, aka variable, conditions above treeline to the summit. |
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3/26/2023 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 3/27/2023, By: Another Steve Info: We camped overnight near the summer trailhead and summited Grays following mostly the standard route, except: a) deviated south toward the drainage away from the avalanche slopes on Kelso; b) followed the spur ridge around 12,600' (starting about here: 39.6425 N, 105.809 W) instead of the trail because of steep, snow-loaded slopes over the trail in that area (see photo from descent); and c) following the east ridge of Grays again due to patches of steep snow on the NE face where the standard trail ascends. There is continuous snow from the Bakersville exit on I-70 to the top of Grays. The snow is well-packed up the road to the summer trailhead, but not after that. Beyond treeline, the trail is obscured in most areas due to blowing snow. There is a good wind crust, though, so flotation in snowshoes was good. We used snowshoes up to ~12,600' and crampons from there to the top. There is a good amount of snow loading on short slopes above the trail. With avalanche conditions being what they are this year, we worked around those sections as described above (see also attached map). The ridge to Torreys has a good cornice on it (see photo). (Temps were in the negative digits and it was very windy; we did not attempt Torreys.) |
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1/11/2023 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 1/11/2023, By: Chrisfish25 Info: Started in bakersville. Skinned all of the way to Kelso cutoff. Went straight up north face/ridge & along east ridge to Grays. Over to Torreys & back up grays almost to the top to avoid a very wind loaded slope. Down the main face for the most part, not a lot of snow up high. Very windy, snowy & whiteout condis during wind gusts. Pretty fun day. Ski out was quick & fun |
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11/25/2022 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 11/25/2022, By: GaryBroome6 Info: I made it up to the summer TH with no real trouble. 1 other truck there when I arrived around 5:45. Saw him coming down Torrey's and lost him almost immediately. Definitely doable in the right vehicle if you take your time. Small stretch of blown snow while contouring around Kelso Mountain was a pain for a couple minutes but it's not worth floatation. A couple other spots heading up Gray's require your attention but I was fine in spikes. Summit was BEAUTIFUL. Blue bird day. Minimal wind. Snowy peaks for miles. To the guy who gave me the finger when I beeped, I apologize. I thought it would be a good idea to make sure you were aware there was a car driving toward you on snow. I could only see the top of your head and didn't want to hit someone walking in a tire track if they were wearing headphones or something. Hope the views put you in a better mood. |
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11/11/2022 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 11/12/2022, By: Chris Rivera Info: I second the report that the road is not drivable to the TH. It's doable for the first ~2.5 miles but suddenly the tire tracks stop. Not enough room to comfortably turn around so I ended up driving in reverse about a half mile in the dark. Spare yourself the misfortune and just park at the huge lot right off I-70. Didn't have enough time in my day to add the extra 3 miles each way so I can't speak about the actual trail. |
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11/11/2022 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 11/12/2022, By: gideon_oyis Info: Road to the trailhead was not drivable for us. Hiked to the trailhead adding a total of 6 miles round trip. Hike was beautiful until we started getting waist deep snow at around 13000ft. Had to turn back. Saw a mountain goat. I do think one could summit with snow shoes and with an early start. Hiking buddy saw an ice axe along the trail. Feel free to reach out if you think it's yours. |
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11/1/2022 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 11/1/2022, By: Sol14 Info: There's a small hill (150ft or so)up Steven's Gulch road about a mile or so from the start at (Bakerville exit) that is becoming a bit tricky to traverse having been packed down ice/snow. I've good 4-wheel drive no chains but ended up sliding down hill backwards about 20ft or so. It's basically one lane in that stretch of the road but there was a spot too turn around barely. If one did slide off the road it would just be off into the ditch and some trees (tow truck and no cell Ph. service) A lady came up behind me and we got past each other and she had the difficulty as well but did finally make it. The snow looked like it would have been a great hike but I backed out. |
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10/31/2022 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 10/31/2022, By: 14er101 Info: Descended this way after doing Torreys from Loveland pass. Mostly packed snow that was very well-trenched down. Microspikes would suffice, although crampons got me down in 75minutes. There were some sections of snow beneath the Torreys-Grays saddle where a fall could result in a long slide, so bring traction. Really great day out. |
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10/29/2022 Route: Grays and Torreys Posted On: 10/30/2022, By: mtn14 Info: Saw a guy almost slide off the mountain because he wasn't wearing traction (he was stopped by the one gravel patch in sight). Grays might be rated cat 1, but the snow buried the trail, and the folks that climbed prior to us went off trail. By unknowingly following their path off trail, we were all going across this hard packed, steep, and ungraded spot. For that matter, even the official trail was knee-deep in drifts, making it hard to stay on trail. It was pretty well traveled by the time we got back to the split, so I don't know that this spot is still a hazard, but definitely saw the need to plan according to conditions every bit as much as trail rating. |
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10/28/2022 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 10/28/2022, By: tefensmom Info: Stevens Gulch is snowed in from the bottom. There are tire tracks all the way to upper TH. From upper TH we put in a decent trench to summit of Grays. Set out to tag Edwards but bailed halfway through (and tagged Gray's as consolation instead) because it was a snowy sugary mess. Postholed hip-high a number of times. Probably will still be winter conditions next couple of days. (Gaiters/spikes) |
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10/25/2022 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 10/25/2022, By: Paddy6069 Info: Packed snow on the trail most of the way to the summit, very few areas of drifted snow (knee-high at most). Pretty windy day. Micro spikes were helpful on the descent but probably could have managed without them. |
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10/15/2022 Route: North Slopes Posted On: 10/16/2022, By: JaredJohnson Info: Kelso still goes, with snow interspersed in a lot of places, avoidable for a while but eventually microspikes mandatory IMO in a few sections. Required a little bit of problem solving to keep it safe with the snow. Grays was comfy packed snow all the way down from the summit to a little above kelso turnoff. Much fast descent with microspikes. |
