Torreys Peak

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 8/2/2026, By: SuperMario
Info: Great time on the ridge in the dark, plenty of class 3 to work with, and plenty of options to make it 4-5. Good exposure and good rock. 

Route: Torreys From Junction
Posted On: 7/27/2026, By: SWINTJJ
Info: Made Torreys this morning for my eighth 14er. The road up is still rough and I recommend high clearance vehicles. I only saw one car that was not high clearance, I don’t think they cared based on its vintage. The road was improved in one area from the last two years. The big rut up near the summer parking lot has been filed in. I arrived in the summer parking lot at 2:40 AM (a Monday) with about half of the upper portion of the parking lot full and no cars in the lower portion. Most of the cars that were there at 2:40 AM appeared to have been there all night sleeping in their cars. When I got back from my hike the lot was completely full and about 15 cars parked on the road.
There were about 100 people out there today, not bad for a Monday. Most everybody got an earlyish start, but I did see few starting at 10:00. With the weather forecast for lightening in the afternoon I did not think that was a good idea. Second hand I can concur the outhouse is overflowing based on the words and face of the guy that came out of there!
I was about third in line leaving the parking lot at 3:00 AM. Those ahead went to Grays and I was going for Torreys. Before I made the junction I looked back and there were about 20 head lamps on trail behind . There were at least three on the Kelso Ridge route. I made Torreys at 6:40 and had it to myself…for about five minutes… when the Kelso Ridge guys caught up to me. They had a minor mishap with a rock hitting one of them in the head (he did have a helmet on) but caught his leg and hand. There was very light rain that made the trail better for traction and not muddy at all. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/26/2026, By: slowtoad
Info: Arrived at winter TH at 6AM Sunday, plenty of spots. Ran up to main TH and was packed but people driving up between 6-7am seemed to be able to find spots.

Ridge was great, snow free with lots of folks enjoying - be sure to pack a helmet. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/25/2026, By: nohandz
Info: Route has good variations: steep scrambling >> dirt gullies

We arrived to a mostly empty parking lot on Friday at 6:15 PM. It filled up mostly between seven and nine, and the last spots were gone shortly after. Some people managed to squeeze in in the morning and people were parked well down the road, Illegally. Tons and tons of people.

Oh, and the shitter is full 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/17/2026, By: UneasyHeart
Info: Trail is in excellent condition. Be aware of rockfall and for the love of god, please do not bring your dog on the knife edge 

Route: Dead Dog Couloir
Posted On: 7/3/2026, By: Mitten Goat
Info: Dead Dog Couloir is in good shape for a crampon ascent. Ice axe, helmet, headlamp. The bottom is burning out, and there is one short section 1/3 way up the snow that is just rocks for about 20 feet-ish. But otherwise, it is continuous snow to the top. I did it this morning, left trailhead at 2:30AM and was on snow at 4:30AM. Two hours of climbing to reach the top of Kelso Ridge. Then I descended Kelso Ridge. Great loop. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 6/29/2026, By: walks_a_lot
Info: The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) has issued a Stage 2 Fire Restrictions Order for all unincorporated areas of the county. The temporary Stage 2 Fire Restrictions are effective at Noon today (12:00pm on Monday, June 29, 2026), and will remain in effect until further notice. Weather and fuel conditions, nearby fire activity, and resource limitations have prompted the transition to Stage 2 Fire Restrictions from the Stage 1 Fire Restrictions that were issued on March 26, 2026.

The signed Stage 2 Fire Restrictions Order, with full details of restrictions, is on our website at https://www.clearcreekcounty.us/1607/Fire-Ban-Information. In short, during Stage 2 Fire Restrictions, the following is prohibited:

- No igniting, building, maintaining, attending, or using any Open Fire, including charcoal grills and barbeques, coal and wood burning stoves, and sheepherder’s stoves. (See the Fire Restrictions Order for a definition of “Open Fire.”) Propane or natural gas barbeque or liquid fuel stoves are allowed if attended at all times and in a fully enclosed, covered barbeque grill or contained within a liquid fuel stove.
- No fireworks, including sparklers.
- No smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle, trailer, or building.
- No possessing or operating motor vehicles off-roads, including off-highway vehicles (OHV), regardless of whether the OHV is classified as a motor vehicle. The only exceptions are:
- Vehicles may be parked in an area devoid of vegetation within 10 feet of a roadway or a driveway serving private property.
- Overnight parking is permitted in Forest Service-developed campgrounds and trailheads.
- All other outdoor spark- or flame-producing activities.
- No shooting, except while hunting pursuant to a valid hunting license, or target shooting within the Clear Creek County Sport Shooting Park.
- For details related to chainsaw, welding, and cutting torch use, see the Fire Restrictions Order. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 6/22/2026, By: w_mcelwee4
Info: Short patch of snow at the cutoff trail coming back down. My son was able to walk across it wearing Chucks. Otherwise perfect. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 6/21/2026, By: flintel
Info: Saddle from Grays to Torreys 95% clear with just a few short snow patches exclusively on the downclimb from Grays. Only area still quite snowy is the cutoff from the saddle back to the Grays trail, I appreciated poles here but they're certainly not necessary. Brought spikes and didn't use them. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 6/19/2026, By: The_Ramp
Info: Not much more to add to the Conditions Report from a few days ago - Kelso Ridge is in full summer conditions minus one small, trivial snow crossing just before the final Class 3 pitch to the Knife Edge. I saw some folks taking the Class 4 slabs, presumably to avoid this stretch, but I would recommend sticking with the route.

No snow on descent from Torreys to saddle. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 6/16/2026, By: timkoh
Info: tl;dr: Kelso is completely dry save the last 50-100 vertical feet. The knife's edge is now exposed with no snow.

Parking: I arrived at 7 am on a Tuesday and I took one of 4 spots left. By the time I was leaving at 11, half the spots were available.

Had an excellent morning out on Kelso! Was expecting a bit more snow, but no! It's dry all the way up until 14,100. I took a wrong turn and ended up needing to cross a 20 foot snow field (see photo), but others had made the same mistake and steps had already been kicked in. I realized I was too low and scrambled back up to the ridge after crossing. If I had stayed low (I watched someone else do this) I would have had to boot pack up about 50 feet of steep snow. If you stay high and true to the route you'll avoid all that trouble. The final pitch beyond the knife's edge does still have snow, but steps have been well set and I didn't feel the need to break out my spikes.

Bring an ice axe if you want to glissade! And be sure to make good time. The lower section was pretty soft by 9:30/10 and wasn't giving much traction.

Stay safe and say hi to the baby goat for me! 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 6/10/2026, By: htbyron
Info: Trail from the saddle up to Torreys summit is clear, no snow. But getting down to the saddle from Grays peak is a challenge with the steep, rocky, snow-covered trail. And the cutoff back from the saddle to the Grays route for the descent is all snow-covered. Microspikes and poles recommended for this section. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 5/25/2026, By: daway8
Info: Excellent spring conditions for Kelso Ridge - about 50/50 dry vs snow covered. Lots of steps already kicked in so I didn't even bother to put microspikes on until 13k. Didn't pull out my ice axe until the final little stint between the Knife Edge and the summit. The Knife Edge itself is currently a trivial snow sidewalk.

You could probably manage the route without any special gear if you're really confident in your footing but for the next week or two it might not be a bad idea to bring traction and an axe, especially since you can use said axe for some fun glissading, although by 9am the snow was already getting a bit too soft for optimal glissading on the way down Grays. Fun meeting Michael and Hunter, among others, along the way. Uploading pics. 

Route: Dead Dog Couloir
Posted On: 5/23/2026, By: Tnesper
Info: Climed Dead Dog today. Based on videos I saw on Facebook from 5/21, there was a slide in it likely on 5/22. Bottom is all avy debris that lessens as you go. Conditions off the debris were great and likely to hold and improve. Very high winds on the summit today. Well corniced on the saddle. We put a boot pack in the face of Grays which was wind loaded and gave us mild concern to cross. There were a few spots where we felt a weak bottom layer but it was overall fine. I don't think Dead Dog would have been a great ski today, but in a day or two as they avy debris melts out it'll get better. 

Route: Dead Dog Couloir
Posted On: 5/15/2026, By: Nathan Hoobler
Info: Perfect climbing conditions on Dead Dog. Fantastic snow. Quite a bit of avy debris, but that doesn’t get in the way of climbing. We started seeing falling rocks at 6:30 am so start early.