Torreys Peak

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 10/12/2025, By: Caitlin123
Info: Kelso is starting to gain snow cover and is a real delight at the moment. I used microspikes the whole way up the ridge, though not much longer and crampons might be needed. I didn't have an axe with me and never felt like I needed one with the bare rock. The standard trail up to Grays is pretty slick in spots and microspikes would be a good idea even if you're not doing the ridge. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 10/5/2025, By: GUTstring
Info: Small dusting of snow on ridge, which obscured trail in the morning. Microsoikes were helpful. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 9/28/2025, By: sivanatri
Info: Did Grays and Torreys on the 27th. Got to the summer trailhead at 5:15 am and found parking. Weather was great. Trail was nice, with some rocky steps covered with patches of ice and snow. There were a couple of inches of snow throughout the switchbacks, but the peaks were completely clear at the top. I used microspikes while coming down from Grays to the saddle toward Torreys. Loved the hike, though doing both peaks was definitely strenuous. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 9/22/2025, By: Cruiser
Info: Still perfect summertime conditions on kelso despite a sprinkling of snow hanging around on the north side of the ridge in some of the most shaded pockets. Fall color was at peak on the 4wd road up from i70. The standard route was fairly crowded but we only passed 3 other groups on the ridge. Right after we gained the ridge at the saddle with kelso mtn the wind caught my favorite mountaineering hat (with the pink flamingo print) and blew it off the ridge and into the scree below but we went back for it and managed to scramble up to retrieve it. All in all a very successful day and #4 out of 58 for my youngest son. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 9/13/2025, By: jackstraw
Info: Great conditions on the ridge, though a bit muddy at points. Perfect weather on top with minimal wind. Took around 3 hours to summit. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 9/13/2025, By: Sekwof
Info: Both Peaks had an easily maintained/visible trail to follow, with no real degradation to the trail to the peak. Frost in the morning is making some rocky steps slippery, and light to moderate snow this afternoon covered both peaks. Torrey's Peak trail had a few sections of loose gravel on steep areas that made sliding a little easier when climbing. Both trails were soft/wet below 13kft and frozen above 13kft during the morning, just after sunrise. A fresh, wet snow from thunderstorms during the day today made things particularly wet and frozen at the peaks. Overall, still very traversable and accessible to most hikers, with a couple of spots to pay attention to depending on remaining ice/frost/snow/loose gravel as of 2 pm on 9/13/2025. 

Route: Grays and Torreys
Posted On: 9/2/2025, By: Sneezingdragon
Info: Beautiful hike. Great conditions, clear air, no issues at all with the path. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/12/2025, By: summitridge
Info: Ran them from the winter trailhead. The smoke is gone and the trails are in great shape. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/9/2025, By: kilimannejaro
Info: Summer conditions in general (one patch of snow to step through, but trail is good and easy to follow). However, I would really caution folks about getting started early until the AQI improves. I had a really hard time breathing when I was walking up this morning (started at 6:22am) due to the smoke in the air, and several other people also told me they experienced this. Check the weather forecast, but it may be a good idea to wait to start until a little later when the smoke clears in the Stevens Gulch valley. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/13/2025, By: Ssgustafson
Info: Dry conditions on the ridge all the way up to the knife edge. There is still a small patch of snow just after the knife edge that only involved a quick and easy 13 steps for me to cross. There's a much larger snowfield on Torrey's standard route just below the saddle. I felt fine without microspikes on both, but some may feel more secure with spikes on the longer snow traverse below the saddle. The ascent of Kelso Mtn adds about 900' gain on nice grassy slopes. Only saw one other hiker and two grouse on Kelso Mtn. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/14/2025, By: ash_tay
Info: Got to the parking lot at 0410 and it was over halfway full. My friend arrived at 0445 and got one of the last spots. Kelso Ridge was great. Fun scrambling with solid rock. Summer conditions aside from a short snow-packed section right after the knife edge. Some may feel more comfortable doing this with spikes, but certainly not necessary. Traversed over to Gray's after summitting Torreys. If you subtract the time spent on the summits, it took us 5.5 hours RT. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/9/2025, By: durkan
Info: 5pm start. Already mentioned but snow after the knife edge and then after the saddle after descending. It was supportive in trail runners around 6:30pm or so. I don't know how long that'll hold up as warm rain (virga at minimum) rolled in after. That pushed me to book it. 2.5 hrs car to car. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/9/2025, By: CEColton
Info: Kelso Ridge was entirely snow free until just after the knife edge. There’s a short mandatory snow crossing there. There’s a trail packed into the snow, which makes footing easier, but there’s also pretty significant exposure on both sides. I used MICROspikes and trekking poles, though the climber after me did not. 

Route: Dead Dog Couloir
Posted On: 7/5/2025, By: footfungus94
Info: Started the couloir early around ~6am summited around 8:45 (my first couloir). Getting to the start of the couloir could get hard soon. Definitely starting to warm up. Snow was good in the middle section of the couloir but annoying at the bottom and nearing the very top, still good snow though. Only had one rockfall that narrowly missed us. As other people have mentioned there is a runnel closer to the right side of the couloir which is still prominent. Also there seems to be more rockfall on the right side of the couloir. When we were walking down back to the trailhead after doing Grays we saw rockfall that had taken out a good portion of the approach to the couloir leaving scree. 

Route: Kelso Ridge
Posted On: 7/4/2025, By: Aidanj5
Info: We got to the trailhead at 2 pm the day before. There was literally one other car in the parking lot, and no camping sites were taken. Camping was great, and the weather was perfect. We did the 2-mile hike to the start of the ridge just to get warmed up, then came back to the campsite to get some sleep.

We woke up the next day at 4 am. By 4:30 am, we started our hike. The parking lot was 3/4th the way full (on a Thursday).

The pitch before the knife edge was difficult to get to because of a long and exposed snowpatch that we didn't even feel comfortable crossing with microspikes. So we opted into taking an alternate route by going up a pitch to the right to regain the ridge. With my little expertise, this pitch felt class 4, it did not feel anything like the scrambling we faced so far.

The snow patch after the knife edge is so punched in that the microspikes were not necessary.

My friend is 6'2" and I am 5'11", and we had no problem with the scrambling. My girlfriend is 5'5" and she had a harder time. I know it seems like a little detail, but I think it should be known that height matters in the mountains lol. Not to say she couldn't do it, she killed it, but the jugs we used were just a little out of reach for her.

This has been my favorite adventure so far, and I am so glad I did it with some of my best friends.

Here are splits...
TH to the beginning of Kelso Ridge: 2 mi in 1 hr
Kelso Ridge: 1mi in 2.5 hr
Torrey's to Grey's to TH: 5 mi in 3.5 hr