"Grand Traverse Peak"

Route: Grand Traverse
Posted On: 9/7/2024, By: colin j
Info: Summer conditions. None of the rain/snow/ice that fell in the northern mountains earlier this week remains in the Gore. 

Route: Grand Traverse
Posted On: 9/22/2024, By: Nathan Hoobler
Info: We did the Grand Traverse from north to south. Terrific route with fun and exciting scrambling. Just wanted to add one bit of beta. The only major tricky section with non-obvious routefinding was getting down from the top of Cooper's GT5 tower. The climb to the summit is solid and fun class 4 rock and one of the few times you're on the left / north side of the ridge. But the down climb to get off is confusing. Cooper says "an interesting down climb awaits you on the far side of this spire." The easiest route is NOT on the far side of the spire - the far side is extremely exposed and even overhanging. Instead the route is a hard right turn to down climb very steep but solid class 4 gully to get to a ledge. From that ledge, it's another steep class 4 to get to a fun class 4-ish corner system that trends descender's left. There's a chockstone 3/4 of the way down this corner that is the crux before getting to easier/safer ground. 

Route: Grand Traverse
Posted On: 9/22/2024, By: Nathan Hoobler
Info: We did the Grand Traverse from north to south. Terrific route with fun and exciting scrambling. Just wanted to add one bit of beta. The only major tricky section with non-obvious routefinding was getting down from the top of Cooper's GT5 tower. The climb to the summit is solid and fun class 4 rock and one of the few times you're on the left / north side of the ridge. But the down climb to get off is confusing. Cooper says "an interesting down climb awaits you on the far side of this spire." The easiest route is NOT on the far side of the spire - the far side is extremely exposed and even overhanging. Instead the route is a hard right turn to down climb a very steep but solid class 4 gully straight down to get to a ledge. From that ledge, it's another steep class 4 gully system (trend descender's right) to get to a fun class 4-ish corner system that trends descender's left. There's a chockstone 3/4 of the way down this corner that is the crux before getting to easier/safer ground. See the last photos below for more detail on the descent from GT5. All in all, a terrific day above Vail. Would love to come back to explore the cabins in both valleys. 

Route: Deluge Lake
Posted On: 8/5/2024, By: rleclair
Info: Summer conditions. Well maintained trail to Deluge Lake. Trail crew working on parts of the trail about 0.4 miles from the lake - thank you for what you do! From Deluge Lake, hike up the grassy slopes/grassy ledges through some talus/scree to gain the saddle. Then easy Class 2 hike to the summit. Epic views of the Grand Traverse proper. 

Route: Grand Traverse
Posted On: 8/5/2024, By: madmattd
Info: As noted recently, no snow/ice on route. Lots of fun C3 scrambling with some C4 mixed in, and options for more if desired. As someone still relatively new to scrambling, I loved this traverse. The route is fairly well documented, but I'll add that you want to make extra sure you bypass the one tower shortly after the 1/3 bump (I think it was the next tower?), there's a fairly clear nearly-level crack/ramp from the saddle to a small notch on the right (if going N->S) that bypasses things nicely (the backside of the tower does not go from the top, it's very undercut). Otherwise you can bypass or climb over basically everything as desired, all bypasses are to the West (right side going N->S). The talus slope down towards the Grand-Valhalla saddle was tedious, but the steep grass/dirt below to Deluge Lake was worse - plan to scree ski whether you want to or not. Also - there's around 300' of reverse gain on the Deluge Lake Trail below treeline before the last ~2mi steep dirt trail descent to the lot. Quite warm, but minimal haze in the general area, so lots of awesome Gore eye candy to enjoy. 

Route: Deluge Lake
Posted On: 7/31/2024, By: JasonKline
Info: Summer conditions. No snow or ice. 

Route: Grand Traverse
Posted On: 9/9/2023, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Climbed North Traverse Peak & Grand Traverse Peak via the Grand Traverse today with a great crew. The climbing on this route does not begin until leaving the summit of North Traverse. There are some really fun class 4 moves on this route, with the opportunity to make it harder or easier based on preference. The routefinding was relatively straightforward, and we had a blast. We did begin from the Bighorn TH and end at the Deluge Lake TH, with a car shuttle in place. This was my first time in the Gore Range and it did not disappoint. Stunning views, minimal people, relatively solid rock, and really fun terrain. 

Route: Grand Traverse (from North Traverse)
Posted On: 6/30/2022, By: blueshade
Info: No snow on route 

Route: Grand Traverse from North
Posted On: 10/4/2020, By: wintersage
Info: Clear, dry, minimal wind. 

Route: Grand Traverse from \"North Traverse Peak\"
Posted On: 10/4/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: Tons of fun and way easier than it looks. The initial section of ridge off "North Traverse" is a bit exposed to the east but on solid rock. Quickly the best option is to drop down and traverse on boulders/talus/grass/dirt. Until you begin reaching the towers on the ridge the traversing is easy. The first couple of minor towers can easily be bypassed to the west on downsloping grass and boulders. Even the first major tower can be easily bypassed in that fashion, though after the first major tower/notch the best option we found was a Class 4 chimney with a chockstone jammed at the top. This chimney was the crux of the Grand Traverse for us. Down climbing the other side was Class 3 on loose rock and scree. The remaining route simply followed the same pattern: traverse between towers on grass and dirt, going down where needed, and passing through the towers and ribs via notches and short scrambly sections. Going higher on this route almost always makes the climbing harder. Going lower almost always makes the climbing easier. The rock on the towers and ribs is almost always solid. The terrain between the towers and ribs is almost always somewhat iffy but easy. Route finding wasn't too much trouble. The last bit to the summit consisted of grass gullies confined by solid granite and eventually a delightful series of Class 3 scrambles to the summit proper. Amazing route, 10/10. The southeast slopes looked very easy to descend to Deluge Lake, though we continued on to "Palomino Point" and "Mount Valhalla". 

Route: View from west ridge of palomino point
Posted On: 6/26/2016, By: WillRobnett
Info: View from west ridge of palomino point 

Route: View from East Vail
Posted On: 6/18/2016, By: WillRobnett
Info: Pic from East Vail today 

Route: Grand Traverse clockwise (N-S)
Posted On: 9/22/2014, By: AlexeyD
Info: No snow or ice anywhere en route. Upper basin beyond the end of the Bighorn Canyon trail had some boggy sections that were hard to avoid. Going up to the saddle at the head of the basin, we took a line farther left than Cooper‘s description suggests, and ended up having to climb a few short bits of "4th class grass" with some questionable rock mixed not - though nothing terrible. Climb to North Traverse Peak was very straightforward with only a few moves of 3rd class. The traverse itself: for the most part you either stay on the crest or go around the towers, depending on which looks most feasible. In many places you will see signs of passage if you look carefully (though not exactly a "trail" by any means). We climbed the crux tower (labeled "GT5" in the Cooper book) directly from the notch before it, basically following the obvious line of least resistance along a left-trending ledge-corner system, the back up and right to the ridge. The last exit move out of the corner system felt about 5.4; going straight up may be more true 4th class, but looked loose and dangerous, so we went with the short bit of more technical, but more solid climbing instead. In any case, it‘s getting off this tower that is really the crux (at least psychologically) of the route. The descent is not obvious, and if you don‘t take the time to find it you can get yourself in a really bad place. Basically, the key to finding it is to head south from the summit of the tower for maybe 50-75 feet, then look down and left (east) for a ledge system 50 feet or so below the ridge crest. The goal is to get on this ledge system, and then follow it carefully along, and eventually around and to the other (left/west) side of the tower, where it becomes a ramp leading down onto easier terrain. Getting down onto the ramp involved a few very exposed 4th/low 5th traverse moves, fortunately on mostly solid rock; and further on the ramp itself there was one other short but very exposed step-across, along with a couple of short bouldery downclimbs, before the terrain eased up considerably. There may be ways to avoid some or all of these dicier sections, but no matter how you do it, it‘s pretty airy. We agreed that folks who are less experienced/uncomfortable with exposure might want a belay here...let‘s just say that anyone who found any parts of the Keyhole route scary would definitely want one. Alternatively, it may be possible to go around this tower by descending the debris-filled gully for a bit and then climbing over a rib, though this would definitely require quite a bit of elevation loss. The rest of the route is more straigthforward, with short and mostly avoidable bits of less exposed 4th class here and there, including the "direct" finish to Grand Traverse Peak along the ridge. Descent to Deluge Lake and the trail is very obvious: just head down towards the lake over talus and grass, avoiding any obvious obstacles like the occasional small cliff band. The trail should be visible from this descent. We took about 12 hours to complete the traverse, as opposed to the estimated 10 in the Cooper book. This time included walking the road between the two trailheads (which is not included in the Cooper estimate) which is 2-ish miles. We sort of took our time on the Bighorn Canyon approach (which had some beautiful fall colors as an added bonus), as well as on the crux tower, but generally felt like we were pretty fast on the rest of the actual traverse. No matter how you cut it, it‘s a big day, but extremely rewarding! 

Route: S slopes from Deluge
Posted On: 6/29/2014, By: d_baker
Info: ~8ish miles round trip ~4300' elevation gain First couple of miles of Deluge Lake trail is dry. Snow patches start around 10,200' or so - continuous yet early summertime firm from ~10600' until you break out into the basin where it becomes spotty again. S slopes can be ascended on dry tundra, with some snow fields to cross near Deluge Lake. E ridge to summit dry, until the last ~100' where the snow is holding on. Ice axe was nice to have to ascend the last bit. Other than the wind, it was a great day in the Gore Range! Pic 1: approaching upper basin -- to Deluge Lake. Tundra slope to saddle was out ascent route. Pic 2: crossing snow field to get to our ascent route. Pic 3: summit holding snow. Pic 4: crossing snow just beneath summit. Mt Valhalla, Mt Silverthorne, & Red Pk in distance (l. to r.) Pic 5: Deluge Lake still under its winter cover, Snow Pk and the western slopes to its saddle w/Valhalla Pic 6: pano of NW part of range Pic 7: Keller Mtn Pic 8: Deluge drainage on l., Bighorn drainage on r., and parts of the Sawatch on the skyline 

Route: Deluge/traverse/bighorn
Posted On: 6/10/2012, By: Monster5
Info: Approach is dry; ascent is dry (navigate around minor snow); traverse to N is dry; standard descent off N has a few snow patches that can be navigated around on scree if the snow‘s too hard to edge down; Bighorn descent is dry (a few trees to hop). Good day out with a great crew!