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Peak(s):  Torreys Peak  -  14,272 feet
Date Posted:  06/21/2015
Modified:  06/24/2015
Date Climbed:   06/20/2015
Author:  Krullin_14ers
 Dead Dog in June   

Leave Boulder: 3:45AM
Begin Hike: 5:20AM
Summit: 8:30AM
Ski: 8:45AM




Hey guys, I figured I'd throw together a report of Dead Dog as there hasn't been much beta recently on the line. This site is my main source for information so the more the merrier.

Jordan and I left Boulder at 345AM knowing there was a strong chance we wouldn't even be able to ski the line. A lack of overnight freezes and some rain earlear in the week really didn't keep our hopes up. If the line wasn't in, we were fully prepared to bail. BUT leaving super early increased our chances of success in our minds. Upon arrival at the trailhead, we found it to be already packed, typical greys & torreys. We knew it was going to be a gorgeous day with the sun beaming its rays upon us, prompting us to move quickly. As we were leaving we ran into some other guys planning the same mission.


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starting the day


The trail was dry for the most part. Considering the trail is pretty much a creek right now, in the morning it was slightly frozen, allowing for a quick hike. There was no mud to deal with, keeping the nikes dry.


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little snow


About a mile in, we encountered the first snowfield. Luckily it was mostly frozen over and pretty firm, this would not be the case later in the day.

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what a rise!


The hike in was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky, we even caught a little bit of alpenglow.

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there she is


Finally, after about 45 min of hiking, we could see the line! I was getting stoked...until I saw people already half way up. It some ways it was a sigh of relief knowing other people were attempting the same thing, but in other ways I began to ask myself "should we have left earlier?" These thoughts plagued my mind as the sun began scorching the line with its rays of magic. I guess only time would tell.

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in the apron


At the bottom of the apron, I put on my crampons and shed as many layers as possible - I knew this was going to be a hot one! The snow turned out to be pretty firm at the bottom. I could walk on it with my boots without penetrating more than 2 inches or so. What a sigh of relief. After the gear change, it was on, off we go!


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looking down


The apron is much bigger than it looks, this thing is long. Just as we all know, sometimes pictures don't do a line justice. This is also the area of most of the avy debris. It all looks pretty old, but proved to be turbulent none the less.


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keep moving


At the top of the apron things began to get soft, each hole became about 8 inches deep. Thankfully the group ahead of us put in a nice boot pack.
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looking down


Tuning life out and just booting. Trying to get into a rhythm was hard with this one. It was so damn hot and who ever set the boot pack had legs like shaq. Every step was like a foot and a half apart.

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little dicey



This part was a little tricky. We had to cross a couple of trenches that had formed about half way up the line. In places, these bad boys were up to 5 feet deep. Talk about alotttta snow! Also, my right boot malfunctioned in this exact spot, my heel shimmy had mysteriously popped out, nearly tumbling into the abyss, good thing its yellow and i spotted her early. Not being able to put it back into the boot, my right foot felt quite a bit of pain for the remained of the ascent.


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topping out!


The good vibes were being felt as we neared the top. In this section the snow has softened up a great deal, were talking up to the knees in places. I knew if the line wasn't going to be safe, it would be here. The sun had a piece of it for nearly 3 hours now. Before topping out though, Jordan dug somewhat of a pit and assessed what was going on under that glorious corn. It appeared we were still good to make a nice ski.


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from marla


A photo Marla Winter took of us on the ascent. Nice to meet her on the way out! Thanks for the shot!


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After topping out of the couloir, you have just another 200 feet to the summit. so nice. The view at the top was unreal, just beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky and the best part....all the mountains are caked with snow! We notices all the people who climbed up before us were not at the top and no one had descended the line yet...huh. They must have all been climbers. Some guys with skis even passed us on the way up and we hadn't seen em. We began to worry a little as no one was interested in skiing the line. We would be the first. Woo hoo!


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Jordan ripping a couple tunes before we make the descent!


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Here we are about to drop in, some climbers were on their way up still and it was nearly 9AM, I felt bad as the snow must have been pretty soft for them. We waited for them to get out of the way and began to rip the line. The top of the line was SUPER soft and thick. This was no corn, were talking str8 taters. Some jump turns were for sure in order.


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About half way down the real fun began, the line got narrow and for some reason the snow was less thick. This was my favorite section. More turns were in order. Boy was i getting tired! The skiing was fantastic until the bottom of the apron, i had to maneuver around the trenches that harbored many large rocks. It was quite bumpy here.


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Overall the snow was fantastic, and turned out to be pretty safe. We let off a bit of sluff, but that is to be expected when you are jump turning on wet corn.


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So happy to be heading downhill, met some pretty cool people that enjoyed watching us descend, they even took a picture for us.


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It turned out to be a fantastic day. We were stoked to complete the trip and come back in one piece. The weather cooperated and treated us well. I love this downhike because it is moderate the whole way down, not much steepness to deal with carrying a heavy pack. The trail had turned into a full on creek by 11 am, it was pretty cool. The snow sections had softened up quite a bit, allowing for some nice wet feet. I couldn't imagine how wet everything was by the time the sun went down. It is ultra meltdown out there right now.


Thanks for reading, hope you find this info helpful!


Check out the video from the descent.


****WATCH IN HD****





Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
starsstuff
User
Nice job!
6/21/2015 9:30pm
Great video too. Those were my pics of you climbing on the FB site. Wish I’d have seen you ski down! I was on my way to Grays’ summit.
– Marla


Frontrangeskier
User
?
6/23/2015 6:31pm
Any chance you caught a glimpse over the other side at the Tuning Forks?



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