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| Torreys via Kelso Ridge to Grays |
Was contemplating taking the girlfriend out and doing Princeton over the holiday but realized that it would be traffic suicide trying to get back up 285. Decided to take her up her first 3rd Class route, Kelso Ridge. She has expressed interest in some 4th Class routes and is very confident so I figured Kelso Ridge was a good test.
Left Denver at 3am, arrived at the parking lot at 420am. Got one of the last spots available. I was presently surprised that there was still a spot available given the fact that it was the 4th of July.
Started at 440am. Took about an hour to get to the turn off over to Kelso Ridge. Spent a few minutes eating and admiring the view once we gained the ridge. It was quite smoky and hazy, even smelled like smoke quite a bit until we got up higher on the ridge and the wind picked up more.
Did quite a bit of "find your own adventure" on the way up the ridge. Even with this being my 3rd time up the route, I was surprised with how ambiguous the route can be at times. You can make the difficulty anywhere from low 3rd class to low 5th class at pretty much every outcropping. Kept getting more aggressive with our route choice until I decided that 25-30 feet of pure vertical climbing was a bit more than I was comfortable with her doing and decided to head back to the more traveled path. Had some goats show up just before the knife edge, first time that I have seen them in that area. Crossed the knife edge and the white rock just beyond it without any troubles and reached the summit in about 2 hours 45 min from our start time. The snow is still there right below the knife edge but isn't necessary for crossing it any more. Hung out for just a couple minutes as there wasn't a ton of people yet but we could see the train coming up and wanted to get ahead of most of it.
Headed over to Grays and reached the summit about 30 minutes after leaving the summit of Torreys. Started getting slowed down by traffic coming off of Grays heading to Torreys. Spent about half an hour on the summit of Grays getting in some good people watching as the crowd was even more diverse than usual with it being the 4th. Eventually got headed down, opting for the descent route that is further East and follows the ridgeline down for a while before regaining the regular trail coming up Grays. Only came across one group coming up in that section, a nice contrast to what we knew was awaiting us below. Once regaining the main trail, it was slow going as we ran into group after group after group coming up, as to be expected. The crowding finally eased up as we passed the turn off for Kelso Ridge again. Cruised through the flat patch and back down to the parking lot at a pretty good rate. Finished in just under 6 hours, with our longest stretch being the descent. It was the first time that I have actually linked the two, with it being my 4th ascent of Torreys and 3rd ascent of Grays.
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