Kelso Mountain Lollipop

10.77miles

3,547ft gain

3h 52m

NOTE -- Let me just say, a vehicle with high clearance is highly recommended. My poor sedan would struggle on the road to the G&T Summer TH, so I played it safe by tacking on an additional 6miles to the total trip (not fun). This should only be a roughly 5mile RT hike if you are able to park at the upper trail.

Started this morning at 6:14am with a 3mile trek up Stevens Gulch Road. It's not a horrible walk, though you do gain a decent amount of elevation. I was unlucky as to not see any cars driving by, but I would venture to assume a kind-hearted stranger would be more than willing to give you a ride to the top (if you asked nicely).

Once on the trail, I proceeded on the standard route for roughly 1.5miles. Upon reaching the fairly obvious eastern face of Kelso Mountain, you'll notice a social trail (ish) peeling north off the standard route. After taking this detour, the fun is pretty much placed into your hands, as there is no clear trail up the mountain. Standard route of Kelso Mountain would take you to the saddle between it and Torreys Peak, but I didn't feel like needing to backtrack any portion of the summit trail - plus loops are always more fun.

There are many ways to take the ridge from here, it's very much a "choose your adventure" situation. Personally, I opted to head toward the large, lighter colored outcropping of rock on the left side of the above image. To my pleasant surprise, I found a very fun 20-25ft chimney heading up the north side of the rock. I don't think it ever exceeded Class 3 climbing, though the rock wasn't always the most solid. Be sure to test all holds.

The chimney climb was fun, but the Class 3 pretty much ended there - at least on the east face. I'm sure you could switch back north and find some more scrambling to fill your desires, but none of this would be necessary.

I will note, there are ways up the east face of this mountain that remain entirely Class 2, but it would require you to follow the G&T standard route further south, or to take the detour further to the north - neither situation would give you as direct of a shot to the summit of Kelso. Entirely up to the climber.

After the chimney, the grade increased quite a bit and it became a dreary slog all the way to the summit, with no adventurous scrambling and just the occasional loose talus to entertain my boredom. There is a slight bump that could be mistaken for the summit, but as you push forward the true summit becomes quite noticeable thanks to a very large cairn.

From the summit, I opted to descend via the connecting saddle with Torreys Peak. There is a fairly evident social trail that dips east below the ridge, but I like to hold true to the ridge both for solid rock options and for the occasional exciting scramble, which this descent exhibited slightly.

Depending on how you choose your route, there are both Class 3 and 4 options for downclimbs on the ridge, and the exposure to the west can be quite gnarly. However, it is completely manageable to keep it Class 3 at all times, with the ever-present option for a Class 2 bailout below the ridgeline.

The crux of the descent (for me) was pretty close to the saddle, where the ridge became much steeper and presented me with a very slabby downclimb of about 15 feet. Footholds were pretty sparing, but the rock was solid, and I was able to navigate it without too much effort. This section is pictured below.

After downclimbing the crux section, you quickly meet back up with the saddle and the trail that takes you up to the Kelso Ridge. Kelso Ridge is an exciting Class 3 route up to the summit of Torreys Peak, perhaps to be accomplished in conjunction with Kelso Mountain (Kelso Combo)?

After descending from the saddle, you will promptly meet back up with the G&T standard trail, which will present with a lovely (in my case) 5mile trek back to your car at the winter trailhead.

Departed at 6:14am, returned at 10:06am.