This was a project that surprisingly took many years and three attempts to finally finish (saying less of my facial hair changes). Pavement to Pavement ridge traverses have really been a deep interest of mine, and going from Loveland to Hoosier (or vice-versa) really seemed like a no-brainer. Indeed an alt to the CDT goes from Grays Peak to Georgia Pass, so this trip would just extend the tails out of the "Argentine Spine" a few more dozen miles. So a name for this route is the "Super Argentine Spine" but I don't know if that really rolls off the tongue, so I'm happy to take suggestions.

My first attempt was early in the season starting from Loveland, and I made it all the way to Georgia Pass, before succumbing to an eye infection, as well as some questionable snow on Guyot's east slopes. I hiked back down to Breck from Georgia Pass.

My second attempt started from Hoosier, and ended below Argentine Peak. After almost getting blown off the rdigeline (I camped here on my first go, too!), the morning didn't give much relief in terms of calmer wind, so I packed it up, and hiked down, again to Breck.

Third time was the charm I guess, and I was able to finish up at Loveland, starting from Hoosier, in around 2 1/2 days with a overloaded pack. Starting at Hoosier means finishing up having to do Edwards, Grays, and Torreys. This makes a great crescendo to everything, but I bit trying on tired legs. The final leg from Torreys to Loveland Pass is hard enough, just starting AND finishing on Loveland Pass! And I finished around midnight, so I had to bivy on Loveland Pass, to get up early to hitch a ridge into town.

I started out late, as that's just what the bus system from Boulder allowed me to do (Boulder -> Denver -> Frisco -> Breck -> Hoosier Pass!). and wrapped things up on Black Powder Pass, between Boreas and Bald. Good place for a camp -- usually there's free water here, too. Small storm rolled in to drop some snow, but nothing too bad.

The next day I tagged Bald, then down French Pass and up Guyot on its South Ridge. This is a great route. When snow covered, this is absolutely the crux of the whole thing, as there is a relatively steep snow slope with massive exposure. A fall would be very bad. But in summer conditions, it's just another talus hike.

Once on Georgia Pass, the route really eases up. I didn't see anyone in any of my traverses over, but there should be... people here, be it CDT hikers or 4WD enthusiasts -- hell even back country skiers. It's nice and quiet and somewhat surprising, as one would think the Front Range as this very busy place. A camped again on Webster Pass, where I could jog down off the ridge just a touch and get some relief from any wind for the day. Really great early sleep.

Pre-dawn start the next day, with the hope of getting as close to Grays/Torreys as possible, but I made good time to below Argentine -- my last farthest point, it really made sense to just keep going. I've been in this area so many times, there weren't too too many surprises.

It was starting to get late with clouds forming on Grays, but I decided to press on. The week after, there was a heli rescue off Torreys as the persons were too exhausted to get down themselves. My descend from Torreys was a bit of a slog, but again I've been here a few times. I told myself: I've done this route in winter, at night, carrying a 40lb pack, I'll do it again today. NBD. I had a brief thought to bivy below Grizzly, but the idea of coffee in the morning was really too great.

Reached Loveland around 11:45pm. I knew grabbing a ride was probably not in the cards and very briefly thought about just walking down the road to Frisco, but the thought of scaring the crap out of a tracker trailer driver changed my mind. What's another day at 12,000'? In the morning, I grabbed a ride from a worker doing some project in Keystone. He didn't speak any English, but I hope I was able to tell him how grateful I was for the ride.

Stats:

• Mileage: 53.06
• Elevation gain: 20,546' (387'/mile)
• Lowest/Highest Elevation: 11488' - 14274'
• Average Elevation: 12,768'

Peaks Summited:

• Grays Peak, 14,275'
• Torreys Peak, 14,272'
• Edwards, Mount, 13,860'
• Argentine Peak, 13,743'
• Grizzly Peak, 13,435'
• Hoosier Ridge , 13,362'
• Geneva Peak, 13,266'
• Landslide Peak, 13,238'
• Santa Fe Peak, 13,181'
• Sullivan Mountain, 13,133'
• Cupid, 13,126'
• Decatur Mountain, 12,892'
• Revenue Mountain, 12,888'
• Bald Mountain, 13,703'
• Mount Guyot, 13,372'
• Whale Peak, 13,080'
• Bullion Benchmark, 12,950'
• Glacier Peak, 12,857'
• Handcart Peak, 12,505'
• Red Peak, 13,219'
• Boreas Mountain, 13,083'
• Madonna Dome, 12,331'
• Panorama Point, 12,041'

I was hoping this traverse could be a winter traverse -- or at least a wintry traverse, as it solves the water and no lakes nearby issue (melt snow!) and the avy danger can be reasonably handled. Maybe I'll try again in the future. The new-ish bus stop right on Hoosier Pass really helps solve logistics for me, as it's not really realistic to walk to Loveland Pass and I don't really want to sleep on Loveland beforehand (loud, busy). But, getting a hitch off of Loveland to Keystone would be dead easy.