Torreys Peak Trip Report 05/12/2009

Peak(s):	Torreys Peak - 14,272 feet
Date Posted:	05/12/2009
Modified:	05/15/2009
Date Climbed:	05/13/2007
Author:	Easy Rider

East Face, Dead Dog Couloir
The storms last weekend gave me a chance to rest. Maybe I am starting to age. Work drags at times too. Gas prices continued to soar, and expected to continue to 4 $/ gal this summer. Trips to the Front Range were becoming less desirable. I was surprised to find snow on the road immediately after the Bakersville exit, at 9,800. I slept in the cab. The orange glow of the exit lights, and drone of the interstate made me restless, and waiting for the 3:30 alarm. It was patchy and dirty snow up to the Steven's TH. Nasty trenches from an aggressive 4x4 ended in a ditch at the junction. I was passed by a hiker hauling skis around a steep and dry south facing stretch. I trailed behind through a small cluster of cabins to a big iron bridge at 11,200. A light flickered in the stubby trees ahead. Edwards' west wall curled up around Kelso. It took longer than expected to travel the curving glacial valley. I swung low, and rounded the slope to find I had closed the gap on the skier. About a hundred yards apart, we both paused, listening to the ptarmigan. I skinned fast to keep up, and was glad I did when the sun started to cook the east face of Torreys. The Greys saddle is the safest route. The Dead Dog chute is quite exposed to rockfall. I did not trust the thinning snow of that upper right side of the face to hold everything in place. I skinned to the bottom of the cirque, and took a direct line up to the trail. This was slower than the rib to the left, since I had to stop and put on crampons. When I put on skins again, I used a couple miscellaneous straps for leashes. I did not want a repeat of Missouri. At the saddle I noticed the skier again near the top of Greys. I headed for Torreys, since the clock was ticking on the sunny east side. Grey's more gentle northerly slopes could wait, so I would have time for the full run. The ridge went quickly, but I spent the usual amount of time with my boots, taking pictures, and buffing out the board. By then, the skier had come up the ridge. I greeted him, and then rode off the summit. It was nice to know I would not be completely alone. I made a few turns off the top and pulled around a rock outcrop to the left before cutting into the Dead Dog. I watched my sluff carefully. The left was more sun affected, the right a little fresher. The middle had a runnel that got worse lower down, probably formed by an ass dragging glissader. The snow was soft enough to make the runnel less of a problem. It was a quarter to nine, and starting to warm up lower down. The pitch of this chute is surprisingly sustained to the base. I stopped to rest a couple times under protected rock outcrops. A skillet sized rock flew down the runnel, and I called down to a climber in the apron. He waved, and I continued down past him into the basin on big turns. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

East Face, Dead Dog Couloir

The storms last weekend gave me a chance to rest. Maybe I am starting to age. Work drags at times too. Gas prices continued to soar, and expected to continue to 4 $/ gal this summer. Trips to the Front Range were becoming less desirable.
I was surprised to find snow on the road immediately after the Bakersville exit, at 9,800. I slept in the cab. The orange glow of the exit lights, and drone of the interstate made me restless, and waiting for the 3:30 alarm. It was patchy and dirty snow up to the Steven's TH. Nasty trenches from an aggressive 4x4 ended in a ditch at the junction. I was passed by a hiker hauling skis around a steep and dry south facing stretch. I trailed behind through a small cluster of cabins to a big iron bridge at 11,200. A light flickered in the stubby trees ahead. Edwards' west wall curled up around Kelso. It took longer than expected to travel the curving glacial valley. I swung low, and rounded the slope to find I had closed the gap on the skier. About a hundred yards apart, we both paused, listening to the ptarmigan. I skinned fast to keep up, and was glad I did when the sun started to cook the east face of Torreys.

The Greys saddle is the safest route. The Dead Dog chute is quite exposed to rockfall. I did not trust the thinning snow of that upper right side of the face to hold everything in place. I skinned to the bottom of the cirque, and took a direct line up to the trail. This was slower than the rib to the left, since I had to stop and put on crampons. When I put on skins again, I used a couple miscellaneous straps for leashes. I did not want a repeat of Missouri.

At the saddle I noticed the skier again near the top of Greys. I headed for Torreys, since the clock was ticking on the sunny east side. Grey's more gentle northerly slopes could wait, so I would have time for the full run. The ridge went quickly, but I spent the usual amount of time with my boots, taking pictures, and buffing out the board.

By then, the skier had come up the ridge. I greeted him, and then rode off the summit. It was nice to know I would not be completely alone. I made a few turns off the top and pulled around a rock outcrop to the left before cutting into the Dead Dog. I watched my sluff carefully. The left was more sun affected, the right a little fresher. The middle had a runnel that got worse lower down, probably formed by an ass dragging glissader. The snow was soft enough to make the runnel less of a problem. It was a quarter to nine, and starting to warm up lower down. The pitch of this chute is surprisingly sustained to the base. I stopped to rest a couple times under protected rock outcrops. A skillet sized rock flew down the runnel, and I called down to a climber in the apron. He waved, and I continued down past him into the basin on big turns.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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