Grays Peak Trip Report 08/24/2009

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Grays Peak - 14,275 feet Torreys Peak - 14,272 feet
Date Posted	08/24/2009
Date Climbed	08/23/2009
Author	JA_son27

1st Timers on Grays and Torreys
Ahh, a nice trip down memory lane, these two sentinels of the front range kicked off my crazy obsession to climb all of the 14ers, and I was really looking forward to another visit. I know these peaks have been written about so much but two years ago as a 14er novice, I loved reading as many trip reports on Grays and Torreys as I could, and hopefully this will be just as helpful to a novice hiker as they were to me! I was also excited because this would be my wife's first attempt at a combination hike to get two 14ers in one trip. To further my excitement even more I would be showing my sister-in-law and her boyfriend the true beauty of Colorado from the summit of their first 14er, hopefully with many more summits in their future. I made sure to stress to Katie(my sister-in-law) the importance of being at the trail head at 5:45am to ensure a promising summit bid, and honestly I was a little nervous they wouldn't be ready. Katie and her boyfriend Dave assured me they would be ready, and boy were they ever ready! We arrived at their house at 3:45am and they had muffins ready to go for breakfast which was nice although I had already choked down my protein bar. We were on the road at 4am sharp and we were cruising! We arrived at the TH around 5:45am from Westminster and we were all excited! We started hiking shortly after arriving and we were a little disappointed that the bathrooms were closed, there was a sign indicating this was temporary. We started hiking up the nice wide, mild approach and after about ten minutes I noticed my wife's camelbak leaking. This was a minor set back as it was leaking from the top seal. We worked it out and continued on up. After about 15 minutes we gazed upon our first intention-Grays. Grays bathed in beautiful alpenglow, Katie and Dave in the lead, Amanda follows This portion of the approach trail is a nice intro to hiking 14ers, it contains a few switchbacks and then dramatically levels out as if to welcome you to this magical place. Looking around I noticed things that I missed on my first ascent such as the large amount of debris cones at the base of the valley walls (possibly a nightmare to climb up) and actually how precipitous the walls are that surround you. This place is awe inspiring. Looking down the trail, the trail head is in that grouping of trees near the left side Because of the prostration of this section of the trail we made quick work of it. It gave my wife and I, a chance to enjoy the beauty of this gulch without the heavy breathing, or exhaustion of a steeper trail, this is a nice change from some of the other trails we've hiked. You can almost feel the excitement emanating from Katie and Dave as they study their ultimate goal. Grays(left) and Torreys dominate the view The introduction is about to end. We passed the level section of the trail, passed the turnoff to Kelso ridge and now it started to get steep. We were on the north side of the little ridge and we were now starting to gain elevation. I kept reminding Dave that the huge mountain we saw (Kelso mountain) would very quickly be getting smaller and smaller, soon it would look like a little hill. Kelso mountain, looking like it is starting to change for the fall season The trail hugs the north side of the little ridge before dumping you out onto Gray's large sloping east face Now the trail was getting steep for my 14er novices, Katie started slowing down a little but still managed a good pace. I asked her if she was having fun which was a bad idea............. I don't know what she wants to do with that rock...... After dodging a few flying rocks I quickly reminded Katie it was her idea to climb a mountain! We continued on and made it to the east face on Grays. We were getting closer. This was a unique hike for my wife and I because I didn't really have to motivate her to keep going, I think her sister and Dave through all their hard work motivated her enough. Nearing the Grays/Torreys trail split. Grays East face Kelso mountain looking smaller as promised Mount Edwards from east face of Grays. I noticed one summiter on Edwards I decided not to go left at the Grays/Torreys trail split for some unknown reason. We did want to summit the higher of the two first but for some reason I thought there were two trails leading to the summit of Grays. The higher we hiked the closer we got to the snowfield leading to Torreys. I knew I had made a mistake, boy was I going to pay for it. I asked the group if they wanted to climb across the loose talus to intersect with the Grays trail, and they agreed. I truly felt like maybe I shouldn't have brought them up here, I wasn't experienced enough, but I swallowed my pride gave myself a pep talk and blazed across hoping they would follow. My wife followed my angled traverse, but Katie and Dave went straight up! I was impressed, those two pushed it up to the trail and were all smiles, while my wife on the other hand doesn't enjoy loose talus. I apologized snapped a few pictures and we were off, with the summit not too far away. Torreys as seen from Grays Amanda and I caught a little bit of the summit fever and pushed hard up the next couple hundred feet and summited Grays, shortly after Katie and Dave summited as well! Nice work you two! Amanda's sixth 14er! Torreys over my right shoulder Katie and Dave's first 14er! Congrats! Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt from Grays After a quick bite to eat, I reminded Katie and Dave if we were going to attempt Torreys we would need to leave soon. I could see some puffy clouds starting to form and I wanted to give them a good chance at summiting Torreys without the weather coming in. And with that we were off! We made good time descending Grays, but once we hit the ascent of Torreys, my crew started to flounder. This was completely expected as this would be Katie and Dave's second 14er, not to mention in one day and my wife was starting to feel it as well being that she had also never done two consecutive 14ers in one day. We all regrouped and discussed what we would do. I didn't care either way as I had already had a good day, Katie and Dave decided to stop there, but my wife to my surprise decided to push it! I was thrilled and immediately started in with the motivating speech. As we were ascending I noticed Katie and Dave following, wow! That was dedication. Looking down at the masses on Torreys. Dave is the third ascender back, and Katie is hidden behind Dave Shortly after taking this picture I didn't notice the second half of my team behind me, they had made it up one 14er already and had accomplished so much as it was. They did awesome. Now to focus on my wife, she was tired and feeling drained. Come on babe! we are almost there! Number seven right around the corner! Trail nearing summit of Torreys Almost there! Amanda dug deep, it is amazing what the summit of a mountain will do to a person. It can cause pain, anguish, defeat, but it will also bring true happiness! Congratulations on your seventh 14er babe! Perseverance pays off! Amanda's 7th! Grays from the Summit of Torreys Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt including the sawtooth from very near the summit of Torreys This was a great hike with wonderful family, whom I love very dearly. I am very proud of Katie and hope that she had as much fun on this hike with me as I did with her. Amanda and I are very happy that we could spend time with her sister and boyfriend on some of the most beautiful terrain in Colorado. I hope everyone can enjoy the same feeling I had in bringing family up this mountain, it was truly an honor. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

1st Timers on Grays and Torreys

Ahh, a nice trip down memory lane, these two sentinels of the front range kicked off my crazy obsession to climb all of the 14ers, and I was really looking forward to another visit. I know these peaks have been written about so much but two years ago as a 14er novice, I loved reading as many trip reports on Grays and Torreys as I could, and hopefully this will be just as helpful to a novice hiker as they were to me!
I was also excited because this would be my wife's first attempt at a combination hike to get two 14ers in one trip. To further my excitement even more I would be showing my sister-in-law and her boyfriend the true beauty of Colorado from the summit of their first 14er, hopefully with many more summits in their future.
I made sure to stress to Katie(my sister-in-law) the importance of being at the trail head at 5:45am to ensure a promising summit bid, and honestly I was a little nervous they wouldn't be ready. Katie and her boyfriend Dave assured me they would be ready, and boy were they ever ready! We arrived at their house at 3:45am and they had muffins ready to go for breakfast which was nice although I had already choked down my protein bar. We were on the road at 4am sharp and we were cruising!
We arrived at the TH around 5:45am from Westminster and we were all excited! We started hiking shortly after arriving and we were a little disappointed that the bathrooms were closed, there was a sign indicating this was temporary. We started hiking up the nice wide, mild approach and after about ten minutes I noticed my wife's camelbak leaking. This was a minor set back as it was leaking from the top seal. We worked it out and continued on up. After about 15 minutes we gazed upon our first intention-Grays.

Grays bathed in beautiful alpenglow, Katie and Dave in the lead, Amanda follows

This portion of the approach trail is a nice intro to hiking 14ers, it contains a few switchbacks and then dramatically levels out as if to welcome you to this magical place. Looking around I noticed things that I missed on my first ascent such as the large amount of debris cones at the base of the valley walls (possibly a nightmare to climb up) and actually how precipitous the walls are that surround you. This place is awe inspiring.

Looking down the trail, the trail head is in that grouping of trees near the left side

Because of the prostration of this section of the trail we made quick work of it. It gave my wife and I, a chance to enjoy the beauty of this gulch without the heavy breathing, or exhaustion of a steeper trail, this is a nice change from some of the other trails we've hiked.

You can almost feel the excitement emanating from Katie and Dave as they study their ultimate goal. Grays(left) and Torreys dominate the view

The introduction is about to end. We passed the level section of the trail, passed the turnoff to Kelso ridge and now it started to get steep. We were on the north side of the little ridge and we were now starting to gain elevation. I kept reminding Dave that the huge mountain we saw (Kelso mountain) would very quickly be getting smaller and smaller, soon it would look like a little hill.

Kelso mountain, looking like it is starting to change for the fall season

The trail hugs the north side of the little ridge before dumping you out onto Gray's large sloping east face

Now the trail was getting steep for my 14er novices, Katie started slowing down a little but still managed a good pace. I asked her if she was having fun which was a bad idea.............

I don't know what she wants to do with that rock......

After dodging a few flying rocks I quickly reminded Katie it was her idea to climb a mountain! We continued on and made it to the east face on Grays. We were getting closer. This was a unique hike for my wife and I because I didn't really have to motivate her to keep going, I think her sister and Dave through all their hard work motivated her enough.

Nearing the Grays/Torreys trail split. Grays East face

Kelso mountain looking smaller as promised

Mount Edwards from east face of Grays. I noticed one summiter on Edwards

I decided not to go left at the Grays/Torreys trail split for some unknown reason. We did want to summit the higher of the two first but for some reason I thought there were two trails leading to the summit of Grays. The higher we hiked the closer we got to the snowfield leading to Torreys. I knew I had made a mistake, boy was I going to pay for it. I asked the group if they wanted to climb across the loose talus to intersect with the Grays trail, and they agreed. I truly felt like maybe I shouldn't have brought them up here, I wasn't experienced enough, but I swallowed my pride gave myself a pep talk and blazed across hoping they would follow. My wife followed my angled traverse, but Katie and Dave went straight up! I was impressed, those two pushed it up to the trail and were all smiles, while my wife on the other hand doesn't enjoy loose talus. I apologized snapped a few pictures and we were off, with the summit not too far away.

Torreys as seen from Grays

Amanda and I caught a little bit of the summit fever and pushed hard up the next couple hundred feet and summited Grays, shortly after Katie and Dave summited as well! Nice work you two!

Amanda's sixth 14er! Torreys over my right shoulder

Katie and Dave's first 14er! Congrats!

Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt from Grays

After a quick bite to eat, I reminded Katie and Dave if we were going to attempt Torreys we would need to leave soon. I could see some puffy clouds starting to form and I wanted to give them a good chance at summiting Torreys without the weather coming in. And with that we were off!

We made good time descending Grays, but once we hit the ascent of Torreys, my crew started to flounder. This was completely expected as this would be Katie and Dave's second 14er, not to mention in one day and my wife was starting to feel it as well being that she had also never done two consecutive 14ers in one day. We all regrouped and discussed what we would do. I didn't care either way as I had already had a good day, Katie and Dave decided to stop there, but my wife to my surprise decided to push it! I was thrilled and immediately started in with the motivating speech. As we were ascending I noticed Katie and Dave following, wow! That was dedication.

Looking down at the masses on Torreys. Dave is the third ascender back, and Katie is hidden behind Dave

Shortly after taking this picture I didn't notice the second half of my team behind me, they had made it up one 14er already and had accomplished so much as it was. They did awesome. Now to focus on my wife, she was tired and feeling drained. Come on babe! we are almost there! Number seven right around the corner!

Trail nearing summit of Torreys

Almost there!

Amanda dug deep, it is amazing what the summit of a mountain will do to a person. It can cause pain, anguish, defeat, but it will also bring true happiness! Congratulations on your seventh 14er babe!

Perseverance pays off! Amanda's 7th!

Grays from the Summit of Torreys

Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt including the sawtooth from very near the summit of Torreys

This was a great hike with wonderful family, whom I love very dearly. I am very proud of Katie and hope that she had as much fun on this hike with me as I did with her. Amanda and I are very happy that we could spend time with her sister and boyfriend on some of the most beautiful terrain in Colorado. I hope everyone can enjoy the same feeling I had in bringing family up this mountain, it was truly an honor.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Doctor No	Torreys Approach 8/25/2009 1:49am Maybe it‘s just how dehydrated I was at the time, but just looking at photo #17 makes me dizzy. Great perspective!
sunny1	Tour guide 8/25/2009 2:12am It‘s fun being the tour guide, isn‘t it? :D With those motivational speeches, I bet they‘re already hoping for hike #2 and Amanda for #8 - congrats to Amanda, BTW!
d_baker	repeats 8/25/2009 2:26am Repeats can be fun, especially when you‘re with someone who hasn‘t been there before! I remember seeing you as we came off of the summit of Grays en route to Edwards.
huffy13	Congrats 8/26/2009 12:43pm to Katie and Dave on their first. I am like you in that I don‘t care how many reports there are on even the ”boring” routes, I love to read them. Awesome that your better half is enjoying this activity with you. I have just about got my wife talked into giving it a shot next on San Luis Peak since it has no exposure and is a relatively tame hike. Enjoyed your report, keep it up!

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