Grizzly Peak

Description

Elevation: - 13,427'
Location - Southeast of Loveland Pass in Colorado on the Continental Divide.

Trip Report(s)

We had to make a couple of attempts at Grizzly before we finally summited. The first attempt was in early April, 2000 with Mike, John and Sally, and the weather was so bad we had to turn around after getting about halfway there. Visibility was so low due to white out conditions that we couldn't even see where we were going, or if we were going to walk off (or fall through) a cornice. A couple of pictures of this first day follow.

Mike and I then returned on April 16, 2000 and tried it again. The following is extracted from the trip report I wrote that day. Photos follow.

Mike and I started at 8:00AM today from the parking lot at Loveland Pass (11,990'). We then ascended E., following the Continental Divide, with the goal to be to reach Torreys Peak (14,267'). We went E. to Pt. 12,915, then descended S. to a saddle at 12,714', ascended to Pt. 13,117 (which is how far we got in a snow storm with John and Sally two weeks ago), down to a saddle at 12,756', up to a small point at 12,936', down to a col at ~12,740', and then to the top of Grizzly Pk. at 13,427' At this point, I was totally tapped (more on that in a minute), and even though Torrey's was the next peak after another saddle, we decided to return, since we were both feeling a little wobbly, and I had noticed, scouting on the ridge to the E. of Grizzly Pk. before the decision, that I was slipping and losing my balance a little too much (indicative of being tired, especially since we were sheltered from the wind at that point).

Weather was excellent (visibility easily 50 miles, with only scattered clouds), except very windy. Using a chart I have for estimating wind speeds, I would say it averaged 20-30MPH overall, with a few gusts to 40MPH, and one gust burst that came pretty damned close to 50MPH, since it almost pushed me over, if it hadn't been for my ice ax being implanted downwind at the time. The saddles/cols were the worst places for the wind. While you guys in the flatlands of Denver/Boulder were experiencing a nice warm day, we were in full-on shells, goggles, balaclavas, etc., until the last half hour or so of the trip, when it was warmer and the wind was starting to die down a little. Trail conditions were windblown, with bare tundra and hard packed snow mixed about 50/50. I estimate approximately 6 trail miles traveled overall, using the "string following the route on the map" method (Roach's "Colorado Fourteeners" guidebook says the roundtrip distance to Torrey's on this route is 10 miles, which I think is very high, and the Colorado Mountain Club "Guide to the Colorado Mountains" [Ormes], says a round trip of five miles to Grizzly, which I think is a little conservative). We achieved a total elevation gain for the day of 2,953'. Total outing time was 6 hours, 20 minutes. We saw five other people en route consisting of a party of three and a party of two, both of which we passed on our way back from Grizzly Pk. (both parties ascended Grizzly, and presumably went on to Torrey's).

Grizzly really took a lot out of me. I think part of it was not being able to stop in many sheltered places to refuel due to the wind, so my reserves were shot. But a large contributing factor was the slope conditions on the N. side of Grizzly Pk. itself. The rock there is pretty rotten, mixed with loose dirt, and was covered with a thin layer of wet ice, and then a little snow (read as "walking on ball bearings"). Sliding back 1-4' was a fairly constant occurrence, given the 45-50 degree slope (by using the topo map, I calculated the overall grade from the 12,740' saddle to the Grizzly Pk. summit to be just over 45 degrees, with a steeper section right before the summit). This is probably a class 3 slope in the summer (mild scrambling), but with the conditions today I would rate it more like a class 4 (John may disagree, since he followed this route at approximately the same time period last year). The rest of the trip was typical ridge walks, and pretty moderate (again, other than the wind). Mike and I discussed returning to this route in the summer, perhaps as a shuttle run (park a car at the "normal" Gray's/Torrey's ascent route parking lot, then drive a second car to Loveland Pass and do the trip one way, descending from the saddle between Gray's and Torrey's to the first car).

Still, it was a great day, and we had a good time (although Mike ended up ripping a hole in his brand new Lowe Alpine shell pants on the side of Grizzly - bummer).

It's a good thing we didn't try for Torrey's that day. Mike did a full traverse starting at Loveland Pass and ending at the Gray's and Torrey's trailhead later that summer and said it was a long, hard day. Part of the problem is that after reaching Grizzly Peak, you must drop 800' to a saddle between the two peaks and then climb 1,600' to the summit of Torrey's Peak. Oof!

Photos

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