2,3) Grays Peak 14,270 ft, and Torreys Peak 14,267 ft 2-23-07

Yeah yeah, i know its just Grays and Torreys............ But hot damn was it sweet!!!

With snow and possibly thunder predicted to move in around 1pm today, we knew we'd have to get an early start and beat the weather system. The wake up call was at 1am and we didnt get out of Boulder until 230. We made it to Bakerville in good time and were ready to start up at 4am.

After climbing in the dark via headlamp for about three hours, the sun finally emerged as we were already high in the amphitheater.
Grays on the left and Torreys on the right, Grays not looking too good.
These little guys joined us on the climb for a little while:
As you can see, there was no snow from the summit on Grays, so we summitted, walked down to the snowfield and skiied to the bottom of the saddle between then two peaks.
Heres a side view of Torreys from the 1/2 way up Grays.
Summit shot from top of Grays:

The next line was the real reason we were here, the Dead Dog Couloir.

Im sure A LOT of people know which the Dead Dog is but just in case, it is right above the snowboard in the pic.

I wasnt sure if we were going to actually ski it until we were at the top. I was tired from lack of sleep, a long slog(~8 miles) up the road from the parking lot next to I-70, and the weather was moving in fast. I was only halfway up the final ridge to Torreys when the real winds kicked in. They had been blowing a steady 30mph or so all day, but when climbing the ridge, I was almost blown over several times by 70 mph winds, and some black thunder clouds were quickly approaching.

Thats a lot of wind blowing over the face...


But we got to the summit, and the winds over the face appeared to slow for a minute, so we dropped in. Heres the first view looking down from the top.

No its not a peace sign you hippies, dropping in from the summit on our second 14er of the day:


I had Austin ski cut the top of the Dog, and it looked really nice and stable. Some light, fluffy wind loading on top of a nice non reactive layer.

Austin holding on for dear life:
And the close up:

Making my first turn into the Dead Dog:

Looks fresh, dont it?

Well, not anymore...

A little spine air near the bottom:

And nearing the exit:


All in all it was an epic day. The combination of getting to summit two 14,000 foot peaks in a day and ski an iconic CO line in winter under deep powder conditions allowed me to have one of the best days in the mountains that I have ever had. It frustrated me that we couldn't get a summit ski descent on Grays, but thats not what matters here. The Dead Dog rarely ever gets done in the winter for numerous reasons, and I couldn't believe how fresh, deep, and stable the snow in the Dead Dog felt for winter conditions. That might change though with this storm about to be upon us, as the top layer was turning to sugar snow, and all this wind will certainly load it up, so be careful out there. Now for a day or two rest, and then Ill be back at it. Pray for snow!!!

1)14,265 ft Quandary Peak 1-26-07

My first 14er adventure of the year took me 10 miles south of Breckenridge to Hoosier Pass and a popular winter climb, Quandary Peak. At 14,265 ft it is the 13th highest mountain in the state and has some very nice skiing opportunities. The gulleys leading down and to the left in the above photo show the Cristo Couloir and its two twins, which are some of the longest and most sustained 45 degree pitches on the 14ers. The Cristo is a classic couloir that should be on every CO ski mountaineers to do list. The day started off leaving Boulder at 530am just in time to grab an egg sandwich from Einsteins on the way out of town. We finally arrived at the trailhead at 8am, got our gear together and headed off into the woods.
The climb through the woods was peaceful and easy. Once we neared the top of treeline, the snow became hollow, and unsupportive and it took me a very long time to make switchbacks the rest of the way to the east ridge.

It looks as if Austen is reaching the summit right now at the top center of this photo, but the real summit is at the very left edge of the pic, and still 2 miles away.

Two hours later, and the summit ridge was finally in site. This was still a daunting site for me since by this point I had large bleeding blisters on both of my feet, and was not looking forward to another 800 vertical feet of climbing.
At this point a large herd of/herd of large mountain goats joined, and led us all the way to the summit. At one point we were about 30 feet away from them and they seemed so used to people, they just could not have cared less about our presence.

And the camera died on this last summit celebration photo, so I got no pics of the descent. We skiied off of the summit, and had to downclimb some loose scree and ice too get into the entrance of the Cristo Couloir, which stays at 45 degrees for almost 2500 vertical feet. The snow was unbreakable windslab and not easy to gain a edge on, but fun and leads right out onto the road where we skiied all the way back to the car. It was a fun day and we were back to the car in 5 and a half hours. We are in a bad avalanche cycle right now and Im waiting for the weather to clear, but Ill be back at it again sometime next week. Pray for snow, and check for updates in a week or so.