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7:15am TH, 11000`(1/2 mile from summer TH)
11am Grays Pk, 14270`
1:10pm TH
approx 8mi/3200`/5hr 55min
Layne Bracy, Jason Heine, Keith Miller
The forecast kept getting worse for today, but we were locked in, so decided to take a look anyway. Fortunately, Jason wanted to see how far his Xterra could go, and we got to within 1/2 mile of the summer TH!
Based on Kirk`s recent report and what we could see, we decided to leave the snowshoes in the car - we didn`t regret it. The trail was mostly well packed, with some portions drifted over.
Kelso Mtn looked windblown enough to stay on the trail, and we made good progress to the signs near the Kelso ridge turn-off. Above 12000` a couple portions of trail had some deeper snow, but we persevered.
Keith didn`t have ganas today and turned around at 13000`, while Jason and I summitted Grays at 11am. We were 50/50 on going to Torreys, but the winds picked up and visibility dropped more, so we decided to bail, happy to get another winter 14er with relatively little trouble.
The crux of the route was definitely the drive up the road; Jason was just barely able to turn around and get us down to I-70 without getting stuck! |
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