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dillonsarnelli has recently posted a nice trip report of the Loveland Pass route that he and BenfromtheEast undertook on December 29th, 2012 (see LINK). I don't have too much to add to their experience other than some cool mountain goat photos! I will not be offended if you stop reading and just scroll down to see them!
I left the Loveland Pass trailhead at 2:30 a.m., hoping to get some nice sunrise photos of Torreys and Grays. Temperatures hovered between 10 and 25 degrees all day, with a relentless 20-25 m.p.h. wind. There were really no gusts higher than that, but the wind was steady all day long. My core stayed reasonably warm, but my legs and arms were just slightly uncomfortable for most of the day. I didn't have it in me to saunter over to Grays, but was happy to get a Torreys summit in calendar winter. There is very little snow along the west side of the Continental Divide. Snowshoes are completely unnecessary, microspikes are helpful but not required, but bring an ice axe for anchorage while crossing over Grizzly Peak. With just knocking off Torreys, it ends up being around 9 miles with 5,600 feet of elevation gain. Getting up and over Grizzly Peak twice is really the crux of the route. If you are feeling tired by your first summit of Grizzly, it is worth considering calling it a day. If you continue, you not only need to gain elevation to Torreys and/or Grays, but then also need to regain Grizzly (and others) before you can get back to Loveland Pass. The traverse of Grizzly isn't technical in any sense, but the relative steepness of the ridge and the cornices that form along it require a bit more caution than any other part of the route (which, to be quite honest, is mainly just mindless plodding along).
Definitely the best part of the day was running into a herd of around 23 mountain goats along Grizzly's ridge on my way back to Loveland Pass. I didn't want to approach them (kept thinking of those signs at RMNP: "DO NOT APPROACH WILDLIFE"), but unfortunately didn't have any way to get around them. As it was, they very polite and never became agitated or aggresive. They let me get within about 7 yards of them--that seemed to be their comfort zone. If I got any closer, they just kind of shuffled a few more yards away. They certainly weren't skittish in the least. I guess when you hang out on the top of the Continental Divide in the cold and wind for most of your life, not too much else worries you.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Nice work dealing with the winds. I went up on Saturday morning and intended to hit Grizzly and the winds pushed me back to the car pretty quickly. Not to mention my waterline froze up. Wind chills were forecasted to be right around -7 or so and it felt every bit of that.
As I sit here in Afghanistan, these pictures inspire me. I have 8 weeks left then its back to Gods Country....I have 5 14ers left to go and will be checking them off this summer! Great shots!
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