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Conditions looked good so we decided on an ascent and ski of the Tuning Fork leaving a car at the I-70 winter trailhead and driving to Loveland Pass where we would ascend Cupid, ski into Grizzly Gulch, skin to the base of the Fork, ascend the West Fork, descend the East Fork, and ski back to Bakerville.
Here is an overview of the route:
Route overview
We started up the ridge from Loveland Pass around 7:20am. Around 12,300 we angled off the ridge to the saddle below Cupid to avoid unnecessary vertical.
Looking at the the angled route to Cupid
No traction was needed and, in fact, the saddle looked like summer.
On the Cupid saddle
We gained the summit of Cupid within about 45 minutes from leaving the Pass and our destination came into view.
Cupid summit with Torreys and Grizzly in the background
We descended skier's left of a small ridge on the eastern aspect of Cupid with nice conditions. There was a soft layer atop the crust, but we never broke through and enjoyed good turns all the way down to a small gully below Grizzly Peak at treeline.
Dropping in to Grizzly Gulch with Torreys and Grizzly in the background
Open turns in the basin
We followed the gully to the base of the Grizzly Couloir where we put our skins on and angled above treeline to the base of the Fork.
Treeline gully on the way to the base of the Fork
Grizzly Couloir
The wind kicked up during the skin to the base of the Fork and provided conditions for eerie photos.
Skinning up to the base of the Fork
We started booting up the Fork around 9:20am under sunny skies but increasing wind. There was a decent boot trail at the base, but it became a bit more faint towards the convergence of the East and West Fork. Crampons were not necessary, but there were few locations all the way up the West Fork that were very firm and where crampons would have put my mind at ease a bit...particularly with the gusting wind.
Booting up the West Fork Booting up the West Fork
We followed the West Fork all the way to the summit ridge, but it was clear that a continuous ski descent of this route from the summit would not be possible as there were places no snow below the ridge.
Reaching the summit ridge
We reached the summit at 11:45am with weather rolling in: clouds, flurries, and ferocious winds.
Summit shot with weather rolling in
We scouted out the East Fork and found that a continuous ski descent from the summit would be possible. Dropping in, we found great conditions all the way to exit, including through the pinch at the convergence of the two Forks.
Skiing below the convergence of the two Forks
The ski out via Grizzly Gulch had continuous snow except for one 20 ft. section. The stream crossings were easy, though may not be for long. Once we reached Stevens Gulch, we had to walk our skis for a brief stretch, but upon putting them back on we were able to ski all the way to the parking lot. We arrived at the parking lot about 1:15pm.
My first ski descent of a 14er, and what a way to start. Thanks to Pete and Sandro for an incredible day.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thanks to Bill for fixing the "hot mess" that was my TR.
To be clear, the East Fork from the summit was continuous with only one a few rocks to step over on the summit ridge.
One time when I skied TF in late spring of 2011 (I think), it was completely full to the summit ridge! All of that upper scree section was covered - we were pretty surprised. What a crazy year that was. I remember going back for Emperor because it was also stuffed to the gills.
Lazy to figure this out – what’s the comparison of total elevation gain and total RT mileage between that way vs. starting at I–70 at the bottom of the Grays road? At a glance, it doesn’t look like the total vert is much different
EDIT: Just noticed a trailhead condition update (dated 4/13/2015) which stated the Grays Peak road is now open for the 1st mile, to the Grizzly Gulch road junction. Parking there would make the standard approach shorter and less gain than going in from Loveland Pass.
We skied Grizzly and TF the day before, so I suppose it was our booter that you were able to use, at least at first. Conditions were surprisingly good, I thought.
Bill, unless someone plowed the road, no one is making it to the road junction. You could drive maybe a quarter mile from the highway. There was plenty of evidence of people trying to drive past where we parked at the end of the dirt, but they were clearly getting stuck.
I would agree. On our ski out to I–70, there were signs of attempts at going higher in vehicles without much success. There is one point in the road where all cars end up parking...about the 1/4 mark gb referenced. Not sure what this storm will bring, but if you are starting at I–70 I would recommend just parking in the lot.
...to all the comments about this being a rather intelligent way of looking at this line!
That shot of the Grizzly couloir is pretty intense too!
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