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Start: 4:00
On Grays: 7:20-8:00
On Torreys: 8:50-9:45
Finish: 11:30 Total: 7.5 hours
Being a flatlander climbing once a year, I acclimated around Mt. Evans the day before. I drove up to Summit Lake and hiked Mt. Spalding and Mt. Evans. Good idea because I got my headache there instead on my actual climb, although it was a minor one.
Woke at 3am and drove to the trailhead. 2 bad areas of the road, one close to the interstate, and one about halfway up. Need a 4WD or a high clearance vehicle. I was the 3rd vehicle at the trailhead. This proved smart when I returned. Started hiking at 4am.
Plenty of moonlight but I still used my headlamp. Noticed another climber with a light halfway up Grays. Sun finally came out about 30 seconds before I got to the trail junction.
I continued up Grays and got to the rock outcropping here. It was begging to have a picture taken.
I continued to head up when I was passed by a runner wearing nothing but a windbreaker, shorts, and running shoes! It was windy and cold! He had a little water pouch on the small of his back. More power to him! I finally made Grays summit around 7:20. I felt rushed, even though I did spend 40 minutes on top, twice as long as I had on Mt. Elbert last year! And I had the summit all to myself the entire time!
I made it down to the saddle in about 15 minutes. It was pretty neat all by itself.
Another 35 minutes up and I made Torreys summit. Ran into a group of 2 guys, exchanging photo ops. Another nice couple with dogs came along. Then a guy came from Loveland Pass/Grizzly, finding out he had climbed all seven summits of the world! (Highest peak on all 7 continents)
After almost an hour, I headed down into the conga line coming up. Everyone looked at me like I was a rockstar because I had been up already. No, I just can get out of bed early!
Grays and Torreys was a much better climb than my Mt. Elbert experience last year, because I had learned my lessons. Adding to my lessons learned from my Mt. Elbert trip report...
-Acclumate a day or 2 before
-Go light. I packed about 1/3 the weight of what I did last time. Much, much better.
-Take little steps. Remember the tortoise and the hare story.
-Trekking poles. I didn't bring them this time, and I did just fine. It's probably a personal preference, but they don't matter to me whether I bring them along anymore.
-Start early. I will start at 3am, no later than 4am from now on. I've heard you had better be back to the treeline by noon. When I returned to the trailhead it was overflowing, and on the way back to the interstate cars were parked in any small space they could find off the road with the owners hiking up the road to the trailhead. Some started right off the interstate!
-Be ready. You don't have to be Superman, but get somewhat in shape.
-Study. Go over trailhead, routes, turns, false summits, class number, weather, gear, etc.
Vote or leave a comment to let me know how I'm doing on these reports!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
And excellent pics too. Grays/Torreys was my 2nd and 3rd 14ers also, but there was a butt-load a people when me and my son hiked them. Didn‘t hit the trailhead near as early. Seeing all those pics really brought back memories from a year ago. Keep it up!
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