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Peak(s):  "Cupid"  -  13,126 feet
Date Posted:  08/07/2019
Date Climbed:   08/07/2019
Author:  diver110
 Cupid, Bailed on Grizzly   






19636_09
Trail to Cupid







19636_13
Wildflowers on Way Back



I have not yet mastered how to place photos within the text, so I am going to start with just uploading them. I had planned to do Cupid and Grizzly, but for reasons I will explain, bailed on Grizzly. Got to the trailhead at 9:30 am. A little late, but would have been fine if I was just doing Cupid. The first part of the trail is heavily used by tourists who go up a short distance and come right back down. This part can be quite slippery, especially on the way down. At about 12,450 ft, there if a fork. Take the trail goes to the right. There is a cairn there. From that point it is a fairly easy and enjoyable Class 1 hike to Cupid. It is probably a tad easier than Sniktau and also a tad more scenic. Nice views from the trail of Guyot, Silverheels, and Sniktau. Once I got to the top....well, gee, where is the top. Cupid has a rounded top, so I walked around with my altimeter until I found the highest spot (which at around 13,075, according to my altimeter, came in a little below the official 13,117). Then it was off to Grizzly. Blew it right off the bat and went to wrong way. From Cupid, I looked left and saw a snowbank. So I went right and ended up traversing a large boulder field. Turned out the path was left, just hard to see for a while. Then I dropped several hundred feet and climbed back up to an intermediate peak, from which I would have gone down again and then back up to Grizzly. But it was still a fair ways to go, it was afternoon, and it started to rain. The advantage of 13ers is fewer people. The disadvantage of 13ers is fewer people. No one else was on the mountain, which also did not make tackling Grizzly seem wise. So, I turned around, summiting Cupid for the second time. Harder from the Grizzly side. To Cupid is Class 1 hike, but from what I saw, to Grizzly is Class 2. Had a snack on Cupid and then headed down. I almost missed the trail, which does not jump out at you on the way back. If you are only doing Cupid, you likely will remember. But if you do Grizzly, you could forget. Keep your eyes out for a cairn a bit down the slope as you leave Cupid. From there is was an easy and enjoyable hike down. If I had just down Cupid, the hike might have taken me 3 hours. When I got to the bottom, I got in my car to back up and was blocked in by a car towing a trailer. I asked them to move and they refused! Turned out to be German tourists who I think were banking on the fact that there were speaking German to get away with blocking everyone in for a while. They even said, using sign language, taht I will only be stuck for a short time!! They must have assumed that when they spoke German, people would leave them alone. Unlucky for them, I speak fluent German (my father was German, and I was in German schools for a time in my youth). But even speaking to them in German did not work, though it did surprise them. This would also have been shameful conduct in Germany. It turned out, by luck, that I could go forward and slip through an opening to the road. Easy drive back to Denver, even though I did not leave until 3 pm. Cupid would be a good hike to take visiting friends on. No too hard, and they can claim they climbed a CO peak.




Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
arianna2
LOL
8/8/2019 7:08am
Awesome that you could speak German back to them. Thanks for posting on this. We were thinking about doing this duo sometime.


theBull
A good hike!
8/8/2019 11:46am
I did the Cupid/Grizzly combo this past weekend. Definitely recommend it as a good hike for out-of-town guests who want to get some above-treeline views and summit time.



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