Torreys Peak via Kelso Ridge > Grays Peak

Date:  August 17, 2013
Climbing Party:  Amanda Harnden

For those of you who are curious about a Sawtooth Ridge / Kelso Ridge tale of the tape, you are in luck!  I will try to compare both routes in this post, and let you go from there.

Torreys > Grays via Kelso
R/T Mileage: ~7.5 miles
Total Elevation Gain:  3,740

Bierstadt > Spaulding via Sawtooth

R/T Mileage: ~8 miles

Estimated Total Elevation Gain: 3,262'

Trailheads/Access
Both trailheads are easily accessed off I-70.  The Grays Peak trailhead is found at the top of a dirt road. If you are late to the show, you will end up parking quite a ways down this dirt road which will add significant distance and elevation to your hike.  It pays to wake up early and get a coveted spot at the top.  Also, turning around on this dirt road looks like it could be challenging at the end of the day!
Advantage:  Sawtooth

The Approach
The 1.75 mile approach to the Kelso Ridge trail through Stevens Gulch is far more spectacular than the approach to the Sawtooth.  It is hard not to be humbled by the towering McClellan Ridge.  Gaining only 1,000 feet in the initial 1.75 miles, it is a great warmup, and gets your wind and legs on the same page before getting to some more serious terrain.
Advantage:  Kelso 

The Ridge 

The Sawtooth Ridge begins with a 700 foot elevation drop to reach the saddle of its ridge.  That is a lot of down climbing even if you are staying on the ridge itself.  It is a lot of lowering positioning and good potential for rockfall (wear a helmet).  The ability to look to the west on this ridge and see approaching weather is certainly a plus.  Even better, the majority of the traverse is on the eastern side of the ridge providing good shelter from wind.  From the saddle, there is some route finding to be done in regaining your lost elevation, and to get to the entrance of the crux section.  For most, a skirt around the buttress to the right is the best option, although a more advanced direct route can be taken.

Kelso Ridge is a a constant climb.  There is no loss in elevation on this one.  Once you get on it at 12,500,  start climbing!  I found the rock on this route to be solid where it mattered the most.  There is a lot of loose rock here, but on the trickier sections, it was solid when it needed to be.  Definitely wear a helmet on this one - be weary of climbers ahead of you, and be mindful of those below you.  This ridge is on the eastern aspect of the mountain, and Torreys summit will obstruct your view of incoming weather.  The ridge is very engaging, and route finding on it is not always straight forward.  The 14ers dot com description gives good benchmarks, but leaves a lot to be explored by those on it.  There are several sections where you could make it as hard as you like!
Advantage:  Draw

Traversing early on up on Kelso

The Crux
The comparison of the crux sections...isn't that what why we're here??

The crux on the Sawtooth is the Sawtooth itself.  It makes itself known while you are getting your gear together in the parking lot.  It is intimidating.  It points defiantly at Mt. Bierstadt on the ridge, and is one of my favorite Colorado mountain features.  You get up close and personal after an already long day of summitting Bierstadt and traversing the ridge.  Before getting to the Sawtooth, the route is well sheltered with little exposure.  When getting to the base of the Sawtooth, the ground drops off and gets very airy.  You are looking down at birds flying, and the exposure smacks you in the mouth!  There is no avoiding the exposure on this one.  The route leads you up a ramp, which is filled with loose rock and scree.  The ramp is wide, and provides an escape from the exposure.  About halfway up, it gets to be easier going with better rock and holds.  Before you know it, you will have rounded the corner at the top into a beautiful, vast, alpine garden!

Kelso's crux is open for debate, but the one that everyone talks about is the knife edge right around 14,000 feet.  The knife edge is notorious for its huge drops on both sides.  Crossing it was very awkward, and required moves I had never, ever had to make in hiking.  For me, the easiest way across was to straddle the edge and scoot across it...very strange.  I don't believe this to be the crux however.

Coming around the corner after the knife edge

Amanda and I both agreed that the crux was actually this portion of the climb (below).  The white wall ahead of Amanda looks small in this picture, but to get up it you first need to descend a little into a gully (hidden from view).  It's roughly 40' from the base of this wall to the top.  The handholds are good, but there was one move on this rock that required an awkward move to get around.  It's a tight squeeze to pass it, and a little awkward with a pack on.
Advantage:  Sawtooth

Amanda approaching the white wall.

The Descent
The Sawtooth is definitely a longer day no matter how you slice it...basically your 4 options are:

Beatdown option#1:  Go down the initial steep gully and bash your way through the willows;
Beatdown option#2:  Keep going to Evans;
Beatdown option#3   Go to Mt. Spaulding and down it's northwest gully and bash through the willows;
Beatdown option#4   Climb back across the Sawtooth, up Bierstadt, and down the main trail

Kelso descent is way easier, and you'll be eating your victory burger back in Denver in no time.
Advantage: Kelso

Bottom line, both are great routes that give you different things...try em both:)  If you have done one or both, what are your thoughts on the two?

Mt. Yale via the East Ridge (14,196')

Date: July 27, 2013
Climbing Party: Amanda Harnden
R/T Mileage: 10.6
Elevation Gain: 4,826'

Gerry Roach writes in his book that by taking the East Ridge of Mt. Yale to it’s summit is longer than the standard route, but that the additional length and effort is worth the solitude found on the route. He was right. For 5 hours and 12 minutes, we did not see one single soul on the trail – ahead or behind us.

We arrived in Buena Vista the night before with the hope of finding a good spot to hunker down for the evening ahead of the 3:30 AM start time. We ended up settling in for the evening in the back of Amanda’s car at the Avalanche trailhead, which worked out great, as the trailhead was mere steps from where we were.

We were on trail by 3:30, and started making our way up the Colorado Trail with the hope of finding Yale’s East Ridge trail, located 3.3 miles ahead. Our objective was summit at about 8:30, and get down as the weather forecast was calling for early morning precip in BV, and that meant clouds rolling in earlier than normal. So we were on our way!

Our heads were foggy on this morning- we stopped frequently, our steps weren’t deliberate, we were certainly grumpy from lack of sleep. For the first two hours, we put our heads down, and kept putting one foot in front of the other hoping that when the sun finally came up, it would generate more of an alert in our bodies, and wake us up! I can’t remember being so exhausted in the first few miles of a hike, and it began to wear on me mentally, knowing that we had a really long day ahead. The sun finally came up, and renewed our spirits! On a shoulder ridge in the Collegiates was a great place to be to see the sun come up!

We came to the clearing in the woods, where the guidebook says to make a 90 degree left hand turn to begin the East Ridge of Yale. It was blatantly obvious for us, as someone kindly fashioned an enormous arrow made out of dead trees. If you missed the huge arrow, there were also two large rock cairns, and a line of dead branches leading you in the right direction.

The first portion of the hike as standard class 1 hiking. We gained 2,530’ in the first 3.3 miles to get to the Silver Creek Saddle. From here, the remaining route is a class 2/3 scramble to the summit of Yale. Once you leave the Colorado trail, and start off on the East Ridge, it is definitely slower going. If you brought your helmet, this is a good time to put it on, as loose rock is everywhere.  The wind was picking up, and was in our faces. Follow the ridge over and around several large points. The summit of Yale is not too far off, but it will take a little while to get there! The rock is loose in several places, especially around 13,000’ where the ridge gets its steepest.  For some perspective, this portion took 38 minutes to go .25 miles, and we gained 538 vertical feet.

Climbing the talus - the last two miles looks like this!  We came from lookers right around the two points in the distance

First getting on to the summit ridge!

On the way down we decided to take the standard route back.  The thought of going back down the ridge seemed like a lot of work for our beaten up bodies.  The standard route didn't seem to be a cakewalk either...it was a direct slog from the parking lot, a steep, direct route.  It seemed longer I think because we had been up and packs were getting heavy and knees were getting sore.  Plenty of marmots along the way to keep us entertained however :)

Marmot on patrol 

Coming down Denny Gulch 

In the end, the (b)east ridge of Mt. Yale kicked our asses!  The route we took gave us solitude, great views and awesome scrambling.  I would have to agree with Mr. Roach, that the route is a classic.  The only issue with this choice of routes is the 2.9 mile downhill grunt back to the Avalanche trailhead.  I would recommend stashing a bike in the woods at the Denny trailhead.  Walking 2.9 miles back to Avalanche is the last thing you will want to do after this route! 

Mt. Bierstadt (14,060’) > Sawtooth Ridge > Mt. Spaulding (13,842’)

Date:   July 20, 2013
Climbing Party:   Sabrina Langer, Martin Barnett, Katie Moser, Nathan Hankins, Zach Taylor, Rich Ostrosky, Chris Pierce, Becca Frager
R/T Mileage: ~8 miles 

Estimated Total Elevation Gain: 3,262’

Mt. Bierstadt is one of the most popular 14ers in the Front Range. It’s close proximity to Denver and paved access to the trailhead makes it a very attractive option for folks looking to get up high. Let me say this again…Bierstadt is a VERY popular 14er.

Our group of 9 left the trailhead at 5:00 AM, and the parking lot was already nearly full. Lines of hikers could be seen going up the mountain ahead of us, and queuing up behind us. We were off, and summited Bierstadt just before 8:00 AM.

On the way up Bierstadt

From the summit of Bierstadt, we began the traverse of the Sawtooth Ridge. Picking our way down to the low point of the saddle was a lot of fun. This ridge traverse is mostly class 3 scrambling, requiring the standard three points of contact most of the way. The ridge affords beautiful views to the east, and beautiful views to the west accompanied by some exposure as you make your way. The ridge was snow free, except in one spot roughly 10 feet wide by 40 feet long. Ironically, we were there to witness the sole patch of snow warm to a magic temperature, and release a boulder about the size of a refrigerator down the slope. It rumbled its way down, and smashed into another rock and broke into pieces. The boulder surely would’ve ruined anyone’s day that was unlucky enough to be below it. Thankfully, no one was. It served as a reminder as to the level of care to be taken. It was not human triggered, as we were all resting above it, just a small chapter in the mountain’s history. We gingerly made it past the snowfield, and gained the saddle of the ridge at 13,300. 

About the low point of the ridge

From the low point of the ridge, there is a large gendarme straight ahead. It can either be taken straight on, or bypassed to the east. To take it straight on would’ve entailed what appeared to be class 4ish moves. We elected to bypass it to the east. There is a nice trail that will take you past the gendarme to another spot on the ridge where you will get your first view of the ramp up the Sawtooth itself. The ramp is exposed, but wide enough to feel relatively safe. There is some loose dirt and scree that leads you to larger, more solid rock ahead. It’s a quick move around the corner and voila, you have finished and are on top of the tooth! There is a Starbucks on top and a large hot tub to soak in…wouldn’t that be nice! 

Preparing to go up the ramp (ahead)

The remaining route to Spaulding consists of picking your way through an alpine tundra littered with grass, wildflowers and small boulders. It is a welcome change of terrain and pace following the traverse. So long as there are no clouds moving in, it’s a great place to relax! The summit of Spaulding is at 13,842, and a gain of 542 vertical from the low point of the Sawtooth saddle. 

From the summit of Mt. Spaulding, we descended west, and into a friendly gully that lead us to the willows. ***There is a trail to be found to the south of the southernmost stream. If you are able to locate it, it will lead you to the Bierstadt trail, through the driest part of the willows***

On top of the tooth

 We got back to our cars around 4:30, tired but feeling great about our hike. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, or a better day. For one of our hikers, it was her first time at 14k’. Knocking out a 14er, 13er, and a class 3 scramble is a hell of an intro to high altitude hiking, and she did a great job!

Doctor's Orders

Opening up Microsoft Word to a blank page reflects my activities for the next 30 days.









A few weeks ago, our Prospective Member class at Alpine completed our 24 hour overnight training, which consisted of navigation, multiple patient packages, evacuations, rappelling , medical assessments, radio communication work, and an overnight in some frigid temps without a sleeping bag or tent. It was awesome to be a part of this experience with a team of others all working towards a common goal. I realized I was allowed to do this by my doctor, and that a follow up visit with her loomed.

I was able to see her today. The doctor has ordered no running or activities at altitude (including hiking or flying) for 30 days. This may be easier to cope with if my leg was broken, or I was otherwise incapacitated. The thing is, every part of my body works fine, and every part of my body wants to go- none more than my wandering mind.

It has only been about an hour since hearing the news, and already I have passed countless runners on the road, realized that activity on Alpine will be cut back, flights to New York and Phoenix are no longer a go, no more Tough Mudder. No Bolder Boulder, no Colfax Marathon relay. I would kick and scream about it not being fair, but really, it could be a lot worse.  I am extremely thankful for all of the positives in my life! There are countless other people who:

a) Would not have the opportunity to be a part of these activities in the first place;
b) Are not surrounded by great family and friends for support in a time like this;

I don’t want to dwell in it, but right now, it just feels good to let it all go on to the page. It’s just 30 days.

The doc says walking is just about the extent of activity for now - maybe another procedure down the road. The dogs were very happy to hear this exciting new! Thank goodness at least it’s grilling season:)

Mt. Sherman (14,046')

Date:  June 30, 2012

Climbing Party:  Aaron Dover, Amanda Harnden, Kelsey Breen, Kathryn Young, Jen Hock, Jason Murray, Sally Webster
Elevation Gain: 2,036'
Distance: 5 miles

RT Time: 3:50
Difficulty:  Easy

Most folks will tell you for your first attempt at a 14er, to go try Mt. Bierstadt.  I think I'll start recommending Mt. Sherman.  Sure, Bierstadt is closer to Denver, and the newly paved Guanella Pass Road makes getting there a cinch.  Sherman  is a little farther away from Denver (maybe 2 hours) depending on how much you and your crew need to stop. 

No one has heard of Mt. Sherman it seems!  You guys are hiking where? Where's that?  Mt. Sherman? Yes Mt. Sherman.  Just outside of Fairplay off of Rt. 285, you may or may not see Mt. Sherman from the road.  It kind of fits in with the rest of the surroundings...a very nondescript peak on the horizon.   

We made camp at about 9pm off of the side of the road.  Just before getting to the start of the trailhead, it becomes private property, so we camped off the side of the road.  Great camping along this road by the way.

Fire ban campfire.

We woke up in the morning at the crack of 3:45am, and hit the trail a little after 5.  This is a shorter hike, but it was Kat's last chance to see the sunrise at this elevation before moving to NYC, so we decided the early start was the way to go.  The way up to the trail head was pitch black obviously, and the road was a little sketchy.  There is no sign denoting the start of the trail head, so after some hemming and hawing we realized the iron gates was where the trail head was.  Very simple approach.  Up a dirt road, past some abandoned silver mines.  Follow the dirt road all of the way to huge mine that looks like a drive in theater.  These mines, we researched, harvested over 100,000 ounces of silver back in the days they were operational!  I can hear the miners now...'there's silver in these mountains...'  Made me think of Arrested Development  ...'there's money in that banana stand.'  Anyway, sidetracked.  Bear left towards the pile of gray rock, get up on the ridge line and follow it to the summit!  Simple. Straightforward. Beautiful.  Great views of Leadville, Turquoise Lake, Massive and Elbert. 

Fav shot of the day

On the way down, Scarlet got into it with a pica.  I have seen her rummage in the rocks before for things making noise, but on this day, June 30, she actually caught one!  I looked over just in time to see her with it in her mouth, and then she flung it up in the air and caught it again before I could get over to her.  She was moving large rocks with her paws and even teeth.  I am not so sure that the caloric gain from the pica would have equaled or surpassed that which was expended in the hunt.  In fact, I think that to break even she would have required to catch and eat 7.2 picas.

Standard Pica

Group Vitamin D therapy on way down.

Thanks to our 5am start, we encountered scores of people making the trip up to the summit of Sherman.  Seemed all of them were pouring sweat, and they all asked us the same question:  "What time did you guys start???"  It pays to get an early start. Every. Damn. Time!  Not only did we escape the heat and crowds, we got back to the car at like 9:15 in time to get into Fairplay for breakfast.  Side note: Java Moose is no joke...a great place to grab great bfast.  We were back in Denver around 11:30 wondering what to do with the rest of our day:)

Mt. Democrat (14,148'), Mt. Cameron (14,238') and Mt. Lincoln (14,286')

Date:  June 2, 2012

Climbing Party:  Aaron Dover, Amanda Harnden, Kelsey Breen, Kathryn Young, Mark Hensley, Scarlet, Ellie, Henry
Elevation Gain: 3,353'
Distance: 6.84

RT Time: 5:50:56
Difficulty:  Difficult

Let me first start by saying that this trip was born from a trip to our favorite burger joint in our neighborhood: Park Burger.

You see, this restaurant offers quite an incentive to go out and hike a 14er...every photograph you get from atop one of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks with the Park Burger flag earns you 2 beers and two delicious burgers! So an idea was crafted to take out the flag and complete the Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln trifecta in a day and get home to enjoy our spoils.

Amanda and I drove up Friday night to Kite Lake in Alma and set up camp just before dark. We were able to chill in the back of the truck under a blanket for a little bit and enjoy a high altitude clear night. The stars were awesome and the moon was full giving us enough light to get around and enjoy a nice view of the alpine ampitheater created by Democrat, Cameron and Bross. The Highlander showed up shortly thereafter and Kelsey, Kat, Mark and Henry all joined our party! We agreed that a 4:00 am wake up time was good, and we all retired and tried to get some sleep. I don't think anyone slept well, at high altitude it is hard to do so. The dogs were even restless.

A and I ready to go at 4am!

We woke up at 4:00, packed up our campsite and after having a quick hot chocolate and gearing up, we were on our way and on the trail by 5:00am. I think there was one or two other folks ahead of us. The sign said 2.45 miles from TH to the top of Mt. Democrat. The GPS watch said it was completed in 2:36 with a mileage of 2.08mi. It felt long, I felt very tired. The view was gorgeous from the top of Mt. Democrat! With another group of people on our heels, we knew we had to get our scandalous Park Burger photo done quickly, not to mention it's kind of chilly above 14,000' at 7 in the morning!

Mt. Democrat (14,148') in the buff!

Coming down off of Mt. Democrat, we quickly saw that our early start was paying dividends...there were masses of people coming up as we were going down. We were happy to have the down climb to ourselves. Our party stopped at the saddle, regrouped, and made off for Mt. Cameron, a gain of 806 vertical feet from the saddle in roughly a mile. It was done. I really started to feel the effects of high altitude starting from our climb at the saddle heading up to Cameron. I've experienced headaches before, but today was different. I had the nausea too, and even the sunlight was starting to get to me. The one way to describe it was that someone was vacuum sealing my stomach while putting my head in a vice at the same time. It was awful. I tried to keep drinking water, and as I did, the throbbing in my head would subside for a little while until I started to climb again. The top of Cameron really lifted my spirits! We saw Lincoln not too far away and we got to do another summit picture! CHA-CHING: two more burgers and two more beers please!

Mt. Cameron (14,238')

We could see nearby Lincoln, and it looked like a quick scurry up. This part of the hike was really cool. It was a high alpine, and barren landscape along the ridge and it was just rolling terrain along the broad shoulder connecting Cameron and Lincoln. We were amped, and it looked so close. We got on our way and made it to Mt. Lincoln in 4:28 since leaving the trailhead, and a total mileage at this point of 4.04 miles. I really wished I felt better and could've enjoyed the views on Lincoln a little more. I had my head buried in my jacket and out of the sunlight while my stomach was doing somersaults and cartwheels. I pulled the trigger a few times during the day and that alleviated the uncomfortable sensation only briefly until we started moving again. The only way to feel better would be to get to lower elevations. We did manage another summit picture on top of Lincoln after lunch!

Mt. Lincoln group shot! L-R: Kat, Kelsey, Me, Amanda, Mark

As you can see in the picture behind us, clouds were starting to develop and roll in quickly from the west. Another issue to complicate the trip were these storm clouds. We had to move, and get off quickly to avoid getting stuck above treeline with a huge storm approaching. We decided to get a move on.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but that is a massive storm heading towards us.

The problem was we either had to go back up and down Cameron from Lincoln or traverse over to Mt. Bross and down the shoulder of Mt. Bross to the parking lot. The Bross route required more uphill before we could start going downhill again. Neither options were too appealing, and with this coming towards us, we opted to take the direct route and down walls of Mt. Bross. This was a steep descent with loose rock everywhere, not to mention illegal. It was rock slide city, and our entire group moved as quickly as possible. Big thanks to Mark for helping me out with Scarlet. She was moving quite gingerly. Mark helped carry Scarlet through some of the tougher sections. At one point, I looked up and saw Amanda and Kelsey glissade down a part of the rockslide...brilliant! It was about 300 feet long, and it was a good way to alleviate some of the stress we were all feeling, not to mention we covered ground a lot quicker! I grabbed Ellsworth and started to slide!

Ellie and I on the move!

Soon there after, we all reached the parking lot safely, and got the eff outta dodge. We were beat, and needed some Park Burger and rest badly. In the end, we got our three 14,000' peaks in but as always, it didn't go as planned. Here is the route we followed, complete with our elevation profile:

We started at the green arrow, hit Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and then retreated off Bross and back down to the parking lot.

It was a long day, and a long time to be above 14,000' for me. Despite some of the setbacks on the trip, it was truly an adventure, no doubt about it! I think we were relieved to be off of the mountain and on our way to get some burgers:)

X-Factor: Every hike has them! This time it was dealing with altitude sickness, doggie injuries, and trying to race off mountain to avoid being stuck in a storm. Memorable trip!