Old Man Bull

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 th...

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...