TR: Torreys 5-14-2006

[mtnbikerskierchick]

update 2/4/2015 - The pictures for this post are missing because BigLines is no longer hosting them. Please visit a revised version of this post with pictures here.

Trip Report: Torreys Peak 5-14-2006
Elevation:14,267
Group: mtnbikerskierchick, iskibc, pow4brains, Lacy (nonmaggot), met up at summit w/ Oliver (nonmaggot)

We arrived at the Bakerville exit off of I-70 before 6am. We had heard news that there was an avalanche the day before on Torreys but we didn’t know any details, except that it happened around 3pm. We weren’t sure which route we wanted to ski down, so in order to give us flexibility, we left one car at the Grizzly Gulch trailhead and parked at the Steven’s Gulch trailhead. We left from Stevens Gulch (nearly all of the trail had enough snow to skin on) and followed the trail up to the summit. We skinned for about an hour and then we had to boot pack the rest of the way to the summit. The trail was boot packed well and easy to follow.

Here is a pic of our ascent route. The blue marks the ascent. The red marks Dead Dog couloir, one of the routes we were considering skiing down, but we ended up skiing another route down which you cannot see in the picture.



As you can see in the picture, there is evidence of some smaller wet slides. But we couldn’t see where the avalanche had happened the day before from the hiker. We found out later on that the avalanche was actually created from a hiker falling through a cornice, which caused some snow to fall with him, on Kelso Ridge. The hiker took a good tumble and was taken by Flight for Life to Denver.

The ridge to the summit… the home stretch!



Here’s a picture of the four of us at the summit: Lacy, mtnbikerskierchick, pow4brains, iskibc


At the summit, we see a snowboarder boot packing up the northwest couloir. Lo and behold it turns out to be Lacy’s coworker! Who in the heck runs into a coworker at the summit of a 14er in the middle of winter????? Sheer irony! So, Oliver joined us for the ride down.

Just before we summited, clouds started moving in- before 10 am. We knew that the snow would not soften. We opted to descend the north chutes rather than Dead Dog thinking the snow would be softer. Turns out it was a pretty good ski down! Here’s some pics!

Pow4brains










Iskibc











Mtnbikerskierchick

Near the summit:










More coming in a few minutes!

[mtnbikerskierchick]

Lacy (non-maggot)











Oliver (Lacy’s coworker)












The north chutes took us down to Grizzly Gulch. The road out was a mix of skiing over snow and dirt… crossing the stream a few times, and taking the skis off and putting them back on 20ft later. Here’s a pic from the gulch, with another line to tag later in the background.




Apres-ski

No ski descent is complete without après-ski celebrations. Most people to a bar at the bottom of a ski area for après-ski. But we prefer the parking lot. When the parking lot is full of snow, we prefer the road

Lacy



Thanks to the group for making it a fun day!!!!

[KillingCokes]

Nicely done. I hope yoos guys is havin fun. I miss it already

[Dside11-11]

Brittany, you rule in variable/shitty conditions! First noticed this on OTR @ Loveland when everyone was flailingon the first run except you, pretty much confirmed that in these pics. Good work kids, I hope to get up there this weekend.

[mtnbikerskierchick]

Brittany, you rule in variable/shitty conditions! First noticed this on OTR @ Loveland when everyone was flailingon the first run except you, pretty much confirmed that in these pics. Good work kids, I hope to get up there this weekend.

Oh thanks Rob Yeah, you should get up there this weekend. It was pretty darned fun!

[Trackhead]

Getting confidence in the Dyna's again?

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Nice work, nice pics, nice job!!

[iskibc]

Torreys is always a fun outing. Nice meeting you Pow4brains and Lacey. Oh, and for the record, that is not me in the pink shirt. No way in hell would I wear pink!!

[Choke Slam]

Strong work, everyone! Did it freeze up overnight? I want to ski it ASAP and am hoping that it is still getting cold enough.

[hev]

Hey, aren't you supposed to be out riding

[adam]

Lacey rocks the tele. Skied with him a whole lot this year.

[mtnbikerskierchick]

. Oh, and for the record, that is not me in the pink shirt. No way in hell would I wear pink!!

Right. That's why I ALSO have pics of him yesterday borrowing pink sunglasses of mine

Did it freeze up overnight?

Yeah it definitely froze overnight. But that was last Saturday night. With the warmer temps here at the end of this week it might not be freezing anymore.

hev- Riding? Weekends are for skiing, weekdays are for riding

adam- Yeah, Lacy shreds the tele gear pretty hard!

[couloirman]

Yeah it definitely froze overnight. But that was last Saturday night. With the warmer temps here at the end of this week it might not be freezing anymore.

We need to set up a website/thread for CO backcountry skiers who are still out there to share with everyone else where its dropping belowfreezing overnight. I have personlally been turned around multiple times in the past few weeks from above freezing temps, and think this is enough of a good vibes community that we could share and help eachother bag some more peaks. Ill start. Guanella pass yesterday evening dropped to 28 degrees f at 3 am at 11,000. Fourth of July trailhead today was not freezing at 37 degrees f when i arrived at 430 am at the end of the winter closure.

[Z]

Nice! That was the first 14er I ever skied.

Still want to ski right down the gut of that thing, lookers left of dead dog. Did you guys see if that line still goes through by any chance?

[couloirman]

Nice! That was the first 14er I ever skied.

Still want to ski right down the gut of that thing, lookers left of dead dog. Did you guys see if that line still goes through by any chance?

I was there 4 or 5 days before these guys and skied the line skiers right of the dead dog straight down the face definitley still goes. There was a mini 8 ft huck to exit after the narrow choke in the middle, unless you wanted to straight line the narrow exit of it(which isnt too bad), but the huck also isnt bad as long as you control your speed on landing. Id post pics of the choke, but somehow my extreme III SD memory card corrupted on the trip/ way home and now ive gotta send it beck for warranty

[mtnbikerskierchick]

We need to set up a website/thread for CO backcountry skiers who are still out there to share with everyone else where its dropping belowfreezing overnight.

Couloirman that's a good idea for sure. You should start a thread about that. People will post. "If you build it they will come. "

Z, the line you're talking about looked clear from what I can remember. If you want, I can send you a high res photo that might help you take a look at the line.

[Blurred]

Nice! That was the first 14er I ever skied.

And the only one.........and the last one.........














Bwahahaha!!
======================











Nice TR guys. Good form by everyone.

[Hacksaw]

We need to set up a website/thread for CO backcountry skiers who are still out there to share with everyone else where its dropping belowfreezing overnight. I have personlally been turned around multiple times in the past few weeks from above freezing temps, and think this is enough of a good vibes community that we could share and help eachother bag some more peaks.

You guys may not realize (or haven't looked recently) but the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) still has a lot of their remote weather stations up an running. You can pull up the hourly data from the CAIC website http://geosurvey.state.co.us/avalanche Look under current weather. You can check the overnight temps for places like Loveland Pass and Berthoud Pass. These will at least give you an idea of what the overnite temps have been like.
Cheers,
Halsted

[Z]

And the only one.........and the last one.........














Bwahahaha!!
======================











Nice TR guys. Good form by everyone.

I already got 2 mothafucka. Im going for the record, slowest time possible to ski all 54 of em. And im gonna stick my dick in every summit register, cause that's MY standards. Dawson ain't got shit on me.

[good4nothing]

...im gonna stick my dick in every summit register, cause that's MY standards. Dawson ain't got shit on me.

I'm going to start an 'Almanac of Quotable Quotes by the Immortal Z'

that shit is priceless.

[Blurred]

I already got 2 mothafucka. Im going for the record, slowest time possible to ski all 54 of em. And im gonna stick my dick in every summit register, cause that's MY standards. Dawson ain't got shit on me.

I read in one of Dawsons book why he didn't go that route.
Apparently it's more difficult to be waving your dick around on the summit when it's stuck in the register.

[berko]

Nicely.


8

[Hicks]

Nice one!

[The AD]

Trying to convince us it was flat I see...

That's one severe horizon tilt!

[mtnbikerskierchick]

Trying to convince us it was flat I see...

That's one severe horizon tilt!

People on TGR crack me up b/c folks here are more likely to criticize your photography skills (or lack thereof) than your skiing