Friday, August 12, 1994

Grays Peak, Torreys Peak (8/12/94)

Route Name: East Slopes on Grays and combo with Torreys
Start Elevation: 11,280 ft.
Grays Summit Elevation: 14,270 ft.
Torreys Summit Elevation: 14,267 ft.
Elevation Gain: 3550 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 8.25 mi

TRIP REPORT:

This was a pretty standard hike. We left from the standard trailhead in Stevens Gulch for this great combination. This hike is all above treeline. The early portions hike through some willows but it is a well established trail. The hike up Stevens Gulch is quite beautiful with Grays and Torreys pretty much in view ahead the entire time.
At around 12,600 the trail starts gaining elevation more quickly in the rocks. From above 13,300 the trail zigzags across the east slopes of Grays gaining the elevation in a modest fashion. And just like that, we made the summit of Grays. But up there it feels as though the work is only half done, and it really is. The hike over to Torreys, while easy in terms of technical difficulty, it loses almost 600 feet of elevation to the saddle and then has to regain every foot of it, minus 3.
From Torreys we were at least thankful that we did not have to regain Grays as is the case on other combos. When we hiked down to the saddle we were able to traverse the east slopes over to the main Grays trail and follow it back down.

TRACK:

I do not have the original track file from this hike so I have included a from a more recent hike up Grays and over to Torreys.


PHOTOS:

Regrettably, I have no photos from this beautiful hike.

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