Torreys Peak (14,267), Grays Peak (14,270), Mt Edwards (13,850) via Kelso Ridge by Brian Schultz Thursday July 11, 2002
After climbing Kilimanjaro it was jokingly suggested Colorado's peaks might not be high enough for me anymore. Not a chance. But the state's severe drought conditions and raging fires in June and early July closed access to fourteeners in Pike Forest and threatened the San Juans, the two main areas I wanted to climb in. Because of the fires, I didn't lock in my itinerary until the day I left Minnesota and I left it wide open in case more areas were closed off. With routes on Democrat and Bross unavailable, I began my trip with one I've wanted to do for a long time, the Kelso ridge on Torreys. It also allowed for picking up a thirteener, Mt Edwards, which I never even knew existed until reading Jennifer and Gerry Roach's thirteener book.
I stayed my first night in Colorado in Georgetown and got up early for the drive to Stevens Gulch trailhead. There was little traffic on the interstate and none on the Stevens Gulch road until I caught up to two vehicles in front of me. I slowly inched along behind them as they stopped at every single bump and dip despite their super high clearance trucks. The road is getting rougher but it's not the South Colony Lakes road yet.
I started at 6:10 under clear skies. Feeling strong, I passed the high clearance guys and three other hikers, one of whom paced with me until the cutoff to the Kelso ridge, and quickly made the Kelso saddle. I got there at 7:00 and studied the ridge briefly before heading up. The route was obvious and though there weren't cairns marking it, the scrambling was relatively easy except for a short steep section. The most fun came on the knife-edge near the top. It was exposed like Capitol's but different in that you can't walk your feet below while holding onto the top of the ridge. It wasn't very long and I scooted across it to the jutting whitish rock just beyond it. This white rock can be seen from Grays but up close it looks difficult to climb. Fortunately, a few steps to the right of it leads to easy terrain. Above it were some goats not bothered by my presence and after taking some pictures of them, I stepped on Torreys' summit just moments later. The time was 8:40.
I sat down to wait for two guys coming up the Grays-Torreys saddle. Brian and Doug said they watched me climb the ridge as they made their way up the standard route. They came to Torreys first and stayed briefly before leaving with me to climb Grays. At 9:00 we headed down and stopped near the saddle when a small airplane approached. It swooshed overhead, barely cleared the saddle and flew into the basin below. Wow- buzzed by a plane on the high peaks! That was a first for me.
Moving ahead of my fellow hikers, I made Grays at 9:35 and took my lunch break there. Several more people commented on watching me do the Kelso ridge and I had a good time talking to them. One was a young teacher from Indianapolis early on in her fourteener quest. I stayed until nearly 10:15 as more and more people showed up on the summit. Nobody had even a remote interest in doing Mt Edwards, the nearby thirteener, so I took off down the ridge alone. I hoped to find a descent route from Edwards without having to reclimb Grays.
The ridge was more rugged than expected but not hard. The uncairned route had lots of up and down climbing and often I'd scramble to the edge of the cliffs just to look down. They were amazingly steep. I reached the summit at 11:30 and sat down to enjoy the great day. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky and anyone could have begun a late hike today without weather concerns. The register showed my signing to be the 11th of the month. At 12:00 I started down the ridge and found the descent gully handily. The dirt and gravel going down was miserable, similar to the scree gully on Sunshine, and when I reached the bottom I had to empty my boots of rocks and sand. There was also a bit of bushwhacking through low willows before re-joining the trail but not of consequence. I was back to the parking lot at 1:57 for a fine first outing under smoke-free skies.
Total hiking time- 7 hours 47 minutes including all breaks