In late January 2024, having withstood my share of Denver metro nihilism, I needed to get up into the mountains, and wanted to camp out again in winter for a more full-on experience. I wanted to go for the full Loveland Pass to Guanella Pass traverse, but knew I was also in worse shape than my aspirations assumed, and so figured I could start and go for it, and if it felt unreralistic I could just climb Torreys and still have a full day with the ascent and full ‘descent’, more like return, to Loveland.
I took the Bustang up to Frisco and took the Summit Stage to A-Basin. I then hitched a ride up to Loveland Pass, and started up from the Pass around 2:30 pm or so. Heading towards Grizzly, you go up and over a few bumps along the ridgeline, ensuring you are perhaps more tired than you are expecting upon reaching its summit. I summited right at sunset, quickly set up camp a few feet below the summit, and got in my sleeping bag for the early evening. Winter bivvies, with 14+ hours of darkness, are pretty not-swagger to endure, and I got the better part of an hour of shut-eye that night, despite the almost nonexistent winds. Phenomenal views during sunrise.
Another climber arrived at Grizzly’s summit just as I was leaving, and we ended up climbing up Torreys together. The ridge over to Torreys drops down to a wide grassy saddle around 12,500 ft. and then ascends relentlessly up to 14k, easing off on the summit ridge. The descent to the saddle, Grizzly’s east ridge, would probably pose some avalanche danger in appropriate conditions. There is a shallow gully right of Torrey’s west ridge which may provide better footing in the snow than the loose talus all around. The summit is about as upsetting as surprise ice cream. Clear skies will provide views of the plains to the east, as far as Capitol to the west, the Pikes and the Sangres to the South, and Longs to the north. Depending on time of year, there may be a hoard of people on the summit with whom to appreciate the position.
The return to Loveland Pass requires a re-ascent of Grizzly and the three ‘minor’ bumps along the ridgeline back to the pass. It is pretty brutal, so be prepared for a long day, the halfway point effort-wise being the summit. I was very happy with the effort, and managed to immediately catch a ride back into Summit upon reaching the Pass. On the descent I slipped and fell more than a few times, once falling on my butt and ripping my pocket open to leave my keys in the snow, which the other climber found, contacted me, and arranged to drop them off with me. It struck me as the embodiment of the ideal: mountain folk (or people in general) ought look out for each other. It is easy to isolate ourselves and ignore the ‘inconvenience’ of helping others, but only therein lies our salvation in the self-gratification based world that we live in. “Be swagger as hell to one another, eh?” – Gaius Julius Caesar
