Grays Peak - 14,270 ft

Torreys Peak - 14,267 ft

Date: 8-15-2006

Climbers: Abby Barnes, Sara, Nicole

Route:  North Slopes II, Class 1

RT distance:  9.0 miles

Elevation gain:  3,600 feet

USGS Quadrangle:  Grays Peak

Trip Report:

George got on a plane to New Hampsta Tuesday morning and won’t be able to climb a 14er for 2-3 weeks so I figured I better pick up the slack. Well, not exactly, Sara, a nurse friend of mine, will soon be leaving Colorado to travel the country as a traveling nurse. Sara wanted to climb a 14er before she left Colorado so I volunteered as her tour guide. I hadn’t climbed Grays and Torreys yet and I knew they were fairly close and easy to get to, and I’d been up the beginning of the trail so I suggested one or both as our destination.

This was my first 14er climb without George so I was a wee bit nervous about route finding, driving on a 4 wheel-drive road, etc but in George’s words “if you get lost on Grays and Torreys you deserve to stay lost.” So with those words of wisdom George helped me pack, gave me a map, and assured me we would do fine.

Sara talked Nicole, nurse friend of hers, into coming along to do her first 14er too so we had a group of three determined to succeed. I picked Sara and Nicole up at 0530 and we were on our way. We arrived at the Stevens Gulch TH parking lot and joined probably 10-20 cars there. After a stop at the kybo we were on the trail by 0700. The morning was a gorgeous morning for a hike and we made our way for Grays while enjoying the beautiful mountain views. We met our share of hikers along the way and without even a thought to one individual I uttered the phrase “It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.” George should be very proud that I’m finally catching on to his way of thinking.

Sara and Nicole did an awesome job hiking at altitude and we were on the top of Grays by 1015. We signed the register, enjoyed peanut M&Ms and freeze dried ice cream, took in the amazing view, and caught our breaths. I very carefully brought up the subject of doing the quick run over to Torreys and luckily they both rather wearily agreed. None of us ever wanted to have to do this again in order to bag Torreys so by 1030 we were on our way to Torreys. I was sure that either Sara or Nicole was probably going to kill me by the time that we reached the summit of Torreys around 1130 but they humored me and said they were both glad they’d done it but would never do it again. I also kept reminding them that pizza and beer were on the menu once we got back. The clouds were starting to get darker so after another round of pictures and register signing along with Advil for all, we made our way down.

The hike down went really fast because now all three of us had our breaths and we chattered away about work, Sara’s plans, etc. I’m sure the other hikers that passed us thought we were a little on the weird side because our conversations included the words “enema,” “NG tube,” “blood” etc. I think Sara and Nicole would agree with me that the best part of the day was Beau Jo’s Pizza and their tomato beers after the hike.

All in all this was a great day because it was the first 14er that I’ve lead and I got to do it with two great ladies. Sara, I will miss you!