Torreys Peak - Tuning Fork Attempt
While us weekend warriors were lucky this Winter with a lot of Thursday-Saturday
storms allowing us to ski fresh snow every weekend, we ended up being
pretty unlucky with weather in the Spring. Quite a few days were days 'just to
get out there' or 'you don't know until you go', with low expectations; but a
day on skis is better than a day not. This was one of those days. Several days
of warm weather turned us off of other objects, and we settled on heading up
Tuning Fork on Torreys peak even though we knew the odds of success were low.
| Title | Content |
|---|---|
| Date | June 06 2021 |
| Activity | Skiing |
| Location | Torreys Peak, Front Range, CO |
| Trailhead | Grizzly Gulch |
| Distance | 4 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain | Approximately 2500 |
| Season | Spring |
We drove a ways up the 4WD road inGrizzly Gulch until we were stopped by a deep mud pit. Strapping the skis and boots to the pack, we started up in our trail runners, our feet sore from recent miles in the ski boots on another trip. With the warm weather, the road was basically a waterfall, the spring melt in full effect. After a mile or so we eyed the sunrise on Emperor, briefly considering a change in objective, but stuck with the plan knowing that Tuning Fork was a slightly better objective given the warm temperatures.
Trusty 4runner got us far up grizzly gulch road. We found the base of Tuning fork and worked out way across the river, currently blocked up by deadfall and partially snow-covered.
Near the river the snow was firm, almost too firm to cross in trail runners. We slipped our way to a rocky outcrop to stash the shoes and transition to ski boots and crampons for the climb.
Starting up the route we were actually optimistic about conditions; despite warm weather the snow was pretty firm, and we could make quick work up the snow fields. We started climbing amidst a couple of other parties on the route.
Then the sun hit. The snow quickly deteriorated when it started getting warmed by the sun and we began re-evaluating our plan. We climbed a bit but it wasn't long before we decided to turn around, about 2/3 of the way up the route. We skied down some decent and some slightly over-baked snow down to the bottom of the route.
Once at the bottom, we transitioned back to our trail-runners and made the perilous crossing over the creek. Heading back down the trail we were excited to get out, even if we knew from the start the odds were not great of making it to the top. Fortunately Torreys peak is close by and we can try again with better conditions in the future.