June POWteenth on Grizzly Peak 13,988′ 6.13.10

Grizzly Peak is Colorado’s highest thirteener, formerly thought to be a fourteener but demoted after new surveys made the mountain twelve feet short. I wonder how many hundreds or even thousands fewer ascents the peak sees due to those twelve feet. Regardless, Grizzly is known as a great climb in an area of the Sawatch range which is uncharacteristically rugged. Grizzly has been on my “to-do” list for years, but I hadn’t yet gotten the chance to give it a go. With a powerful late spring storm poised to drop a few inches or more over the weekend, we nearly decided to bag it but in the end decided it was worth a try. We were certainly glad we did…

Photo from Independence Pass, Memorial Day, 2006

Brittany and I were joined by Jarrett Luttrell and Kim Ross, and as we headed up Independence Pass from Aspen, we found ourselves in a blinding snowstorm of the Star Wars variety. At the campsite:

We awoke the following morning with a few inches of new snow, and some continued light snowfall. Needless to say, it was beautiful:

The hike up valley quickly broke out into meadows and we were able to enjoy the views of this area, which most of us hadn’t been to. Jarrett and I both commented that it felt like one of the first trips of the fall, rather than one of the last trips of the spring. It even smelled like fall. Kim, riding high on expectations:

The sun came out momentarily and gave us a great view of our objective. The actual peak is slightly behind, while the Grizzly couloir remains mostly out of view on the right, tucked up against the cliffs.

As quickly as the sun came out, the snow came back in again:

Then right back to sun:

We entered the couloir, which is a bit misnamed in our opinion since it is quite a bit wider than a typical couloir, and conditions couldn’t have looked any better:

From the top of the couloir, it was a quick scramble to the summit. Brittany nearing the summit:

Jarrett and Kim on the summit:

Brittany on top of the couloir from near the summit:

From the summit, the Southeast face of grizzly looked extremely intriguing and may warrant a return visit someday. Then again, the line might not even go…

Brittany and I were 10 minutes or so ahead of Jarrett and Kim, so we decided to go ahead and drop in, since the sun was out and we wanted to get the couloir in powder conditions. I dropped in first and I’ll just go ahead and say it- these were the best turns I’ve ever made in June. Here’s the POV video proof:

Grizzly Couloir 13 June 2010 from 14erskiers on Vimeo.

Brittany:

A couple shots of Frank (these turns were my favorite of the day):

Between Brittany and I, we had really sloughed out the couloir, so Jarrett and Kim decided to hit up the East face instead. They also described conditions as “as good as it gets in June”. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better in January, either. By the time we got to the lower valley, it was a completely different place, now melted and dry. Jarrett:

These lines at the head of the valley are now on the short list:

After a celebratory beer or two, we made our way down the road and watched this slackliner for a minute:

A perfect day needs a perfect ending, and Taylor Park provided the perfect ending for us:

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Frank Konsella

Frank loves snow more than anything... except his wife.  He ensures his food is digested properly by chewing it 32 times before swallowing.He is a full-time real estate agent serving Crested Butte and Gunnison and would be honored to send you his monthly newsletter.

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