Mt. Sherman, Quandary Pk, Gray's Peak, Torrey's Peak,
Colorado 14ers
9/27-28/97
Author:
Gary Clark
Participants: Lynn & Gary Clark
Leaving Los Alamos after work Friday night, we reached the Buena Vista area
for a camp. Next morning we drove to the mine below Mt. Sherman (Fourmile
Creek approach) at around 12,400' and summitted quickly via the SW ridge
(from Sheridan-Sherman col). Temperature was below freezing, and the winds
on the ridge over 50mph. We met a party retreating who was not prepared
for this. The round trip was only 2 hrs 10min, so we went on to:
Mt. Quandary - did the normal E. Ridge route; 5 hrs round-trip. Had dinner
at a fine brew pub just on the S. entry to Breckenridge, then drove on to
camp below the trail head for:
Torrey's Peak and Gray's Peak - Did the NE Ridge of Torrey's rather than
the regular route - highly recommended. Dawson's guide calls this
"advanced", and indicates that some parties carry a rope; with a modicum of
route finding it is basically a trail. We stayed on the ridge crest at the
top for a little more excitement (class 4, good exposure), but this was
easily avoidable. After summitting, we trotted over to Gray's to join the
incredible herds of people trudging up the trail to the summit. Back to
car and drove via Denver back to LA. 4hrs 50minutes car-car, 900 miles
driving for the weekend.
Note - We looked closely at some snow couloirs on the E. Face of Torrey's.
These look like they'd be really nice earlier in the season.
