Climbing TWO 14ers!!!

I have been fired up about climbing my next 14er and this past weekend, I had no guests and no plans so made my way over to Gray's Peak and Torrey's for a climb Saturday morning.  Quick understanding of this, Gray's Peak and Torrey's are separated by 3/4 of a mile so it is an easy way to knock out two peaks at one time as you can just climb the ridge line over to the other.  My neighbor Kurt decided late Friday to join me and after turning in early, I was stoked for my 5:00 am wake up call.

Few stats for you, Grays Peak is 14,270' and Torreys is 14,267'.  Total vertical was 3300' and round trip hike was 8.5 miles.

We hit the trailhead at 6:45 am with the sun rising

We had a nice slow climb for the first 2 miles and were greeted with this first site of the peaks.  Grays is on the left and Torreys is on the right.  

There were some great views along the way...the climb up Grays was not as bad as Quandary Peak I thought, but still a good climb.  Here is me finally making the summit of Grays Peak.

So a quick snack and then over the ridge line onto Torreys.  We made some friends along the way, and they kept pace with us on the way to Torreys.  The climb down was a lot steeper than we thought and tons of loose gravel.  For those who have never done a 14er...the uphill is tiring but manageable, the danger is coming back down.  Loose footing can lead to slips, twisted ankles, it is something that you really want to be careful for.  And also...for those climbing up...the rule is to step aside for those coming down...ugh frustrating.  Anyway, the pitch up Torreys was much much steeper than Grays.  It reminded me of Quandary.  Thank God it was not as long though because we were already 4 miles into the hike.  Here is the trail up Torreys

There were some great views on the ridge line up...

Finally made it to the top...met up with three girls in town who had a sign...I didn't make it

We had a great hike and a great day.  I was so fired up to complete the two peaks!!!  Next up, 4 peaks! I finished the day at the Breckenridge rodeo and of course had a great nights sleep the minute I got home.

The next morning a group of us had tickets for brunch at the the Black Mountain Lodge halfway up A-Basin ski resort.  Feeling unstoppable I ran 4.5 miles that morning and I gotta say, pretty psyched that I had no pain from the climb the day before and the lung capacity is getting much better.  So after two 14ers, a 4.5 mile run, we get to brunch and I learned it was a hike up 1000' vertical feet.  Needless to say I got my exercise this weekend.  Some great views and great food to conclude the weekend!

Well...that's the update for now.  Looking forward to Labor Day weekend...Aspen Snowmass Jazzfest and tickets to see Mumford and Sons!!!!  Until the next blog...I hope everyone reading this is enjoying it and I miss y'all but love this place.