Subject: TR: Torreys Peak: Dead Dog Couloir Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 15:20:35 -0700 From: "Michael C. Watz" Organization: Computer Systems Design Company Newsgroups: rec.climbing,rec.backcountry,rec.skiing.backcountry
TR: Torreys Peak - Dead Dog Couloir
Date Climbed: 06/27/98
Packed quickly Friday evening and drove the 1-1/2 hours to the Grays/Torreys trailhead in Stevens Gulch. There were a few cars in the parking lot and a couple campsites that I could see at 10:30p.m. Headlamped it up to the head of the basin right below Torreys - near the Kelso-Torreys saddle. Found a nice comfortable spot to bivy in between the boulders of the basin. I saw a number of shooting stars in the crystal clear sky before crashing about 12:15a.m.
I was awakened at 6:15 by my friend who had climbed up in the morning to my campsite. I hastily gobbled a couple sandwiches, put on my boots and shell and we headed up further into the basin towards the bottom of Dead Dog Couloir. The basin was covered with snow all the way up to the Grays/Torreys saddle, and a snowfield even extended up Grays peak another few hundred feet from there. We could tell from the bottom of Dead Dog that we had continuous snow all the way to the NE ridge.
We got some more food in us, drank down some water, and strapped on crampons. The snow was nice and solid at this point, but it had just gotten sunhit. The snow higher up in the couloir had been in the sun for awhile already.
The lower climbing was very nice - firm snow, pleasant angle, and increasingly better views with every step. As the couloir narrowed the snow began to deteriorate. The sun had softened about 2 inches on top of the base. As the angle increased and the snow got softer we had times when we would lose footing even with the crampons. We continued to sweat it up the gully, and I ended up frontpointing more than I would have liked (and more than my calves liked). By the time we got within a couple hundred feet of the ridge we ran across some steps from a previous climber that made climbing the last portion quite easy. It was a good thing too, because the snow up here was very mushy and the axe plants weren't quite as solid as I generally like.
Once on the ridge we had a nice breeze - the climb up had been windless and downright hot. We took off our crampons and climbed the last few feet across rock and snow to the summit, topping out at 9:30a.m. Spent a few minutes at the summit, then quickly descended to the Grays/Torreys saddle. We at 'lunch' (9:45a.m.) at the saddle, then moved over to a slot that had been cut in the ridge cornice and used as a glissade path. The glissade to the bottom of the basin was fantastic - nice hard base to keep things quick, soft on top so as to not be too punishing.
My friend took off from the ridge and had all kinds of trouble on the way down - first losing his axe and having to retrieve it, then he glissaded quite out of control towards what few rocks were showing, barely missed them, came over the edge of them head-first, stopped, and decided that he'd walk the rest of the way down in the snow.
The hike back to the car was quick and uneventful (although by this time Grays looked like it was swarming with ants there were so many people on it.
Additional Notes: If doing it again, I would get up a couple hours earlier, before sunhit, to climb the couloir.
Backcountry skiiers note: Although the couloir wasn't in the best of shape (with large ridges of snow at some points), it was certainly skiiable. From the saddle, however, the snow was in perfect corny shape for a nice descent. If I'd been a little more ambitious I would've taken my AT skiis just for the nice trip down.
-Mike Watz-