TR JONGtacular GRAYS AND TORREYS

[Sir Jongalot]

TR Grays and Torreys JONGtacular

Grays and Torrey‘s Peak
Valentines Wknd 2009

I‘m just going to try to keep this short and sweet. The plan was to climb Grays and Torreys on Saturday and then Evans and Bierstadt on Sunday. My partner and I left Laramie on Friday the 13th. We arrived at the bakerville exit around dark and unfortunately had some car issues. By the time everything was worked out it was after midnight. We decided to not ski up to the TH and went and got a motel room in Georgetown.

2/14/2009
We arrived at the Bakerville exit at around 10 or 11 am and started preparing our gear.

Once I was ready, some guy asked me if I would carry up a gallon of gas to his sled. Which was stranded 1.5 miles up the trail. I agreed to be his sherpa if he let me drive it down. I carried the gas up and got high/sick from the fumes. We then started the sled and I drove it down, first time driving a sled. It was nice. Then he gave me and my partner rides about halfway up the road.

I started skinning up the road and saw a ton of people on the way. Along the way, I stopped and took pictures of the slide paths on the side of the road. I met a guy named kyle when I was just about at the trailhead. We skinned up the road for a little while and talked. Turns out he owned some of the cabins up there. He showed me where a spring was to get water and a good place to camp.


I pretty much feasted all night long and then went to bed.

2/15

We woke up at 330 and it was pretty cold. We got ready and headed down to the spring to get some water:

AFTER DOING A BEACON CHECK, we were off by around 430-500.
Skinning up the basin was pretty nice. I had just quit smoking, and traveled with ease.

The sunrise was unreal:
If I had a tripod, I would have got some bomber pics.




After getting a glimpse of Gray‘s and Torrey‘s, we decided what route we would take. Then my partner turned around though. So I decided to go for Gray‘s first.

Looking back: ascent is in yellow. this route followed bare patches and avoided locations with snow above



Notice all the bare patches:


I don‘t have any better pics of the ascent up grays, but notice the lack of snow on the ridge in the middle right of the pic, i.e. lack of avy danger:


Just about at the saddle. Torrey‘s:

Summit of Grays: Looking towards Frisco?

Is that resort breck?

I hung out on the summit for a little while then headed for torreys.
Route up torreys:



I hung out and enjoyed the summit.
Then I got ready to start skiing:


It really does look beautiful:



I dug a pit, did a ski cut across the top, and jumped up and down all over the top of this line.
(Weak layer failed at C15, Q2shear plane, no major change in crystal type/size, no facets, no noticeable surface hoar, fist to 4finger hardness transition.) I gave it 2 lemons.

It was foolish for me to start skiing because I was alone.

Turn #1: ah this is f****** awesome
Turn 2: ahhhhhh I love snow
Turn 3: Oh fuck!

Right on turn 3 I luckily cut abnormally far to the left, I look over and just see the slab break off. I don‘t even know what happened really. It was so fast. It looked like a river of snow and just went sliding past me. It sounded just like a tidal wave at the ocean. WHoooooooosh. It broke at my skis and luckily I just stopped and watched it float away. As I was standing there more pieces of the snow started breaking off and sliding past me. I nearly had a heart attack.

I started freaking out. And for some reason I pulled out my camera!??

This is right after the fracture, all the snow seemed to slide down lightning fast creating the scariest sound ever. The debris cloud:



After the cloud: (You can see 3 separate "lines" of debris at the bottom. Who knows which one I would have been in)









One of my skis slid down the slope, I put on crampons and ditched the other one with haste and headed up to a rock directly above me. I sat around here for a good hour deciding which way to regain the ridge. I climb around to the left of the rock, grasping it with a death grip. I gained the summit and began hiking down.

Looking back:



I lost my other crampon regaining the summit. It sucked walking down with just one. My cramponless boot would slip and I would fall and the other foot would stab my leg. Ah. At about 12000 I heard someone yelling my name. I thought it was my partner and hurried around a bend. Then I saw 3 guys on sleds and was just like shit. I told SAR that I was fine and felt apologetic they got called out. It turns our my partner sent out a spot message or something when I wasn‘t back to camp by 12pm. They knew nothing about an avalanche. They gave me a ride back to camp and helped me pack up and carried out some of my gear. I got to the bottom and there was about 30 rescue members. I‘d like to thank the Alpine Rescue Team and Clear Creek Sheriff‘s office. They were so helpful and professional. Thankyou so much.

My partner is busy this weekend, so does anyone wanna belay me from the summit of Torrey's on saturday or sunday? I can provide all the necessary gear, (rope, harness, belay device, etc..) Theres two skis in the slide path, two poles, and a RENTED crampon near some rocks about 50 - 100 ft below the summit that I have to get to. The route up torreys is avalanche free and I can guarantee that there will be no danger of any kind for the person belaying. I'll carry everything up too! Any help would be greatly apprectiated. The skis arent in the slide debris, there ontop of the slide path so they arent buried right now, but if it snows.... if someone with a metal detector wants to come that be be absolutely great too.

This whole operation will only take 5-10 mins, so it is still a great oppurtunity to get a winter climb in with someone who knows the route, conditions, etc...
We could also go over to Grays if one is so inclined and if I recover my skis, I'll ski way less steep terrain if you are also so inclined.

Please let me know if anyones intrested,
I miss my skis terribly....

[PowTrees]

Great Story!!

Good to be young and alive

[alma del polvo]

Holy shit. you can kiss your shit skis goodbye and under no circumstances would i even do any type ski mountaineering with you.

[telecincy44]

HOLY SHIT.

so obviously you know you fucked up no need to state that. After your partner left you I would have kind of put 2 and 2 together and understood that meant you would be skiing solo, that means your decision point should have been the moment he decided to leave, not at 14,000 ft.

Your lucky to be alive, that was a huge slide.

[Bean]

Been watching this unfold over the past days..."interesting" to say the least.

Pretty sure Sir Jongalot "borrowed" this TR from elsewhere.

[telecincy44]

Originally Posted by PowTrees

Great Story!!

Good to be young and alive

Disgusting.

[Vicious]

We heard this slide from over in Grizzly Gulch. Scary shyte.

[CG]

Glad you're ok, here's you CAIC report

[alldownhill]

thread on 14ers:
http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17737

[emr]

"CAIC staff examined the avalanche the following day, but the crown was unsafe to approach for a detailed profile".

Fuck your gear...

Your response is that you dug a pit? And that you know what you are doing??? Then I think that you know that pits can vary every so many feet. And all the education in the world doesn't mean shit if you make a poor decision, which you did. The first one being, you went alone once your friend turned back.

You sir are a dumb ass...

I hoped you learned a lesson because your fucking lucky to be alive.

[mattinak]

Originally Posted by Bean

Been watching this unfold over the past days..."interesting" to say the least.

Pretty sure Sir Jongalot "borrowed" this TR from elsewhere.

Why do you think that?

[Pow4Brains]

Originally Posted by Bean

Been watching this unfold over the past days..."interesting" to say the least.

Pretty sure Sir Jongalot "borrowed" this TR from elsewhere.

I hope so.

[Ringo]

here's what I've decided to change: I'm gonna stop the whole solo descent thing on steep lines. I'm gonna save all the steep(30-45) routes for spring.

Wrong, You've got to know when to back the fuck off. Without a partner, you should call it long before you ever get to a snow pit.

[adam]

Here is the original thread at 14ers.com
http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport...&cpgm=tripmain

[jSki]

Here's his previous trip report. This one is a slow learner.

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5351

Edit: Missed this little gem first time I read it:

I was pretty apprenhsive to do this with just my dog. I don‘t think he would be able to use a beacon. But at this point, I was willing to risk dying to ski down.

[nick > jesus]

wow, this dude is living the dream! setting dogs on fire and getting SAR called on him with every peak skied

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5351

[Tri-Ungulate]

A * W * E * S * O * M * E

[NPG]

Nice sig addition Sir Jongy.

[spankthepow]

talk about some "summit fever". both times solo. Seems like you've been lucky so far.

[Ringo]

Off the 14er thread:

If you don't want to get hit by an avalanche, well then do not stand under me while I'm skiing.

Wtf dude?

[jwproulx]

I love the jargon he picked up from his avalanche awareness class. Crystal types, hardness ratings, sheer tests, the insistence that he took a super-safe route up (well, maybe, but it's hard to get to the Grays-Torreys saddle without crossing dangerous terrain) ... and then jumping on the most exposed avalanche-prone line in the whole valley. Just proves that awareness doesn't help without the sense to act on it.

[stevenspass4life]

you should be dead.

[Dhelihiker]

^^^jinx

That was a close one, glad it worked out

[Rossta]

Originally Posted by Sir Jongalot

So what if 2 out of 3 of my trips turned into SAR calls, who hasn't had a few SAR callouts?

this made me laugh. i hoped it was a joke. then i read further and learned it wasn't.

maybe you should take the loss of your gear and the fact that you've had sar called out twice for you as a sign. seriously. step back and re-evaluate what you're doing.

[tone capone]

This is the greatest trolling ever. Hands down, period, end of story.

Only a true expert in every sense of the word could concoct such tomfoolery to roust the TGR crowd into a 10+ page feeding frenzy.

Most hilarious shit I've ever seen. Only because it had to be so coldly and cleverly calculated. I bet you were roped in up there and everything.

Just let S and R in on your stunts before hand so they know not to be alarmed.