The last Saturday of winter 2007, St. Patrick's Day, I climbed Torreys Peak via Kelso Ridge solo. The entire climb was a blast. Conditions (weather, snow) were just about perfect. I left the trailhead (that is, Bakerville - there was snow the whole way up the road) a bit before 9:00 am (late!) and got the base of Kelso Ridge at about 11:00. I didn't bother to take snowshoes, as there had been warm weather to consolidate the snowpack, and it had turned cold again to firm it up. The climbing on the ridge was terrific, a mix of rock scrambling and wallowing in the snow. At times the snow was nearly solid ice, though I never needed to break out the crampons; instead I just cut steps with my axe. At the summit it was about 20 degrees and dead calm, with just a few clouds, and view from Longs Peak to the Gore Range to Holy Cross to the Elks to Massive and Elbert to the Tenmile and Mosquito ranges to the northern Sangres across South Park to Pikes Peak. The descent was fairly mellow, with just a bit of difficulty once I reached the icy trail (where I still didn't bother to put on the crampons). Once I got back down to the valley floor near the base of Kelso, everything was easy, and I postholed only a few times on the way out.
Created by Joseph Proulx