Grizzly Peak A, Colorado’s highest ranked 13er at 13,988′, and its aesthetic north couloir have always remained on my list for the spring ski season. The standard route up Grizzly meanders up its east ridge at class 2+, but climbing and skiing its north couloir seemed like the way to go for the Grizz. The 4WD Lincoln Creek Road finally opened up around June 21 thus allowing access to the Grizzly Reservoir and Grizzly Creek trailhead. Access to Grizzly’s northern basin and Grizzly Lake can be had from Highway 82 and Independence Pass via a few adventurous routes for earlier season jaunts, but we just decided to wait until the Lincoln Creek Road opened. I gazed upon Grizzly’s north couloir from up high on the Geissler Mountains north of Independence Pass back on June 1 and thought it was such a cool line yet it looked pretty darn steep.

J, Derek, and I made our way over to the Grizzly Reservoir campground late last Friday evening and set up camp on a cot and in the back of my truck. It actually rained a bit during the night forcing J from outside on his mini-cot into the back of my truck with Derek and myself, but that was OK – just like being in a tight 3-man tent. We set the alarm to 5am and actually woke up to low clouds and no morning sunlight. A bit disappointing and contrary to the sunny weather forecast since good and safe spring skiing is pretty much totally dependent on the sun softening the snow. Nevertheless, we figured it would clear at some point and got walking up the Grizzly Creek trail at around 6am.

Now, I knew I had forgotten something at home and upon rolling up the 4WD Lincoln Creek Road, I realized what it was – my trail runners. After a second of shock, I realized I could just wear my sandals (better yet Derek’s sandals since they were not Chacos circa 1990 and his had more cushion). All was well and they worked fine. The trail was mostly dry up to a few hundred feet below Grizzly Lake (12,500′) where I switched to my ski boots since my socks in the sandals were starting to get damp. It was still only about 8am and the basin was still very socked in with a stiff breeze and fairly cold. Two other ski-mountaineers  were camped high in the basin below the lake whom we would later meet on the summit. J and Derek switched to ski boots at the lake and we geared up for the climb up the north couloir though the upper half of the couloir was still very socked in with clouds.

Upon beginning the climb up the couloir, the weather fortunately started breaking up and the sun would shine through for longer and longer periods of time. The snow was softening somewhat, thank goodness.

The north couloir climb was really a lot of fun and nothing too steep – just good snow for kicking steps and climbing nature’s stair master for 1,300′ to the summit ridge.

The steepness probably reached 40 degrees or slightly over with room for steeper slopes on the couloir’s right (west) side where the potential for rockfall is a bit higher. We topped out about an hour and 15 minutes after cramponing up at the couloir’s base. The top 100′ of the couloir was the steepest, though it was very short-lived.

We left our ski gear and just took our packs to hike the last bit along Grizzly’s summit ridge and up to the summit itself.

We topped out at around 10am and the clouds were still blocking the sun somewhat, though the weather was still improving with every passing minute. So, we just found a nice perch on Grizzly’s summit and had a snack and something to drink and just hung out for awhile. It was very relaxing. I think J even fell asleep.

11:15am rolled around and we figured we may want to get on a move since Kristine was planning my birthday camp up on our local Red & White Mountain that evening with good friends (us included). At that time, the two climbers we had seen earlier topped out and we all introduced ourselves. Two very nice folks from Durango were up in the Aspen area for a few days just skiing peaks. They were nice to take our summit pics.

We soon headed back to our skis only to find three climbers climbing up the couloir. So, we waited another 30 minutes for them to top out in order to not cause a raucous in the couloir and make things more dangerous for everyone than they needed to be.

We then dropped in around noon to an audience of climbers gazing upon our turns. I was a bit nervous. I’ve never had an audience skiing a steep line on a high peak before. I am glad we waited another 30 minutes because the sun really heated things up in that time and made the snow soft and just about perfect. J dropped in first on the 50+ degree slopes on the skier’s left side of the couloir. Derek went second and I went third. Its hard to follow those two as they can consistently ski anything and everything very well. After the top 100′, I got into my tele rythym and started cruising tele turns down to J and Derek. It was so much fun.

The lower half of the couloir was not so much fun with the runnels and debris here and there, but skier’s right side of the couloir was fairly smooth and we all made nice turns back down to Grizzly lake.

We were able to ski another 500′ down from the lake linking some interesting slots and snowfields and were able to still ski about 2,000′ vertical on June 28! Not too bad. Its been a great snow year for sure.

We switched modes of transportation once we hit the Grizzly Creek trail (that is, ski boots and skis for trail runners and sandals) and made our way back to the trailhead arriving at around 2:15pm. We loaded up my truck and boogied out of there to get back to Edwards but still got one last view of Grizzly on the drive out the Lincoln Creek Road.

Grizzly’s north couloir sure was a phenomenal way to end a great spring ski season up high in our beloved mountains. I think it goes down as one of my most memorable ski-mountaineering trips with my good buds.

Later that evening we all celebrated me getting yet another year older (jeesh) up at our favorite car camping spot on Red & White Mountain. Kristine was so sweet to organize everything and all out good friends for a night of campfires, good food, cornhole, some booze, a small handgun, and awesome camaraderie. Some of us woke up early (thanks to Mr. Gratz’s motivation to hike before driving back to Boulder) and hiked the 3 miles and 1,800′ up to Red & White’s true summit for a gorgeous early morning view of our neighborhood. I think I am now ready to pack the skis away and fully embrace summer!