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Looking for something different in Colorado after climbing Mount Whitney via the Mountaineer's
route, I thought Grizzly Peak would fit the bill. Being only 3 miles round-trip and 3,100'
elevation gain, I was expecting an exciting climb. I was a little concerned about the route
description, that mentioned the start of the climb sould be the middle of three gulches. The object
is to reach the saddle of Grizzly and Garfield, but being unfamiliar with this basin, I thought
what was really a subpeak of Grizzly to be a lower point on the southern end of the ridgeline past Garfield Peak. At the same milage
listed in Roach's guide, I parked and saw a set of three couloirs braching up from a talus field. I figured
that it looked like as good a route as any. On the right is a view up the West Face towards the couloirs. |  |
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I began hiking up the talus about 500' to some headwalls and trees. A short section of bushwhacking led me to another talus slope
at about 11,600'. From here, the middle couloir looked like the most viable alternative, appearing to lead up to the ridge. The
talus slope soon converted to scree and dirt, although the terrain was relatively solid. Approaching the start of the couloir, I took
a moment to explore the West side of the basin opposite Grizzly. I could make out Larson and Truro Peaks, and it appeared from the
topographic map and sunrise direction that I was on the correct course. I continued into the couloir on some class 2+ terrain. This was
somewhat loose, but quite manageable when sticking to the south side. On the left is a view of the middle couloir at its base. |
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The couloir
was more shortlived than I expected, and became another scree slope, this time steeper and loose. It became clear at this point
that the rest of the route to the ridge was going to involve more than Class 2+ climbing. I kept going up on a narrowing rib to the
North of some loose rock headwalls. Reaching the crest of the rib, I peered over into the couloir to the North and saw that my options
were constrained to continuing up the rib. The elevation was about 13,400' at this point, and I could see an abrupt point to the North
on the ridge. I figured out that I was climbing directly up the west face, and that Garfield Peak was the peak I thought it couldn't be.
A 50' buttress loomed above, with a 1' wide chimney to work with. The rock was of excellent quality, but the exposure was more than
desirable. After a few Class 4 moves, I arrived at the top of the buttress, where the terrain improved dramatically. On the right is a photo
of the subpeak of Grizzly Peak and how far away from the Grizzly/Garfield saddle I was.
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After a short section of talus scrambling, the Northern couloir met with the end of the rib on a very small saddle. It looked like a lot
of mountain goats frequent the area, as there were trough-like trails through the very loose scree to the north. At the saddle, the rest of the
West Face looked fairly straightforward. A long section of boulder/talus scrambling led up to the ridgeline at 13,700'. Some sections of this
climbing were a little loose, but not uncharacteristically so. On the ridge, I could see the correct route one gulch over from where I had arrived from.
Beyond all of the
major difficulties of the ascent, I was overwhelmingly relaxed as I approached the top of the ridge (photo on left shows summit block).
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| There were two summits on Grizzly, and I climbed the Southern one first to make sure it wasn't the highpoint. The Northern one turned
out to be the correct summit. It felt good to be on the highest thirteener, especially after the event I had on the West Face. Descending to the
Grizzly/Garfield saddle, the route down was exponentially easier, and I soon worked my way down to the road. Like Mt. Silverheels, I didn't see anyone
all day, and the off-trail terrain was stimulating. The thirteeners become more rewarding with each new summit.
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