This marks my third attempt and second successful winter ascent of Grizzly Peak. The cold and windy weather that bit Jake and forced our retreat in December 1999 was back in force, but this time I think we were better prepared. Mitch came along for this trip - I had some fun scaring Mitch when I told him about the arctic conditions we'd experienced before. No exaggeration was necessary, and the nasty weather did not let us down.

It was going to be one of those 50-60 degree winter days down in Denver, so we were hoping it would at least be sunny in the Loveland Pass area, but I was still counting on heavy winds to keep it from being too pleasant. We had a relatively late start - 11:00 from Loveland Pass, but I wasn't too concerned about time, and we had a headlamp in case it got dark. I hadn't been climbing since 10/1/00; too many obligations and a foot injury kept me out of the game for a while, and I was eager to get back out and see how 3 months of lazy living would affect my stamina.

We started out making good time, and reached the saddle between Point 12,915 and Point 13,117 in about an hour. This time I knew not to try to skirt around Point 12,915 too early, and waited instead to about 12,700' to cut across the snowfields and scree slopes to the saddle. The wind was kicking up pretty good as expected, and I clocked it at 50mph around this point. We continued up toward Point 13,117, and came across a couple hikers on their way back. They said that the wind dropped off significantly after this next point, so that was something to look forward to. The snow conditions were as expected, hard windpack in the flats and some postholing in the hollows - the ridge itself was mostly clean. Jake was doing all right in his natural coat, but after the 13er I gave him his fleece coat to wear, since he was getting a little whiny. As a result of this climb I have ordered a new jacket for Jake, and will try out his new boots as well. (The weimaraner on their web page sold me since Jake has the same build.)

We continued on the rollercoaster ridge route, and the wind did not appear to be letting up - in fact, it was worse now because it was driving snow crystals into us. By the time we reached the last saddle before Grizzly I was hungry but did not want to stop on account of my cold dog, so we pushed on to the summit. We summitted at 14:00, hung around for a bite and some pictures until 2:15, then headed back down. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but the wind was unpleasant, and sitting in the wind shelter put you in the shade so it was cold either way. Mitch marked the temperature at 16F on the summit. Since we were getting closer to sundown the temperature was dropping noticeably...

The trip back down from Grizzly went quickly, but the climbs up the intermediate high points were difficult. My legs were not feeling up to their summer potential, and all ascents went slowly. On the way back up to Point 13,117 I tried out my new crampons for a short while, but took them off since they added more weight to my feet than I was able to move around easily. When we were getting close to the last rise and the shortcut, we slowed down, since the trip was essentially over but for the easy hike back downhill. We reached the truck after 3 hours, just after sundown - the same amount of time to go up to Grizzly! My watch stats showed 3300' of descent and 1800' of ascent for the return trip from Grizzly... Even though the net ascent from Loveland Pass to Grizzly is only about 1500', the total vertical ascent required for the round trip was 5500'. That explains why we were so tired...

Foto ©2000 by John C. Maki

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