KELSO MOUNTAIN
(13,164’)December 1, 2012
By Tim Briese
3.7 miles, 1900’ elevation gain, 3:30 roundtrip time
Brian came to Colorado this weekend to attend the climbers’ gathering of former 14erWorld members, so we thought why not climb another peak while he was in town? A December 13er would be something we hadn’t done together either. We wanted something short and sweet and not too far from Denver so Kelso seemed like a great option. We stayed overnight at Jason’s house in west Denver after the gathering and the three of us headed up I-70 in Jason’s truck a little after 9 a.m. The forecast for the high elevations this morning sounded viciously windy, with 60 mile per hour gusts, so we opted for a late start to let the wind die down a bit hopefully. The road up to the Grays Peak Trailhead was dry all the way which was quite unusual for this time of year. Remarkably little snow had fallen so far. We could see a few clouds whipping over the summit of Torreys Peak as we approached up the road, an ominous indication of the wind up there. There were ten or so other vehicles parked at the trailhead, no surprise for this popular area.
jason and brian at the trailhead
We donned our wind gear and headed up the Grays Peak Trail at about 10:30. We met a couple of climbers coming back who had bailed on attempts of Grays Peak because of vicious winds. Surprisingly the trail was almost dry, other than a little bit of packed snow here and there and a couple of places where slippery ice flows had formed across the trail. After going a little over a mile up the trail to about 12,000 feet we left the trail and began bushwhacking up Kelso’s steep grassy southeast slopes.
we left the trail at this point and headed up grassy slopes to the right. grays peak is to the left.
we went up this slope
brian coming up the slope
The climb went quickly as we engaged in lively conversation most of the way. We reached the ridge just south of the summit and strolled to the top.
brian on the ridge near the summit. torreys peak is beyond.
jason approaching the summit
We arrived on top at 12:25. Incredibly, the wind was a non-issue, gusting no more than 15 or 20 miles per hour. It had either died down or was somewhat blocked by the higher peaks to the southwest. We sat around for half an hour enjoying the fine views and soaking in the experience. It was great to be on a high peak again!
brian and jason on the summit, with grays and torreys peaks beyond
the view to the west from the summit
view to the north of mt. parnassus and bard peak, with i-70 below in the valley
We left and headed back down our ascent route and returned to the trailhead at 2 p.m. Along the road on the drive out we spotted an unusual small animal that looked like a ferret that was all white with a black tip on its tail, scurrying about on the rocks. We got on I-70 and cruised back to Denver. This was a great outing that gave us a chance to get up in the mountains in a season when we typically don't!
