On Friday night Scott B and I headed up to Stevens Gulch to meet up with several others from summitpost and 14ers.com. We arrived at the trailhead just before darkness, introduced ourselves to the others before bedding down in the parking lot for the night. After a rough sleep Scott and I awoke after 3am to prep our ski gear for the climb. We left the trailhead at 430a, a little later than expected, heading up the snowpacked trail toward Torreys Peak. We arrived at the base of the Dead Dog couloir just before 630a, dawned crampons and axes, and started up. The climb took us 2h, as we topped out around 830am to a light wind and plenty of sunshine. Scott(slowpoke), Bobby(muzik) and I enjoyed a fairly intense ski down the upper portion of Dead Dog(40-50degrees), near the bottom the angle eased off and we could really rip turns through the lower couloir. The snow was in perfect shape on our descent around 9am, much later and it would have been soup.
After our climb/ski of Torreys I headed back to Boulder to meet up with the Gerbers and Charles before heading down to Pikes Peak. Sunday morning we woke early and headed for the trailhead. The morning brough high winds and blizzard conditions to the summit, but we headed up the Barr Trail none the less. Myself, Chris, Charles, Pete, Kristen, Caroline, Andy, Kari, Steph, and Peter were all headed up the mountain to do various laps and routes and get a good workout. A group of us started by heading up "The Incline", an incredibly steep set of old railroad tie stairs. The rest of the hike went smoothly, the trail is a wonderful run/hike past Barr Camp and up to the A Frame at treeline. The upper slopes were mostly snow free and I powered along through so low clouds up to the summit where I was greated by throngs of tourist and train goers. After a few quick snap shots I bolted down the trail through the steep rocky terrain. I met up with Chris and Charles just below treeline, and we ran together to Barr Camp. The Barr trail is a very smooth and runnable trail, the W's are a fun place to push the pace, zipping around corners, and blowing by unaware tourist. I finished the day at the trailhead, 6:10 after starting up the Incline earlier that day. A great early season 14er run and training.
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