Picture courtesy of Tim Best.
Picture courtesy of Ian MacDonald.
Cupid GR:264901 (Loveland-Bakerville Traverse)
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| elevation: 3,998 m. | height gain: 340 m. |
| area: Loveland
Pass,Colorado,USA |
map USGS 1:24,000 Grays
Peak, CO 39105F7 |
| 2017-Apr-02 |
| Ref: 14ers.com | |
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| Mount Sniktau on the left, we'll
be veering right at the bump ahead. |
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| Hike:
RT 13.0 (includes Grizzly, Torreys and Grays); 1.5 up. During the week,
Tim and I planned to do a traverse of Grays and Torreys Peaks with a
car shuttle, we invited Ian MacDonald who was quick to accept. Ian was
present on my second 14er,
Mount Elbert, almost a year ago to the day; I hadn't seen him since. We
kept an eye on the weather, a
substantial snowfall was to hit the Colorado Rockies on the friday
before our
outing. As it turned out, the southern part of the Sawatch Range got
over a foot of snow;
luckily, the Front Range was spared the brunt of the storm. We
met Ian at Bakerville where we left my truck. Ian drove us to Loveland
Pass, the start of our traverse; at 3,660 meters, it's already well
above
treeline. We left at dawn, it was cold and windy. As we progressed
towards Cupid on firm snow, we lost all visibility. On the very broad
ridge, it was difficult to determine which bump was the summit. We
encountered a group of skiers that were also heading the same way but
after speaking with them, they seemed to ski off the ridge towards A
Basin ski area... We also veered off the ridge and had to pull out the
compass, GPS and map to re-orient ourselves in the whiteout. The wind
was chilling and we lost valuable heat and energy yet we continued
without expressing concerns. As we plodded towards
Grizzly Peak, the sun started to peer through the multiple layers of
cloud. We had been banking on the forecast that called for an
improving trend and we were happy to see it happen!! |
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| Looking at A
Basin ski area and the Loveland Pass U.S. 6. |
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| I'm
fortunate to have met Ian and Tim a year ago on Mount Elbert. |
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| Losing all
visibility as we near Cupid. |
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| The wind is
almost unbearable, this is possibly the summit..... |
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| Ian and I
with compass and map at hand to re-orient ourselves. Picture courtesy of Tim Best. |
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| Frosty! Picture courtesy of Ian MacDonald. |
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| Heading towards Grizzly Peak. |
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| Ya, this seems right?! |
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| Continue on to Grizzly Peak | ||
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