Grizzly Peak

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 7/10/2022, By: pleiades
Info: Started around 8AM and had to park in the “ third” parking lot. I bypassed Cupid and everything was dry and dusty, except for a bit of mud after Cupid. One of those rare days where it was not windy. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 6/10/2022, By: dhagan
Info: A few small snow fields remain between Cupid and Grizzly. They are easily crossed or bypassed on hikers right (west side of ridge). Typical windy day. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 4/30/2022, By: boucry
Info: Not much change from the prior report in March. The route is wind scoured. Any deep drifts are mostly avoidable. Wore microspikes the entire way and they came in handy; I am glad I did not haul snowshoes, I didn't need them. Definitely a few steep parts with drifted snow, but pretty easy to navigate by just taking it slow. 30-40mph wind gusts on the summit, but no clouds in the sky. Saw about two dozen other hikers and skiers headed towards Cupid/Grizzly throughout the day. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 3/15/2022, By: Jack_H
Info: Not much to add. Probably a good idea to bring either spikes or poles or both. 50mph gusts today and around 25mph sustained. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 2/27/2022, By: arthurtect
Info: Probably no surprise here that these mountains continue to avoid any standing snow for the most part. Glad I had my microspikes (not happy that they fell apart) but others made the journey without traction. You do not need snowshoes. Know of six that made the journey to Grizzly today, many others did Cupid and Sniktau. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 2/28/2022, By: branharr
Info: Stopped at Cupid Peak. Very cold with a lot of wind. It was definitely important to have several layers and to cover all of our skin with the windchill reaching somewhere around -20 to -30F at the summit. Snow was obviously present, but there were significant patches with only an inch or less on the ground with rocks poking through. Spikes are necessary, but flotation wasn't needed. We only had snow up to our shins a few times during the entire hike. Gorgeous views from the top. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 1/18/2022, By: CraigE
Info: The trail to Cupid and Grizzly was a mix of bare dirt and shallow snow, no more than ankle deep. Microspikes were really helpful on the steeper sections towards Grizzly. The path past Grizzly to Torreys/Grays looked about the same (but we didn't actually hike that far). 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 1/2/2022, By: Aphelion
Info: Slopes are mostly windblown, with the trail briefly appearing between shallow snow patches. No traction or flotation needed. Torreys' west ridge/face is looking mostly dry if you wanted to add that on. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 12/5/2021, By: WalkingGood
Info: Identical conditions to the previous post. Route is mostly clear. Loveland parking area completely dry. Spikes may be helpful on the final pitch up to Grizzly but it's still a mix of scree and snow. A big horn ram ran across the trail on the way down but was too fast to get a good pic. Snow expected this week. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 11/14/2021, By: gonefishing05
Info: Easy to avoid the cornices but they are there. My partner used spikes the whole time. I didn't use traction at all. Didn't bring snowshoes and wouldn't have put them on if I had. Wind felt like more than the 30mph predicted. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 6/9/2021, By: PikaSteve
Info: Very little snow remaining on route—all avoidable. Zero snow until descending Cupid. When approaching snow fields on left side of the Cupid descent, you can either squeeze by on the east side of the ridge just above the snow (more direct) or go on the west side of the ridge (the further you drop, the smaller the rocks you will traverse across). No further snow from last bump (12,396') to Grizzly summit. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 5/25/2021, By: mijoflynn
Info: Lots of traffic on this route today, but there aren't any recent conditions reports, so I'll just drop a quick one here. Occasionally, there's an inch or two of crusty snow on the way up to Pt 12,915, but nothing requiring traction. The trail over to Cupid is almost completely clear -- just a bit of snow at the summit. There's more snow past Cupid -- say 20-25% of the trail to Grizzly is covered. But it's not very deep, and much of it is packed down. The only place I felt the need to use traction was descending the first 200' from Grizzly's summit, and even there, a more nimble person could have done without. 

Route: Grizzly Couloir
Posted On: 5/18/2021, By: ClimberSkierDave64
Info: We parked a shuttle car at the Grizzly Gulch turnoff 1 mile up the road from Bakersville. We then started from Loveland Pass and hiked in ski boots over to Grizzly Peak. The ridge up Grizzly wasn't particularly fun in alpine ski boots, but it still only took us 2:30 from Loveland Pass! We were able to ski from Cupid to the saddle with Grizzly except for one short uphill on the way down. From the top of Grizzly, we walked down 100 feet and put skis on. The Hourglass on Grizzly looked horribly thin and rocky with lots of Avy debris. The ski down from the summit ridge down to the top of Grizzly Couloir was perfect mellow corn skiing at 9:30, and it had surprisingly good coverage. The cornice on top of the Couloir is MASSIVE right now, so we took the skiers right bypass down the face. The snow here was heavy and there were lots of old rollerballs. We then traversed into the Couloir proper were the snow started out as good corn but then turned to runnels and frozen Avy debris before the apron. To avoid this, we cut out of the Couloir early and skied some smooth corn! By the time we got to the bottom of the Couloir, the snow was getting hot and wet loose slides were just starting to get going. It looked like someone triggered a wet slide on the SE bowl of Cupid. 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 5/1/2021, By: Dignus
Info: Trail is mostly melted out or well packed with a few opportunities for postholing here and there. Neither traction nor flotation really necessary. Stay away from the snow on the east side of the trail especially around Cupid and point 12396 as it's much deeper and corniced. https://youtu.be/w6JeSfzCbLo 

Route: Grizzly and Cupid from Loveland Pass
Posted On: 4/18/2021, By: soundchaser2112
Info: There are bare spots along the ridge but for the most part there's still a lot of snow. Trail is trenched and the snow isn't very deep (occasional ankle deep postholing) but is lose powdery stuff that shifts under your feet, still making it a strenuous hike. I only wore spikes (and somehow lost one of them, please let me know if you find it!) and started at 2pm, summited at 6pm, and finished at 8pm.