I really like this climb, I made a YouTube video about our trip with a Google map and a GPS file overlaying it to show the route, you can check that out if you want, that will be better than what I can say with words:

https://youtu.be/JvOX-dW8vOk?si=UcStDeiXvYI3HYPL

On 10/7/2023 my wife, our friend Aaron, and I all set out at 6:15am from the Grays peak trailhead to climb the Kelso Ridge to Torreys. I had climbed several other 14ers over the summer including 3 other class 3 trails. And several class 1 and 2. My wife had just climbed Humbolt and liked it, and my friend Aaron had done a lot of hiking and some lower elevation scrambling, but had never done a 14er, although he was in shape from running. He also bought a helmet and watched several YouTube videos on this hike and thought it looked fun.

At about 7:30 am we reached the turnoff for Kelso Ridge, the weather was perfect for October without a cloud in the sky.

At about 8:30 the terain got steeper and there was some snow and ice, my wife looking at the class 3 route above and turned around, saying she would wait for us below.

By 10:00 Aaron and I reached the area called the white rock wall area. This was steeper than it looked on other videos and trip reports and also included some exposure to the left side. We both climbed it and afterwards he told me he was kind of scared. I asked him if he wanted to turn around and he said no. I was having fun but then realized I probably shouldn't have brought him and felt pretty bad. Also he didn't want to down climb what we just climbed up so we pressed forward.

I tried to do all the route finding and find the easiest trail, Aaron is a good friend so I didn't what him to get too freaked out and wanted him to feel more comfortable. We just took our time and talked about always keeping 3 points of contact and took several breaks. At about noon we got to the knife edge, I found the rock to be very solid and great for climbing, and thank God the wind was very calm there because it would have just been more difficult if it were howling. I almost found the white wall section harder than the knife edge for some reason.

After the knife edge it was steep with a some snow and ice, we both had micro spikes and ice axes that we didn't use because we just stayed on the rocks and didn't slide around too bad. We made it up to the summit and I was so glad my friend was okay, because he was pretty nervous on the knife edge. He really did just fine, it's just the fear of being by exposure for the first time on a 14er can be a lot. I should have taken him on a class 2, or 1.

We made it quickly and easily down the class 1 standard trail back to the car by 2:30 pm at the main trailhead. I really liked Kelso Ridge and would like to do it several more times. If you want an even more detailed trip report you can check out the video I posted above.

Thanks, Justin.