The trailhead to Grays Peak is only about a 30-minute drive west of Denver, and after the snow melts off it is easily passable by most passenger cars. But the snow lingers well into early summer at higher elevations in Colorado, and many of the forest service roads to the trailheads are still snow covered through spring and into early summer. The snowfall had been about average the previous winter, so I had hoped that the dirt road to the trailhead would be passable for our mid-May summit attempt.

As we started the drive up the forest service road I was happy to see that it was free of snow and easily passable. All was well until we were about a quarter-mile from the trailhead, and we came upon a bank of deep snow across the road. Even though many four-wheel drive vehicles had been up the road this far, the snow bank proved to be impassable and no one had crossed it so far this season.