Cupid is Colorado's 555th highest peak at 13,117 feet.
UPDATE: I attempted Grizzly Peak (13,427 feet) again on Dec 26, 2022. Almost the same thing happened. The forecast was off by a few hours and I missed my window again. It was supposed to clear up at about 8:00 AM but didn't until about 11:45. In 15 degrees with 20-30 mph winds I summited Cupid (13,117) which is a waypoint on the way to Grizzly. On Cupid I hunkered down and waited for about 1/2 hour for it to clear up. When it didn't, at 10:00 I decided to head back and take a shot at Mt. Sniktau, another nearby 13er. I got to the Sniktau turnoff at 11:00 and waited even longer for it to clear up. After another 1/2 hour wait it still didn't clear up. Frustrated, I headed back to the trailhead. Below I posted a couple of videos. With the wind you can barely make out the narration, but basically it was just a lot of complaining about the weather. After the video links is the original post of the same trip I made in February 2021.
What a crazy start to the day. My original plan was to climb Mt. Flora off of Berthoud Pass. But when I was driving toward Berthoud on I-70, the wind was crazy, and from the forecast and the highway signs I knew that it should be a little calmer farther west. So as I was driving, I switched to Plan B, which is to climb Grizzly Peak about 15 miles further west off of Loveland Pass. As I arrived at Loveland Pass the wind was still bad, probably about 40-50 mph, and the temperature was 7 degrees. With few, if any, options, I decided to sit it out and wait to see if the wind would let up. It was also overcast and with the blowing snow visibility was about 50 feet, which isn't much. Click here for the video. As I pulled up to the pass, I saw some guy beginning his hike in those conditions and thought "crazy". After waiting for 2 hours, the wind died down to about 30 I'm guessing, and I saw some blue in the sky. That's when I decided to head on up, because the forecast was for sunny skies, 15 degrees, and 20 mph winds.
On the first 1000 feet, the visibility improved for a while.
Looking back down, still windy, it doesn't look like it's clearing up at all!
At a waypoint along the route called Point 12,915, there is this handy wind shelter. Filled with snow and useless today.
The sun still hasn't come out yet, so this is the view of the next move, which was to descend 200 feet, then climb 400 feet to Cupid at 13,117 feet. The top of Cupid is out of view in the clouds. It's very eerie standing there alone, getting ready to venture onto a mountain you can barely see.
Having reached the top of Cupid, the wind dies down to about 10-15 mph, and the clouds begin to break up, revealing what was the goal for the day, Grizzly Peak. As you can see I would need to drop down then ascend a rather large bump, then drop down again before climbing up Grizzly. Due to the trailhead delay, it was about 11:00 now and I had a decision to make.
Going up to Grizzly would have put me right on the cusp of my turn-around time. Since this was a solo trip, and considering my relative inexperience at winter climbing, I bailed on the idea. If someone else was along I could have been talked into it. Here's the video of that moment.