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We set out to summit and ski Handies Peak from Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek Trailhead from the East. I was joined by two great friends, Tim Mackey and Ben Morello. We drove through Lake City, then up CR 30 and made our way to the Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek Trailhead. Once we arrived at this trailhead, we saw that the gate was open allowing us to continue up American Basin. We drove further up the road, as it was plowed all the way up to the upper American Basin TH. We set up camp there and had the entire place to ourselves, accept for a few coyotes howling through the basin that night and the next morning. What a beautiful and amazing place. We set up our tents, cooked up some dinner and then turned in for the night. The temps that night dropped to around 25 degrees, and the moon was super bright. They were calling for 1-2" of snow in the area that night, but we woke up to just some frost on our tents.
Our Campsite at American Basin Upper TH
Sun coming up on American Peak and her Couloirs
Tim and Ben skinning up the basin.
Looking back down at our campsite (just in the shadow)
Benny taking a quick break. American Peak in the background to his right. We decided to boot up a gully SW of the summit, vs taking the typical skin track around Sloan Lake and then up.
The gully we decided to boot up is on the left side of the image
Tim making his way to the gully. We put our skis on our packs and started booting up the gully which was more of a straight shot to the summit. BIG thanks to Benny for taking the lead punching up the gully.
Tim watching another group of 4 skinning up Patriot Couloir across the basin. After we booted the gully we were had to take some time to rest and soak in all of the beauty around us.
Tim summitting Handies. After we booted the gully, we put our skis back on and skinned up to the summit. We summitted right around 12:15 pm. The views were amazing from up top and the weather was perfect. Very little wind, party cloudy and some sun. We rested on the summit for about 20-30 min. We skied right off the summit down the SW shoulder of Handies, following our tracks. Given the time of day, the SW shoulder and South aspects were pretty soft, so we decided to ski down a NW facing pitch just on the SW of Handies. The snow was soft, but not corn. It was a nice day of Colorado Spring skiing. It was about 2000' skiing down to the basin floor.
Benny summitting Handies.
Smiles on top of the summit of Handies
Zoomed in view of Mount Sneffels and Teakettle
Our turns down the SW/West side of Handies on a NW - facing aspect.
Our turns on the lower part of the pitch. The ski out in the lower basin was very soft and collapsable snow. It was a beautiful sunny day back at camp.
We arrived back at camp a little before 1:45 pm. The ski down in the bottom of the basin was soft and collapsable at times. It was a great day skiing in the Colorado backcountry. American Basin and all the mountains around Handies are super impressive. The journey into our campsite, the shelf road on the way up, the massive chutes and couloirs all around, all made the scenery and the experience spectacular. I can't wait to go back and tackle Red Cloud and Sunshine. Total trip was about 2600' of climbing and 2.5 mi up to Handies Peak.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
@tmahon lemme know if you want those videos of yall skiing. I’m happy yo send them your way. That skin track yall laid up Patriot Couloir was impressive.
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