Handies Peak

Route: SE Ridge via Boulder gulch
Posted On: 2/12/2026, By: the_hare
Info: Parked at the Cataract Gulch trailhead, road approach is well booted out by ice climbers. Went up the right/east side of Boulder gulch as I saw on satellite that it was essentially dry and nobody had trenched up the left side recently. Followed game/social trails cairned frequently by elk & sheep scat. After getting past the initial aspen forest, the gulch hillside was pretty open and rolled over a couple creekbeds. Bashed through some willows and then crossed over the the left/west side of the gulch to ascend to the ridge on snowshoes.

Ridge had little snow to contend with. Class 3 volcanic chimneys weren't too bad, I took the cairned bypass around the biggest wall on the way back down. Do mind the cornice to the right along the ridge as the cliffside underneath drops off completely. Contoured around the 13700ft subsummit bump on pretty stable terrain towards its notched saddle with Handies. Sticking closer to ridge proper was easier up the final push to the peak.

Beautiful, beautiful views and rock and ice formations. It's snowing decently this week but I think it would take a whole lot to really hamper access on this right side of the gulch at least as it was completely dry when I went. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 2/6/2026, By: TheAlpineApe
Info: Was able to summit Handies from Eureka yesterday. Skinned up CR2 to and up Grouse Gulch and dropped into American Basin. Was able to stay on skis from the trailhead to about 13.5k when I finally ran out of snow on the ridge. South Face completely dry. East face has good coverage. Continous descent on SW from 13.6 to 12.4 and an easy skin back to Grouse Gulch. Conditions all around better than expected. 

Route: Boulder Gulch~winter route
Posted On: 1/20/2026, By: jbealer
Info: Had to change my Ouray ice climbing plans last week to Lake City, thankfully my friend is also into winter peaks and we took a day between ice to get this peak while its safe. we went up Handies on Sunday, not knowing what we would find. we parked at the cataract Th, some people have driven up the 1.25m road but they either had the right tires, or chains, which we saw marks of, assuming they were climbing the ice as we notice only one set of prints off and on during the day that looked like they headed to the peak. we stayed right of boulder gulch, fought the trees and willows, found some patches of snow that were knee deep in the trees. we did use snowshoes once out of the top of the gulch over to gain the ridge, again were sinking some spots up to our knees. we put them on cause we had them, if you hate SS then just boot through it you will be fine. no spikes were used, or axes, but we had them. the ridge is a mix of some snow but not much. i would say we had a little more snow then bmcqueens trip in 2018, we bypassed the class 3 section to the left (west)
Still a long day but happy to get one of the elusive san juan peaks in a "bad" snow year. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/3/2025, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Got started on trail about 4:30AM. Mostly dry to about 12k, then unconsolidated snow all the way to the summit. Since I had such a success with my summer gear yesterday on Redcloud/Sunshine, I decided to go for the same today: running shoes, micro spikes, poles, no snowshoes or axe. This ended up being a huge mistake due to the amount of snow on the north and east aspects. I post holed to my knees and cut up to the saddle as early as I could so I could stay on drier/more consolidated terrain. The hike on the saddle wasn't bad until the final 500' pitch which was completely covered in unconsolidated snow. If I had boots, crampons, and an axe, this would be a piece of cake, but it was pretty tough/scary kicking steps with my Altras and spikes. Summited at 8:15AM and chose a better/drier line for my descent. Time to change the gear up. 8.44 miles / 3,629' gain / 5 hours, 15 minutes 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/26/2025, By: missemm
Info: Beautiful day. Only person on mtn. Recent snow 2-3" in area. No snow from parking area down. 2" snow in lower basin. Upper basin trail indiscernible with post-holing shins to knees. Talus traverse with deeper drift with small snow & rock slides. Turned around. Summer is over. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/12/2025, By: Svenny733
Info: River crossing right before upper trailhead was quite high with all the rain, modified Tacoma could cross but less equipped may not be able to unless less rain. Some high water crossings but we found spots to jump Microspikes and poles were helpful from about 13.2K feet til the top. Handies seemed to be the only 14er in sight with a consistent snow dusting. Probably 2-3 inches but slushy snow. High winds on that last push can really suck 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/28/2025, By: metalmountain
Info: Looks like the summit ridge got about about 1/2”-1” of snow in the last 24 hours. Definitely felt a bit wintry up there this morning.

Getting a bit slick but not awful, we didn’t have spikes and felt ok but wouldn’t have minded having them.

The rest of the route was fine, with a dusting of snow leading up to the ridge. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/24/2025, By: V1per41
Info: Started late (1:30pm). Trail was completely free of snow. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/17/2025, By: auriel
Info: Last 600 feet snowy and slushy, but doable. Muddy and slippery sports on the way down
Bluebird day! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/17/2025, By: jdmorris
Info: The recent snow in the San Juans has made the top of the E Slopes - more accurately the finish on the N ridge - definitely snowy and likely icy as it melts and refreezes this week. I was happy to have microspikes but saw plenty of raw boot prints. YMMV! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/1/2025, By: Mesquandolas
Info: Trail and peak are in…peak conditions lol. Submitted at 8am and hung out until almost 9am. Perfect conditions. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 8/19/2025, By: climbingyogi
Info: After a 7 year journey, I finished the 'list' yesterday on Handies Peak with my dog and partner. I really love this route and the relative solitude we experienced on a Monday (only saw 3 other hikers on the East Slopes).


Came across a moose and her calf early on (leash your dogs on this route!) and an extremely yappy coyote up in the basin. Hiked Wetterhorn the day before (Sunday, 8/17) and saw hundreds of sheep in the basin (along with their shepherd and his border collie). It was wildlife city up by Lake City this weekend and I was all for it. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 8/5/2025, By: van 1
Info: We had never seen great clusters of columbines like that before😃
With care we managed to stay dry in spite of the streams still being full.
Whoever described Handies as "easy" must have forgotten to ascend the scree-full final few-hundred feet! Spiked poles were greatly helpful; and heavy-gripped boots would have been-so, as well.
The scree was bone-dry & slippery; not a hospitable place to be if the winds are blustery. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/19/2025, By: meanleen
Info: Drove in through Gunnison on the way to Lake City and was worried about the smoke from the wildfires reaching the nearby peaks, but once we got onto Cinnamon Pass the smoke wasn’t physically impacting us like it had been earlier. Camped at a nice spot right after the creek crossing on American Basin road, but there were a handful of BLM designated spots further up the road that were a little less roomy and flat. We summited on 7/17 at 7:30 in relatively humid and cold conditions for July. Two small snow patches and two tiny stream crossings on the trail. The wildflowers in American Basin are in full bloom, though some are already showing signs of senescence.

Also worth noting that we camped at Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek trailhead the night before we camped in American Basin. The weather wasn’t favorable for a good attempt at Redcloud and Sunshine, so we did a little trek up Grizzly Gulch. Past treeline, the tundra flora on the east slopes approach for Handies are also in peak bloom and the view of the peak itself has more character than the view from the standard route.

Drove the rest of Cinnamon Pass in my stock taco with minimal pucker factor. Alpine loop was pretty heavily trafficked, even though we were there Tuesday through Thursday. It’s likely far worse on the weekends. Most drivers were fairly courteous with only a handful of impatient SxS drivers not giving me enough time to pull over before they blew past me. Last picture is of some admirable graffiti at the top of Cinnamon Pass, really grateful that Colorado has an abundance of public lands and people that support them. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/4/2025, By: Rkwootten
Info: Summer conditions. Lots of SXS on the road in, but no significant issues. Saw a Lynx just above treeline.