Handies Peak

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. 

Route: Grouse Gulch
Posted On: 6/29/2025, By: Bonesaw
Info: Still lots of snow in American Basin. Between approaching the saddle before dropping into the basin and exiting to the saddle for Handies I’d guess around 18 crossings or so. I wore trail runners and had no issues, everything was packed down 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/20/2025, By: JSSL_
Info: Road is snow free and easily done with an SUV with AWD. A little tight at times but took no time at all to get up. Trail to peak has two short sections of snow. Very simple to navigate through and didn’t add any time/distance. Poles are nice but traction isn’t needed. This is almost summer conditions; go get it. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/19/2025, By: pcsongei
Info: Similar to the previous conditions report, there is still a good amount of snow in the upper basin obscuring the trial. I tried to be clever and climb above the snow towards the ridge but it ended up being more effort than it was worth. I crossed the snowfields on the descent (around 8am) and while some were large and unavoidable, it was much easier and still pretty firm. I punched through the snow a few times but overall not a big deal. I didn't have traction and it might have helped a bit but I was fine without it 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/13/2025, By: Matthew Holliman
Info: Mostly clear or just patchy/short snow crossings until 13k, then there's snow up to the ridge at 13.5k. Trail from there to summit is 99% clear. There's a decent boot pack most of the way through the only significant snow section, but I used crampons, and was glad I'd bothered to put them on in one or two short places where it was icy and the existing steps vanished. Any later in the morning, probably not necessary. Absolutely stunning views up here.

I returned by following the easy, enjoyable ridge over to Whitecross Mtn, taking its SE Slopes back to the trail; this avoided all snow on the descent.