6/16/2023 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/16/2023, By: HikesInGeologicTime Info: Still skiable from the summit (as long as youre willing to trust the bergschrund) all the way down to 11,900 (as long as youre willing to ski a couple 4-5 wide patches of grass near 12k)! Would highly recommend going for it before next weeks sunny forecasts do a number on the snow. Trail through treeline is in remarkably good shape; a few patches of stubborn snow to be navigated that are too far below the continuous line to render flotation-worthy and three downed trees to contend with, but otherwise pretty forgiving after such a monumental winter. |
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6/16/2023 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/18/2023, By: JCar029 Info: Road to the trailhead is completely dry. No snow until around 11,500, where there's a couple of small drifts you can go around and one big one you'll need to cross. Once you get out into the basin however, it becomes pretty much continuous snow until the ridge. I had an axe and microspikes, and was glad I had both. |
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6/14/2023 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/14/2023, By: Flatlander618 Info: Much the same from the previous few posts for Handies. I took the Eastern approach from Grizzly Gulch. Micro-spikes and poles got the job done with little issue. Some hella good glissading on the way back down. Got a good view of the American Basin Trail from the summit. From the Sloan Lake area and lower was snow-covered, but the upper part of the upper switchbacks and final approach looked clear. |
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6/11/2023 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: jway2952 Info: Quick, dirty, and snowy summit of Handies today via the East Slopes route. Got started at 6 am from Grizzly Gulch trailhead and encountered endless stairs until about 11400'. Around here, avalanche run outs and lingering snow dot the trail until continuous snow hits around 12000'. Snow was in excellent condition throughout the morning, but not wanting to leave it to chance, I hustled up Handies via the many continued snow routes. Used crampons and poles for the ascent, but saw a guy coming down who didn't seem to have anything more than a backpack. Summited around 8:45. Views are as good as everyone says. Could have stayed all day, but had to get back to Denver, so I got my ice axe out and glissaded down about 1000' before plunge stepping and basically running down the rest of the snow and trail. Back to my car at 10:20 for a 4 hour 18 minute roundtrip (minus the perilously slow ascent and descent of the road in my Nissan Rogue - definitely doable, but took me 30-40 minutes each way!). Enjoy! |
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6/11/2023 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/12/2023, By: 14ersRN Info: Decent amount of snow still. Spikes help if you must., but shoes with traction work too. Finally warm and cozy in your tent? Well, when you wake up at 0300 from your alarm. Ask yourself. "Would I rather sleep a little bit more or post-hole for hours?" Start early! Other then that, climb some stairs, snow and summit! |
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6/9/2023 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/13/2023, By: MachoDiesel Info: Started mid-morning from Grizzly Gulch TH, hit snow at ~12K and skinned to summit, ski crampons were nice insurance, but not needed. Solid ski straight off the summit, plenty of lines still connected and snow condition was excellent for this late in the season. Get it while it lasts! |
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5/27/2023 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: rsuminsby Info: Started from Grizzly Gulch TH, put on skis about 11,500'. Some post holing required in spots below that, so bring extra socks. Crossed a snow bridge and ascended to the left (south) side of the creek, and then crossed over the creek again once we reached the upper basin. We were able to skin to within about 300' of the summit ridge, and probably could have skinned all the way, but we elected to bootpack the last bit, mostly on the summer trail. Enough snow to ski off the summit! 2000' of beautiful corn snow, and then another 700' descent through the woods before we found another snow bridge and picked up the hiking trail. |
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5/25/2023 Route: Grouse Gulch - American Basin Posted On: 5/25/2023, By: HikesInGeologicTime Info: Plenty of other peaks in the area still holding snow, but not the west side of Handies. But before potential hikers get excited about leaving the snowshoes behind, be aware that there still appeared to be a decent amount of snow in the basin itself. Still a good, mostly continuous ski from the pass between Grouse Gulch and American Basin and the trailhead, for anyone in the area looking to log more time on the waxed boards. |
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4/23/2023 Route: NE Couloir Posted On: 4/24/2023, By: pgres Info: Road to Silver Creek / Grizzly Gulch Trailhead was gated at the bottom, adding about 8 miles RT (15 miles, 4500' vert). Road was plowed all the way to the TH and beyond (likely closed to prevent rutting since there's still a good amount of water/mud on the road). The mud wasn't an obstacle for walking and the approach went super quick, but wasn't possible to skin. Great snow from the actual TH. North facing slopes were creamy, East and South facing aspects corned up nicely in the afternoon and were supportive. Followed the ravine up instead of the trail. Bottom part of the Couloir was powder (NE aspect). Top part of the Couloir (E aspect) had a light, sun baked crust that had softened by our drop time of 10:30 and made for really good turns. Beautiful basin. Some fun looking N-facing couloirs on the lookers-left side of the basin. |
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4/1/2023 Route: S Ridge from Cataract Gulch Posted On: 4/2/2023, By: Will_E Info: Summitted Handies from Cataract Gulch Saturday. The first half mile was trenched by a group of ice climbers, after that I broke trail in snowshoes until the short class 3 section on Handies S ridge, the snow was pretty firm, even in the afternoon, other than a single full body posthole up to my chin;) I took crampons and an axe, but used neither. Side note, Boulder Gulch slid at some point recently, theres a decent size debris field. |
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2/7/2023 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 2/7/2023, By: Chrisfish25 Info: Handies from Grizzly Gulch. I did sunshine & Redcloud first & skied down Redcloud standard to GC. I skimmed up GC & then found a easy way up to the ridge near Whitecross summit. From there I took the ridge over to summit of Handies. I skied off the summit all of the way out of grizzly & then skinner the road out. Very warm. Snow on south faces were warming. Surprisingly pretty thin on most south aspect slips. |
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10/9/2022 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 10/10/2022, By: Mzapo Info: Started at 7am and went up grizzly gulch. Amazing job on trail construction with the steps at the beginning. They are steep but have an amazing view of Handies once you are through the trees. Once on the north ridge with about 700 feet of gain to go, the snow is knee to thigh deep (I'm about 6 feet tall for reference). Only a couple inches of snow at the summit though. Made it without micro spikes but would highly suggest them going forward. Amazing views all around! |
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9/27/2022 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 9/27/2022, By: Hiker Mike Info: Despite all the weather of late, the trail is only a little muddy in a few places. Although the trail is not a long hike, there is a lot of elevation to be gained. You will start climbing right from the start. The junction for Handies and Sloan Lake is not marked so bear left not right. |
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9/24/2022 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/24/2022, By: JasonCrane Info: Summited Handies via the East Slopes route on Saturday from the Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek TH. The main reason for not doing American Basin was the poor condition of CR30 & extra 3-4 road miles (each way). The East Ridge route appears to be longer & more elevation gain vs. Southwest Slopes, but the hike along the creek, meadow & stunning views of Handies made it well worth it. Handies central location to the San Juan Range made for spectacular 360 degrees views. Of the 20 or so people on the summit, my estimate is that 80% took the Southwest Slopes Trl from American Basin. Very dry, summer trail conditions, & no route-finding issues. The leaves are really starting to change & turn yellow along the basin forest. There was also an adult white-tail doe hanging around the TH for the 2 days I was there. |
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9/3/2022 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/4/2022, By: 14ercooper Info: Route is in good shape. Got spooked by a bear around 4am who had laid claim to the trail about a mile up from the trailhead, and didn't seem to have any plans to move. |
