Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2023-05-28, By: kylewiley Info: The approach is completely dry and the beginning of the hike starts out dry. You start running into patches of snow around 1.5 miles in from the trailhead which are easy to travers and usually no longer than 10 yards or so. We had crampons but didn't even need them. Sometimes the trail disappears under the patches for a small section, but it is easy to find again. At around 3 miles in, you encounter a long flat section of snow, which again is easy to traverse when the snow is hard. As you start to gain the elevation, most of the trail is completely dry until the the two last inclines to the false peak and redcloud. We put on crampons and were able to simply walk up them. Be mindful, the snow starts to warm up at around 11pm and we ran into a lot of post-holing on the way down, especially in the long flat section of snow. But other than, it was an amazing hike and would recommend it as ready to ascend. The snow is clearing up fast and we noticed even more gone on our way back! |
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Route: From Sunshine Posted On: 2023-02-07, By: Chrisfish25 Info: Went up sunshine S face. Dry down low. Climbed up the loose rock field. Then close to tree line switched to skins. Skinned all of the way to the summit from there. Skied down to saddle between Redcloud & skinned up RC. Skied off of some north ridge on RC down into Grizzly Gulch to go up Handies. Mostly wind buff going over to and down RC. Soft snow down low below trees. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-11-03, By: markf Info: I summited on 11/2 with no difficulty and continued on to Sunshine. There was some postholing (less than knee deep) in the bowl below the ridge, but I was just as happy not to have dragged my snowshoes all the way up for such a short stretch. This morning I woke up to 6" of snow at the Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek TH and more coming down, so it looks like winter has arrived for that corner of the San Juans. Prior to this snowfall, the trail was essentially dry to about 12,000 feet. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-10-31, By: Gtpokrant Info: Not much snow until 1 mile in then continued to get progressively deeper. We turned around at the top of the basin/below the ridge due to post-holing and unstable snow conditions leading up to RC's false summit. The summit of Sunshine appeared to have less snow (looked like a powdered donut). Be prepared to route find and trail-blaze leading up to the summit. Moreover, we met someone who attempted Handies via American Basin on 10/29 and turned around at 12.6k due to unstable snow and potential slabs. Have fun and be safe! |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-10-20, By: RWSchaffer Info: Redcloud's upper slopes hold a generous blush of snow (pictures 1, 2, and 3). The snow is old enough that it has become packed, crusted, and icy; spikes were greatly appreciated. Snow rarely reached much above ankle depth, but my gaiters almost certainly kept some out of my boots. The traverse is more of the same (picture 4). Pictures 5 and 6 show Handies and Uncompahgre. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-09-24, By: JasonCrane Info: Climbed Redcloud & Sunshine Peaks on Friday from the Standard Route. Dry trail, summer conditions, no route finding issues & opted to re-traverse Redcloud 2x to descend. The crux of the route is the steep headwall to Redcloud just above the basin at the 13k saddle. There's an arrow sign indicating to follow the switchbacks vs. trying to ascend the more direct line of loose choss. The leaves are really starting to change color along the basin forests. Note - Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek TH has 2 restrooms & there was space for dispersed camping spots. CR30 road is in very poor condition, but a number of AWD pick-ups & SUVs made it. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-08-15, By: AndyFromDenver Info: I'll be honest, one of my least favorite mountains. Not a real pretty hike and the trail is pretty rough. The majority of the lower section is talus fields and the summit push is the worst thing I've done since Pettingell last summer. Extremely steep (I'd estimate close to 40 degrees), loose scree. While the lack of exposure doesn't put you in a life-threatening situation up there, it's a lot tougher than a lot of class 3 routes. For the "safest" line to the summit, stay as far to the right as you can when ascending and work your way back to the trail sign a couple hundred feet above. The traverse over to Sunshine was a nice break from the rough trails below. Started at about 4:45 from the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch Trailhead and finished around 12:30. Side note, we ran into an 81-year old man up there. My mind was blown that someone that age was choosing to do these two mountains. He said he has done all of the 14ers and was just repeating for fun. What a life. As I mentioned in my Handies recap, the road is extremely rough over the last five miles to the trailhead, but definitely passable in AWD with decent clearance. It was a slow go, but my Crosstrek made it without incident. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-08-07, By: dr_j Info: Trail in summer conditions, flowers were a bit on the thin side. The route up to the false summit is a patchwork of social trails and a bit difficult to follow, and quite loose. I slid a few times going up, and had to break out my trusty approach shoes. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-07-10, By: Gzaharatos82 Info: Started up Redcloud at 6am, over to Sunshine at 940 and down the NW slope. Saved me some time since first thunder was heard around 1045am, but man, that's some junk rock on the way down. Once through the steep, loose couloir, there's still a bunch of downed trees to get past as you follow the stream to connect with the main trail. Got to the car at 1145 as thunder and lightning were ramping up. Hoping the two guys that came down the NW slope behind me are ok ... And the other guy (Jeff I think) in the orange jacket too. They were still up there a way during the storm. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-06-21, By: Penhawk Info: Summer conditions, the route is well used. As you go up, the rockier areas are pretty washed out but easy enough(objective is go up, so pick your adventure). nothing to serious here. I had not really prepared due to sickness and family sicknesses as well, no sleep that night either and I still made it. Love the area, so nice up there. I feel like the road up is half the adventure. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-06-06, By: brchristensen Info: Road to the trailhead isn't bad, any vehicle with a little additional clearance should be fine. No snow on the road. A few trees across the trail below the ridge and are easily bypassed. A couple 20' snow fields below the ridge, no snow otherwise. Well defined trail below the ridge around 13,000', final 1000' involves intermittently well-defined trail mixed with areas of loose rock. A couple of tiny snow fields are easily navigated. Although we didn't attempt Sunshine, the route looks very clear, Great day on the trail! |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-05-29, By: dvivs11 Info: Basically summer conditions outside of 2-3 50 ft patches of snow around 12.8k-13.2k below the ridge. A bit wet/muddy down lower, but melted out completely. Didn't head over to Sunshine, but looked dry as well. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-05-19, By: fmv093042 Info: Similar to previous conditions report! There is still a snowy section that you need to cross. However, it appears to be melting quickly (leading to muddy conditions around the snow). Post-holing to knee deep was basically every step in the snow. But it only lasts about 50ft. So didn't hinder my trip much! I don't think flotation is worth the hassle given the short distance of the snow. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2022-05-16, By: joshgrundy Info: Road to the trailhead is dry and in good condition. Should be fine for any vehicle with just a little bit of clearance. Much of the route to Sunshine/Redcloud is dry, but there are a few snowfields in the 12,500-13,000k area. As of 05/16, you have to pass through them, and they are extremely soft and slushy and up to waist deep. Not dangerous from a falling standpoint, spikes wouldn't help. They're melting fast though. Otherwise, again, the route is mostly dry. Essentially all snow above 13,300 is avoidable, including on the traverse. |
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Route: East ridge from sunshine Posted On: 2022-02-19, By: jbealer Info: Letsgomets gave you a great update on sunshine, we went on to redcould where we were blasted with high winds(not in forcast) the whole time. Trail was in great condition, i used spikes, friend used crampons. We kept ridge proper off sunshine to avoid the slopes and then met up with the redcloud trail. On return we took the bypass and did not resubmit sunshine. The lower slope out of the trees did give us some avy concern, whooping sounds on the way up, wend direct up slope, on return we hugged the ridge till we hit the trees and followed them around to our lower tracks, still had unsupervised snow. Take warning, also know fresh snow is coming this week so all reports will be void. Glad to get these 2 done! |
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Route: Mill Creek Posted On: 2022-01-24, By: angry Info: Summited Sunshine & Redcloud. Did not use traction/flotation. Snowmelt on descent made dry sections below treeline a slick, muddy mess. |
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Route: Traverse from Sunshine and back to Sunshine Posted On: 2021-10-19, By: longlevi823 Info: In a party of 3 (including self) we had a successful summit on 10/17 to Redcloud by traversing from Sunshine (see East Ridge report on Sunshine). The ridge had a good amount of snow. The majority of it being on Sunshine. I would recommend gators or you will get snow in your boots, and since winter is coming up there probably won't be much less snow than this for a while. A good amount of postholing took place descending Sunshine on the way to Redcloud. Once you're at the 13,841 peak there isn't too much snow left on the way to Redcloud. Good views on top of Redcloud. Coming back we didn't want to get the summit of Sunshine again so we scooted around on the left to regain the trail back down the East Ridge. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2021-10-17, By: winter_wisher Info: Snow is 3"-4" starting at the trailhead. After the creek, and ascending the basin, the snow becomes much deeper: consistently 6"-12", with occasional knee- to waist-deep accumulations. Route finding on the ridge above the basin is more straightforward, and the snow resumes its relatively shallow 6"-12". Similar snow depths cover the saddle leading to Sunshine Peak. |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2021-09-25, By: lkjustplay Info: CCW Sunshine and Redcloud route. Got to TH at 9a. Took the NW Face route to Sunshine and tagged Redcloud coming down the standard route. Coming up the creek beware of fallen timber and keep your eye out for the path. If you lose the path, ascend to the left of the stream and continue paralleling the stream towards the tree line in front of you, you'll find the correct path that begins to go into the tree line and pass the abandon hut. Gully is definitely a class 3 section, albeit short, it's steep. Wouldn't recommend descending this section. All sections were clear and bluebird conditions for the day. Descending Redcloud is easier to find the wide, long, switchback along the talus field. Looking back up, you can see how difficult finding the path ascending must be. 2 hikers and 6 year old husky (plenty of water along both routes for dogs). ~9 hours and ~10.5 miles. . |
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Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 2021-08-09, By: E_A_Marcus_949 Info: Take note of the 8/7 report and what trail/route to follow going up Redcloud. Lots of social paths going down too - that part of the mountain is incredibly eroded so take care to follow the path. All free and clear up to the summit. In the dark the trail along the creek (photo 2, 11,600'ish) takes a little more attention but otherwise easy going. |