Redcloud Peak

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/11/2023, By: Abowser7
Info: Summited Redcloud, Sunshine and Handies on 9/9/23. Started at 4:00 at Grizzly Gulch Trailhead, summited Redcloud at 6:30, summited Sunshine at 7:30. Do not do what I did and try and take the direct Sunshine route down to make the path a loop. Very sketchy about a mile down with very loose rocks and drop offs, no clear trail either. I ended up turning around and going back up Sunshine and Redcloud and back down the original combo route. Wasted about 2 hours and added and extra 1000 ft. of elevation gain. Got back to my car at 11:30 and drove to American Basin trailhead. Started Handies at 12:00, summited at 2, got back to the car at 3:30.

The road is very doable, but very long. Cinnamon Pass and American Basin roads are doable in a stock 4runner. Saw a lot of smaller cars and outbacks as well.

Redcloud was stunning, beautiful conditions and completely snow free. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/28/2023, By: sean23
Info: Climbed Redcloud and Sunshine via standard route. Encountered only one small snowfield that I crossed in trail runners. The trail from the basin to the summit is free of snow and in good shape, although the route from the top of the basin to Redcloud's summit ridge is a little confusing. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/13/2023, By: Mark Goldstein
Info: The peak was dry, summer conditions and nice. Great weather. Sunny all day. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/2/2023, By: emself
Info: Several fairly minor snow patches up to Redcloud, no snow on trail to Sunshine. I personally used microspikes going up the largest (~100yd avy debris field) and for descending Redcloud's scree/dirt because my knees hate sliding more than I hate dulling the lil points. Avy field was icy in the am, slushy by noon. Brought an ice axe because of a previous conditions report and didn't touch it once - not needed or useful on the out & back route. Keep an eye on the snow bridge creek crossing - hiking partner punched through it on descent. Also, some trail damage has occurred (or the trail's just always sucked?) on the "face" below the false summit to Redcloud. The signs direct you away from a steep dirt use-trail and towards poorly defined switchbacks on talus/scree. The latter is likely the better option, but I wouldn't call it a pleasant one. 

Route: Via Sunshine Peak East Ridge
Posted On: 6/30/2023, By: ssowalskie
Info: Almost entirely summer conditions on the ridge from Sunshine Peak to Redcloud Peak. The descent down Sunshine is pretty rapid to the saddle, and the ascent to Redcloud is very gradual for the most part and quite pleasant. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/29/2023, By: JaiBalayya13
Info: Hiked this on 6/28. There are two major snowspots and few more minor ones. Traversing the snow spots early in the morning may need spikes (I tried to avoid snow by climbing the rock talus around them which is not ideal as the rock is really loose). During the first two snow spots (Which are major) the trail kind of vanishes, having an alltrails map would be handy. The second snowspot kind of covers the creek, so be careful while waking on it. The rest of the spots are after you enter the basin and are not bad, the last spot is on the way up to the false summit. I took some photos of the snow spots and will be uploading them. 

Route: via Sunshine Peak
Posted On: 6/28/2023, By: dakotasmama
Info: I summitted Sunshine Peak first using the East Ridge route (separate condition update for that) and after crossing over to Redcloud Peak, I decided to take the Northeast Ridge route back down and take my chances finding a ride from the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch Trailhead back to Mill Creek Campground where I was parked. Theres a lot of damage to the trail on the way down, and its impossible to follow the exact route as described both here and on AllTrails. Specifically as youre coming down to the ridge to make a left-hand turn into the basin - there are signs guiding you away from where lots of people have obviously continued to climb and early summer mud is very slippery. Further down deeper in the basin it looks as though there have been at least three major land/rock slides that have completely covered the trail and/or re-routed the natural streams so that theyre flowing freely over and down the trail. Still a decent amount of snowpack so being poles and spikes and be safe (and dont bet on getting a ride if youre finishing late in the afternoon - I finished at 5:05 and not a single vehicle passed me, I walked another 5.5 miles back to the campground). 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/26/2023, By: moosifer
Info: This was the in-and-back combo of Redcloud+Sunshine. Trailhead access will require a moderate clearance vehicle. My buddy took her Forester and was just fine. Approaching and beyond tree line there is quite a bit of snow. It would be reasonable to have ice axes, but we did it with micro spikes with some slipping and post holing, compounding route finding difficulty (snow obscured it). This was especially the case after the right-hand turn at the ridge. Specifically where the old trail is rerouted 90 degrees to the right (sign posted), and somewhere you are supposed to go up, but its obscured. The summits themselves were perfect. I struggle to describe them. Absolutely magnificent, dreamworldly. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: Black Bear
Info: Trail is mostly dry from the trailhead to the upper basin, just a few avalanche debris piles to cross over (one of them is very large). In the upper basin, there is still a lot of snow. It was firm on the way up, but soft and postholed in areas on the way back down. Very little snow the rest of the way to Redcloud after gaining the ridge. The traverse over to Sunshine is dry until the saddle, but still has a lot of snow from the saddle to the summit, but you can avoid some sections by climbing on the rock (exposed on the right side) or finding sections of dry trail. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: jway2952
Info: Started at 6:30 (actually started at 6 but forgot my phone in the car ). Redcloud had intermittent snow from about 11500' on. Snow was in fantastic condition all day. No need for snowshoes but bring your crampons/ice axe for ascending/descending the gullies. Summited around 9:30 before heading over to Sunshine. Will cross post there too.

The ridge and climb was pretty much snow-free except for about 200-300 feet at the end going up Sunshine. Summited here around 10:45. The San Juans looks INCREDIBLE right now. Headed back and re-summited Redcloud before heading down the North Gully for some glissading and got down in about 2 and half hours. All in all, about 7 hours car to car and a 6:30-1:30 day. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 5/28/2023, 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! 

Route: From Sunshine
Posted On: 2/7/2023, 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. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 11/3/2022, 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. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/31/2022, 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! 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/20/2022, 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.