Sunshine Peak

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 6/20/2016, By: Daniel Joder
Info: Set up a bivvy on Redcloud on the 19th and photographed the sunset...then headed over to Sunshine the following morning (20th) for the sunrise. Fairly warm and no wind at all during the full moon night. My Redcloud words apply: "Echoing what rezvani2 said: no need for traction or flotation. Try your best to follow the trail, even over the very few snow patches, though, to avoid braided trail syndrome. The traverse over to Sunshine can also be done with very, very minimal touching of the snow patches. Nearing summer conditions." 

Route: From "Sun Dog"
Posted On: 6/17/2016, By: goingup
Info: I climbed Sunshine and Red Cloud via the 13er Sun Dog to make for a lovely cirque. To go up Sun Dog I cut off the standard route trail about 1.4 miles in and had to navigate across the raging creek. I made my way through the trees to Sun Dogs ridge, summited, and headed over to Sunshine. The snow up until Sunshine was firm and actually helped me move quickly. In between Sunshine to Red Cloud there is a large section of nasty steep snow. I could not see from the Sunshine side if I could safely crawl on the ridge next to it, so I chose to cross the entire thing. It was rotting, super slick, and about 20 feet before the end I punched through to my shoulders. Extracting myself was fun. You do not need to traverse this section of snow, the ridge above does go but I could not see that because I did not take the standard route up. From Red Cloud down it is smooth sailing. I glissaded about 1000 feet of really soft wet snow right to the trail! The Red Cloud basin is a sight to be seen! 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 6/11/2016, By: Nelson
Info: There is a huge amount of rotten snow on the south face. If you are comfortable with the exposure stay climbers right on a very thin dry path. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 6/10/2016, By: dirtbagdame
Info: Patches of snow here and there. I did not need snowshoes or crampons for Redcloud. Popped on the crampons and took out the axe for the ridge traverse right before Sunshine Peak. The snow on the traverse was firm at 8:45am as I was heading up and was softening quickly on my way down around 9:15am.

I started around 5am and returned around 1pm. 

Route: North West Ridge
Posted On: 5/31/2016, By: freeinthehills
Info: Damn we walked a long way... Intended to rage up the N. Gully to Sunshine, ended suckered up on the ridge over pt. 13,4 - whatever and it took forever - but was fun. We aren't sure if one could skin directly up the gully. our views of it from the ridge were limited and it seemed the parties that skied out of it previous days stuck to traversing on the western aspects of the gully itself. We assume this is because snow at lower elevations was absent.

Great freeze and a lot of snow on the peaks right now. We saw multiple parties on every peak. Surprised no one has posted about the Handies group.

We rode NE off the top of the Peak to the S. tributary of Bent Creek. . Amazing turns down into the basin, even though it was late. We climbed a S. facing Couloir to the plateau between Sunshine and Red Cloud. Summit riding down the ridge towards Red Cloud and to the NE (more desirable descent route) will be in for a while. There isn't a clean line down the West face, although if you descend this, it seems you could ride to the summer trail at 11.3 or so. - this probably won't be the case for long

Snow for the most part has reached a point of uniform temperature and moisture. the Southern Aspect we climbed (late) had 20 cm of wet melt forms on a stout crust. Where the slope was mellow (less than 35 degrees) and hadn't slid the snow was very wet and affected by thermal masses. We post holed deeply. In certain areas like described particularly in regards to steepness, there seems to be 30cm of snow ontop a dust layer, that seems to be the sliding service on most other slopes. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/26/2016, By: CheapCigarMan
Info: Climbed Sunshine Peak from Mill Creek on Sunday, May 22. The route is dry from the TH to just below the tree line. It became very punchy once I got to the ridge and post holed to my groin and mostly to my knees (I'm 6'3") from the ridge to the bump, then again up until the final approach. Once on the bump I found some relief as the snow was only patchy there. Then solid again once on the final approach. Used microspikes from just below the ridge to the summit. Wished I would have had my snowshoes. Fought very strong winds and wind gusts from the ridge to the summit then 'til I got back down to the tree line. The trail is marked fairly well through the woods and talus fields up to the ridge. From the ridge your path is sure as Sunshine is in plain view. Returning I lost sight of the trail and forged through talus and brush until I refound the trail again. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 4/25/2016, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Climbed/skied Sunshine Peak from Mill Creek on 4/24. The route is dry from the TH all the way to 11,600' where you'll find some snow in the high talus fields below tree line and then deeper snow a couple of hundred feet higher. Continuous snow above tree line. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 4/2/2016, By: Count40
Info: Passing by, thought that photos could be if use:
-rounded smooth snowy ridge (except for that bump) from timberline to Sunshine, with portion of ridge (still smooth rounded white) to Redcloud
-gully from Mill Creek to timberline (largely dry) 

Route: From Mill Creek
Posted On: 3/8/2016, By: JQDivide
Info: TH to Tree Line: if you can find the trail, stay on it. We found it, lost it several times in the dark and in the snow. It kind of stays to the right side of a gully. But once the snow completely covers the ground, go up. It is a partial trench, but not exactly direct.
Once out of the trees, go hit the ridge and take a left, Sunshine will come into view.We stayed to the left side of the first ridge, then up to the summit. The hike to Redcloud and back was fairly simple. There was a bit of concern down Sunshine before you hit the saddle, but the snow was solid.
We did not resummit Sunshine, but crossed below the summit back to the ridge.
The only time we used snowshoes was in the tree on the way down. The hard frozen snow collapsed from the warm day and we postholed with snowshoes.
This is easily a 11 to 13 hour day, depending on your conditioning, postholing and route finding in the trees. Took us 13, but we had a solid hour on the summits. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/17/2016, By: aholle88
Info: Dry/patches of slush for roughly half of the uphill to treeline, then spring-like slush snow for the second half of the hill. Snowshoes mandatory on the second half to treeline, I was up to my hips without them. From treeline to both summits, microspikes were fine. As of yesterday, there was a trail just past the "notch" that allowed you to avoid re-summiting Sunshine on the way back. This was very convenient as the winds were brutal from Sunshine to Redcloud and back. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 1/13/2016, By: brerrabbit
Info: Trench is still in place from beginning to treeline although some of the lower sections are starting to thaw. Talus slope was still covered as of 1/13 although melting quickly as well. Used snowshoes all the way to the summit although I could've done without them in the first few hundred feet. Snowshoes helpful on Sunshine's North Ridge on the traverse to Redcloud. The Redcloud half of the traverse is mostly dry, only microspikes used for that. PM for pics or further info. I should also add that there appears to be a mountain lion prey burial site just after the first hill, maybe 5 minutes into the hike and directly in the middle of the trail. The mountain lion may come back to this site over the next few days so be aware of this if you head there within this time period. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/3/2016, By: SarahT
Info: Lots of new snow. Much labor intensive wallowing in the trees, sometimes thigh deep, to gain the east ridge. Used snowshoes from TH to summit. Snow seemed relatively stable, not a single woomph all day. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 9/14/2015, By: taboose395
Info: Drove to the trailhead over Cinnamon Pass Wednesday night. Road was in good condition and a breeze for my Ford Ranger. You do need 4WD and some clearance. Hiked Redcloud/Sunshine on Thursday and Handies from Grizzly Gulch on Friday. The trail conditions and weather could not have been better. I had at least 20 minutes alone on each peak. 

Route: From Handies
Posted On: 9/5/2015, By: WillRobnett
Info: Didn't climb Redcloud/Sunshine. From Handies it looks completely snow free. Driving in, the Aspens were just starting to turn. Still mostly green. More fall colors showing here than near Telluride/Wilson Peak two days before. 

Route: Northwest Face
Posted On: 7/14/2015, By: addrock528
Info: I came down this route. Its pretty easy to find your way down to the upper basin. You can't really detect the trail on the upper basin from a distance, but once you get up close there are sufficient cairns. It descends a pretty steep gully into the lower basin as I've pictured. There was a good amount of snow on the trail. I would guess I was on snow for a 1/2 mile or more. It was fine going down, but I wouldn't want to hike up it.