Sunshine Peak

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/9/2024, By: buzzlightbeer
Info: Trail is in solid shape and required way less route finding (approximately none) than expected. No snow until the last 30 ft of vertical with a large block hiding the summit. Justified hauling the microspikes and axe, but probably not necessary. Solitude is nice. Apple watch said 10.2 round-trip, Suunto 11.5. Both probably biased high, but expect more than 7. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 6/1/2024, By: stickmann
Info: There are several snow crossings up to the basin and the basin is mostly full of snow but didnt require flotation today. The trail on Redclouds face still has snow and taking the social ridge trail seems safer until it melts. Traverse to Sunshine is mostly snow free except one ridge bump, a short traverse, and the last 50 feet or so. It looks snowy from afar but you can mostly stay on rock. Soft snow by 9:30am, even up high. I didnt use any traction but found a pole helpful for a few snowy sections. 

Route: Northwest Face
Posted On: 5/6/2024, By: AlpineSplit
Info: Northwest face is not in ski condition, but it is possible to ski the east face/ridge connecting Redcloud. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/22/2023, By: shapovalovm
Info: More animal poop than snow maybe until 11200. But don't let it fool you, snow starts and becomes deep enough to be miserable without snowshoes by maybe 11500. I know because I tried* (maybe until 12200) and it wasn't fun. Wore snowshoes to both summits and back to 11500 and I think they were useful/necessary.

Getting out of the trees at 11800 and onto the ridge at 12100 was a little spooky going solo. Without snowshoes you can feel breaking the underlaying hard layer is of snow. It's not super loaded and the angle is probably not steep enough for an avalanche, but still made me a little anxious. No oomphimg or anything though and, also, snowshoes definitely help to stay on top of hard layers without breaking them at this point.

Sunshine -> Redcloud to the lowest point has plenty of snow. I stuck to the ridge proper (don't want to take any chances solo), which was very laborious till the lowest point. Then it's pretty easy.

On the way back I cut maybe 300 feet below Sunshine. The cornice above starts forming but not nearly has enough snow to be problematic yet.

Road/parking: road is well plowed, almost entirely dry and is accessible by any car. You can bring your Lambo if you have one.
If you have an SUV you can probably park inside the campground. I didn't want to risk it in my ultra all-terrain vehicle (Accord) and parked outside.

Overall a great day! Saw a herd of bighorns and not a single person over the entire day: started at 7:30am, finished at 4:30pm.

* I'm very stubborn when it gets to putting snowshoes on/off 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 10/9/2023, By: wildschut
Info: Not summer conditions. Maybe in a week if the sun continues??? We did not use microspikes or gators. However we had hiking poles. If you dont have poles i would carry spikes. I strongly suggest no trail runners or sandals.At 12,850 you have 4-10 inches of snow there are some solid postholes you can follow but they became mud slush nastiness on the way down. Still totally doable as long as the snow holds off 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 10/2/2023, By: two lunches
Info: nothing much to report. there was snow, but it didn't stop my hiking companion from donning sandals for the entire trek. microspikes encouraged from saddle to peaks and back. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 9/29/2023, By: colocollegeguy
Info: Intermittent snow after the first saddle on Redcloud. Descent was rough with the snow by the afternoon so definitely try to get started as early as possible. I forgot my microspikes in the car, and my trail runners held up great in the morning, but I was missing them by the afternoon slush. Poles helped a ton for most of the hike. Hopefully the snow forecast this weekend covers more of the trail. The half and half was a bit exhausting. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 9/29/2023, By: Ajs336
Info: A decent amount of snow along the trail both up to redcloud and sunshine. We were very happy to have our yak tracks and poles. It would have been a lot of sliding around without them. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: bmelonis
Info: The trail is snow covered nearly the entire way from red cloud to sunshine, but snow is consolidated. Would recommend micro-spikes and poles as its slippery without them. 

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
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: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 8/7/2023, By: Split_the_FR
Info: Came up Sunshine after Handies and Redcloud. Descended Sunshine via the NW face. Some loose rock on the micro-terraine near the gendarme and a few slightly technical moves on the way out of it but not bad if you have experience on this type of terrain. On the way out of the gully - a large avalance made a mess of the trail (must have happened this winter). There are multiple tree blockages. Still manageable but the trail that recconects you with the standard route is in rough shape. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/11/2023, By: JROSKA
Info: I thought this route was an interesting way to experience Sunshine Peak (as opposed to just doing a traverse). The first 2,500 feet is definitely steep, but the trail is easy to follow even in the dark. Trail is also evident from 13k to the summit, with plenty of cairns. As others have said, the only part with no trail is between treeline and 13k, but its just a matter of hiking up the tundra and trying to step on rocks to avoid trampling vegetation. No snow on the route. It was an enjoyable route to ascend. That said, with rain showers coming in we opted to descend the Redcloud standard route, preferring to avoid the steepness of the lower route in wet conditions. 

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

Route: Via Redcloud Peak
Posted On: 7/4/2023, By: Briere
Info: Like other trail reports. 2 bigger snow fields earlier on in the hike and a few higher up. I never post holed on or needed poles or traction for any of it. 

Route: Northwest Face
Posted On: 6/30/2023, By: Ptglhs
Info: Route still holding a lot of snow. From dropping off the ridge to the upper basin snow is nearly continuous to below 12k but supportive.

The route description photo 9's gully is what I descended. It was a steep loose awful mess of suck. I wish I had gone down the "wrong" gully to climbers right in the photo on the route description. Snow is continuous in that one.

Further down, around 11.7k there is still snow obscuring the trail, and a lot of avalanche debris. As this isn't an official trail I don't think it will get removed. Snow and rocks and deadfall in the gully from there to the stream crossings with the main trail.

This route saves 600ft of gain and nearly 3 miles but not sure it saved me much time.