Handies Peak Trip Report 05/23/2006

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Handies Peak - 14,058 feet
Date Posted	05/23/2006
Date Climbed	05/20/2006
Author	marbleman

Handies in the snow.
It was about a 6 hour drive from Castle Rock to the American Basin/Cinnamon Pass ‘Y.‘ Left for the top of Handies at 3:45 AM. Had granduar plans of summitting by by sunrise at 5:41 AM. On any other day after all the snow had melted it would have been possible. It was dark. The moon was only about half lit and hiding behind Handies. Getting across the creek was tricky. It was raging more than I had ever seen. No where to step on rocks and keep feet dry. Didn‘t want to take off shoes and socks. So we found a place where the snow was thick and still had a bridge across creek. One must be wise on how to choose this spot or the snow bridge will collapse under weight. You have to find a place where the snow has drifted and piled up quite thick. Hindsight- walk up on the right side farther before crossing. This would have meant some bush wacking, but not much. There was a heap of snow in the basin nearly all the way to the top. Because of the basin‘s orientation snow stays for a long time. We had to wear snow shoes at least 66% of the time. Since the snow was hard and icy, I recomment the following brand: MSR Denali. They have a spikey bar down each side of the shoe that made for awesome, gecko-like grip. One of our party members had powdery snow-condition shoes and he had a terrible time. In order to traverse across a face, he had to turn his shoes perpendicular to the traverse and walk side-step. What a chore. Slow, to say the least. I thought that walking with shoes up and down the steep slopes was actually easier than dry dirt. The scree or talus would have given way too much. Some of the angles we ascended and descended would have been nearly impossible, but the shoes stuck like glue. I had a map from 14er‘s.com that I had printed off as our guide. I had studied all of the 3D, 2D, etc. maps and had a really good feel for where the trail should have been under the snow fields. In the dark and with no trail we did fantastic. The snow fields are so smooth and vast it is hard to make a mistake. You just pick a line and go. Even in the dark, one can see the difference between rock, dirt, and snow. So we just stayed on the snow fields. Even as the sun came out, we choose to keep the shoes on and walk straight up the mountain, rather than hike on the rocks, talus, or dirt. The posture of walking on shoes was a bit awkward, but well worth the trade off. There were no signs of the trail until we hit the ‘y‘ that shoots off to the right to head up to Sloan Lake. The top of a little sign was just poking up out of the snow field. We could see the saddle just below the ridge that heads up to the peak, so we headed east and shot for that. That was about 13,430 at the saddle where the snow had melted enough for us to ditch the shoes. So the last 600 vert. feet on the ridge were dry. Total trip up was 4 hours. It would have been probably 2.5 in the daytime and on dry ground. I have climbed roughly 30 14ers. The view at the top of Handies surprised me. I don‘t know if it was all of the snow around, but there was an added ‘3D‘ dimension that made the 360 degree panorama absolutely indescribable. It was the most stunning view ever! There were so many other peaks to pickout- Sneffels, Uncom, Wett, Redcloud, Wilson, El Dente, Windom, Eulos, Red Mountain Pass, the Weminuche Wilderness. By far the most rugged, of all. Who says God is a sissy and soft. One view from up there and one can see He is a tough, rough, adventurous, risk-taking God. I thought the view from Huron was the best before, but not any more. The only thing I wish I would have had was 1) batteries for my camera- I grabbed dead ones by accident (so no pics to show off) and 2) some binoculars. The three of us were all alone at the top for about a half-hour. The hike down was easy. Again, went straight down some snow fields I would have never attempted if it was dirt and talus. It was about a 2.5 hour descent. We descided to stay on the north side of the creek from the top in order to keep from crossing it at the bottom. It was easy to do that since we could walk on snow most of the way. I wouldn‘t do that if it was dry.

Handies in the snow.

It was about a 6 hour drive from Castle Rock to the American Basin/Cinnamon Pass ‘Y.‘

Left for the top of Handies at 3:45 AM. Had granduar plans of summitting by by sunrise at 5:41 AM. On any other day after all the snow had melted it would have been possible.

It was dark. The moon was only about half lit and hiding behind Handies.

Getting across the creek was tricky. It was raging more than I had ever seen. No where to step on rocks and keep feet dry. Didn‘t want to take off shoes and socks. So we found a place where the snow was thick and still had a bridge across creek. One must be wise on how to choose this spot or the snow bridge will collapse under weight. You have to find a place where the snow has drifted and piled up quite thick. Hindsight- walk up on the right side farther before crossing. This would have meant some bush wacking, but not much.

There was a heap of snow in the basin nearly all the way to the top. Because of the basin‘s orientation snow stays for a long time. We had to wear snow shoes at least 66% of the time. Since the snow was hard and icy, I recomment the following brand: MSR Denali. They have a
spikey bar down each side of the shoe that made for awesome, gecko-like grip. One of our party members had powdery snow-condition shoes and he had a terrible time. In order to traverse across a face, he had to turn his shoes perpendicular to the traverse and walk side-step. What a chore. Slow, to say the least.

I thought that walking with shoes up and down the steep slopes was actually easier than dry dirt. The scree or talus would have given way too much. Some of the angles we ascended and descended would have been nearly impossible, but the shoes stuck like glue.

I had a map from 14er‘s.com that I had printed off as our guide. I had studied all of the 3D, 2D, etc. maps and had a really good feel for where the trail should have been under the snow fields. In the dark and with no trail we did fantastic. The snow fields are so smooth and
vast it is hard to make a mistake. You just pick a line and go. Even in the dark, one can see the difference between rock, dirt, and snow. So we just stayed on the snow fields. Even as the sun came out, we choose to keep the shoes on and walk straight up the mountain, rather
than hike on the rocks, talus, or dirt. The posture of walking on shoes was a bit awkward, but well worth the trade off.

There were no signs of the trail until we hit the ‘y‘ that shoots off to the right to head up to Sloan Lake. The top of a little sign was just poking up out of the snow field.

We could see the saddle just below the ridge that heads up to the peak, so we headed east and shot for that. That was about 13,430 at the saddle where the snow had melted enough for us to ditch the shoes. So the last 600 vert. feet on the ridge were dry.

Total trip up was 4 hours. It would have been probably 2.5 in the daytime and on dry ground.

I have climbed roughly 30 14ers. The view at the top of Handies surprised me. I don‘t know if it was all of the snow around, but there was an added ‘3D‘ dimension that made the 360 degree panorama absolutely indescribable. It was the most stunning view ever! There were so many other peaks to pickout- Sneffels, Uncom, Wett, Redcloud, Wilson, El Dente, Windom, Eulos,
Red Mountain Pass, the Weminuche Wilderness. By far the most rugged, of all. Who says God is a sissy and soft. One view from up there and one can see He is a tough, rough, adventurous, risk-taking God. I thought the view from Huron was the best before, but not any more. The only thing I wish I would have had was 1) batteries for my camera- I grabbed dead ones by accident (so no pics to show off) and 2) some binoculars. The three of us were all alone at the top for about a half-hour.

The hike down was easy. Again, went straight down some snow fields I would have never attempted if it was dirt and talus. It was about a 2.5 hour descent. We descided to stay on the north side of the creek from the top in order to keep from crossing it at the bottom. It was easy to do that since we could walk on snow most of the way. I wouldn‘t do that if it was dry.

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