HANDIES PEAK
14,048 ft.
October 2, 1998
By Tim Briese
(Note: For another trip report on a climb I have done of Handies Peak, describing the East Slopes route, see the More Climbs page.)
My daughter Emily and I left home around 6 a.m. and headed across the state to spend a weekend in the San Juan Mountains. A snowstorm the day before had left a mantle of white in the high country, so our plan to climb Handies that afternoon was somewhat in doubt. We arrived in Lake city a little before noon, and continued on the Cinnamon Pass road toward our destination. We enjoyed stands of beautiful yellow aspens along the way that were near the peak of their color. The towering mountains beyond Lake San Cristobal were quite a spectacular sight with the coat of fresh snow on their high slopes and the yellow aspen forests below.
There were several inches of snow on the road as we neared American Basin, but we were able to drive through it all the way up to the trailhead at 11,600 feet. There was no one else around, and there were no tracks from any other visitors since the snow had fallen. The sky was partly cloudy and a moderate wind was blowing into the basin from the west. We decided that conditions looked good enough to attempt a climb, so we donned our snow boots, coats, and sunglasses, and hit the trail about 1:30. This was a rather late start for a climb, but Handies is the easiest 14er in the San Juans, particularly from the American Basin approach. We headed south toward the upper end of the basin, toward an impressive ridge of jagged summits. At first we were able to follow the obvious route, but we soon lost the trail because it was hidden by the snow, so we just picked our own route and bushwhacked upward. The snow averaged six to twelve inches in depth, but in places it was drifted to depths of two feet or more. It was a lot of fun climbing up through the snow, and Emily particularly enjoyed it. We circled to the east and worked our way up onto Handies’ gentle southern slopes. Presently we climbed high enough to see Sloan Lake lying in a beautiful basin just to the south. We reached Handies’ broad southwest shoulder, which had been scoured nearly free of snow by the wind, at about 13,400 feet and followed it toward the summit. The wind was becoming very strong at this elevation, and we found it necessary to almost holler at each other to communicate.
We arrived on the summit about 3:30 in the howling wind. The view from the top was magnificent, with rugged mountains all around as far as we could see. We saw the Needle Mountains, the Wilson group, Mt. Sneffels, Uncompahgre Peak, and much more. There is a special feeling of being surrounded by wilderness on the summit of Handies. This feeling of wildness was enhanced by the fresh coat of snow on the mountains. It was enhanced by the howling wind, too. We carefully pulled the summit register out of its protective canister and clung to it to prevent if from blowing away. The wind forced Emily to lay down on her stomach and pin the register to the ground with her arm while she signed it.
I was reluctant to leave this exhilarating place but the wind forced us to go after we had spent only about 20 minutes on the summit. We headed back down the south slopes, not bothering to retrace our steps but instead blazing a new trail down through the snow, just for the fun and adventure of it. The sky completely cleared off and the wind decreased somewhat by the time we got back down into American Basin. We returned to the trailhead about 5:30 as the golden late afternoon sunlight shone on the snow-covered slopes above.
We loaded up and headed over Cinnamon Pass to a camp near Silverton that evening. It had been a fun climb of an easy 14er in the snow.
