9/14/03 – Handies Peak & Whitecross Mountain – East Slopes, Southwest Ridge

7.2 miles, 4415'


We had a tough time deciding what peak to go for this weekend and when. We were disappointed by the early snowfall last week, since this would be our last opportunity to bag a 14er for the next three weeks due to other commitments. After hearing about heavy snowfall in the San Miguel Mountains, both from Layne Bracey and from news reports of the missing hiker near Wilson Peak, we knew that the Wilsons were not in our future. Our options boiled down to Castle Peak or Handies Peak. I was discouraged by the amount of snow that the Elks received this past week, though, so I was hesitant about Castle. The Lake City San Juans, on the other hand, had been getting a lot of sunshine since the storm hit them. With an excellent forecast for the whole weekend in the San Juans, Erin and I decided to give the snow one more day to melt and attempt a climb of Handies on Sunday.

We left for Lake City Saturday night at 6:30. The weather on the drive in wasn't the greatest on 285 along the North Fork of the South Platte, and I was getting concerned about the cloud cover we continued to see as we reached the Arkansas Valley (were the forecasts right?). But as soon as we began descending Monarch Pass, we broke free of the clouds and were under gloriously clear night skies with the moon rising behind us. The highlight of the drive in was staring down a bear on the Cinnamon Pass road, just past Lake San Cristobal. The majestic beast was ambling alongside the road, when we surprised it. Rather than taking off, however, the bear just stood there, checking us out. He started to walk away, so Erin drove us a little closer. He took another long look before dashing through aspens. That's the best look I've had at a bear in the wild yet! We arrived at the Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek trailhead at midnight and got settled for a car camp. We ignored a 5:30 alarm and continued sleeping in Erin's frigid SUV until 7:00. Once awake, the sights about us filled us with hope for our climb. Sure, there was much snow, but south-facing aspects had already melted out significantly. We ate, got ready, and hit the trail at 8:00.

The Grizzly Gulch trail had already received a few sets of footprints since the storm, but there wasn't much snowcover on the trail until we got above 11,000'. We continually looked back along the way to admire Redcloud, "Sundog," and Sunshine Peaks behind us. We really like the arrangement of these two drainages -- how along Silver Creek you can gawk at Handies and in Grizzly Gulch you can check out the Redcloud group. Once we reached the first meadow, we got our first view of Handies. Its east face was stunning! It had tons of snow cover, with only its steeper cliffs baring rock.

We continued the easy hike further into Grizzly Gulch while temperatures were already exceeding 50 degrees under clear, blue skies. Along the way, we spotted a few pikas, which would chirp before dashing into a hole in the snow. We also saw a couple of spectacularly fat marmots, ready as they were to begin their long winter's nap. To our left, we were dazzled by the north-facing wall that reaches east from Handies' summit. The sheer faces of this wall were accented by fantastic touches of snow in every crack, crevice, and couloir. What a wonderful time to be here! We also observed UN 13,795, the pointy bicentennial 13er further east from Handies.

Since it was notable as a depression in the snow and it was more prone to support our weight, we remained on the trail well above 12,000'. Soon, though, we were on our own and picked a choice ramp that leads high and just under Handies North Ridge. It's hard to say whether the trail takes the same route, but it would make sense if it did. Behind us, we saw that the lovely Whitecross Mountain, which we had been hoping to bag along with Handies, would be an easy climb up its half-bare Southwest Ridge. The snow was now getting warmer and wasn't supporting our weight very often. Even though we were only postholing a foot in depth at most, the climbing was tiring, as my muscles had forgotten just how much work even slight postholing can be. We picked the low spot just south of UR 13,577 as our point of access on Handies North Ridge, as Gerry Roach suggests. From there it was an easy climb on mixed scree and snow to the windy summit, which we attained just before 11:30.

The views from Handies were all they were advertised to be and more. I get lost in the San Juans, and had trouble finding San Luis Peak and the Wilsons, but I'm sure we saw every San Juan 14er from this centrally located perch. We loved the perfect profile of Half Peak to our southwest, and Rio Grande Pyramid was quite impressive, as well. Sneffels dominated our views west, as did what I believe to have been the Wilsons and the La Platas to the southwest. Meanwhile, the whole of the Elk Range were lined up perfectly to the northeast. But for most of our stay on Handies, I could not pry my eyes from the improbable Grenadiers. I could have remained there all day just staring. I had seen it before, but Garfield Peak surprised me, looking the most prominent of the subrange at their western end. Arrow and Vestal Peaks, however, were the main attractions. Seeing Wham Ridge with a fresh coating of snow was an amazing treat, and I cursed myself for not having binoculars along. It is with regret that we didn't climb in the Grenadiers this season. We'll make a trip up Elk Creek a priority next year.

The wind was biting, so after eating and admiring the views a short while longer, we begrudgingly left Handies' summit. Erin's feet were really getting cold as we descended. Her old Vasques have somewhere around 600 miles on them, and they are really showing their age. We'll have to get her into a new pair, because they are not going to cut it this winter. We decided to get into warmer territory by escaping the North Ridge and the wind. This isn't the recommended route from Handies to Whitecross (which would have you remain on the ridge the entire way), but we could see it would work well, with only a minimal climb to regain the ridge at the Handies-Whitecross saddle.

A glissade wasn't possible, unfortunately, as the snow's consistency wouldn't even allow you to get started. Instead, we plunge-stepped to about 12,800' before traversing back toward the Handies-Whitecross ridge. Erin's feet warmed quickly in the sun without wind to freeze the snow to her boots. I estimate it only took a climb of 150' to regain the ridge at a point just southwest of the true Handies-Whitecross saddle, and our views into American Basin and out toward Cinnamon Pass opened up. We saw a couple of SUVs negotiating the 4WD road in American Basin a couple thousand feet below.

To begin our climb of Whitecross, we traveled steeply up the ridge on beautiful orange and red rocks, reminiscent of Redcloud and Sunshine. At about 13,300' the ridge flattens and levels, while revealing Whitecross's surprising summit area. With delightful cliffs a couple hundred feet high on its northwest side, and crags that made us think about the Lost Creek Wilderness, Whitecross is a treasure. We walked up the grassy ridge until we were under Whitecross's summit area. It was easy to pick a route up to the southeastern subsummit. From there, we downclimbed into a tiny saddle and then picked a third-class scramble to the true summit, which was cairned but without a register. One could easily keep this climb to a class 2+ scramble, but there are many routes to be had to reach the top of Whitecross. We spent some quality time on the summit, since there was no wind to bother us. You could peer the full 3000' down to the Cinnamon Pass road, and I think the view of Uncompahgre was better from here than from Handies.

But alas, we had that lousy thing called work the next day, so we finally left Whitecross at around 1:30. We climbed down Whitecross's southeast slopes on what we thought would be grass toward Grizzly Creek. It turned out to be mostly scree punctuated by grass for the initial 6-800'. It was tedious, but we made our way down to where the slopes' angle lessened. From there, we had a great time coming down the slopes. Across the gulch from us, UN 13,795 dominated our view with Grizzly Lake in a hanging basin 1400' below it. We flew down the slopes, sliding down snow on our feet when we could. Back in the gulch, the trail had melted significantly since the morning, and there was some mud to deal with before we reached the trailhead at 3:00. At the lot, we talked to a couple who had just climbed Redcloud and Sunshine in good conditions. While those peaks saw three parties on this gorgeous September Sunday, Erin and I had Handies, Whitecross, and Grizzly Gulch all to ourselves. We still hadn't seen a single cloud in the sky! This is the kind of autumn hiking I've been waiting for! I just hope we still have some good weather left in October when Erin and I can get out into the hills again. If not, this was a fine way to end our 14er season.