HANDIES PEAK 7/29/86
HANDIES PEAK 14,048'
Mountain........Handies Peak
Elevation.........14,048
Rank...............40th
Range..............San Juan
Trail length......2 miles (direct west slope)
Elevation gain..2,700'
Difficulty..........** (by our route)
Comments........Steep, sheep, and flowers
TRIP REPORT
7/29/86
Fresh(?) from our stroll up San Luis Peak, we got up in Lake City, had doughnuts & coffee, and drove to American Basin behind Handies Peak in our 2-wheel drive rental, with a few bumps but no problems. We parked at a stream crossing, got out and started hiking up the valley across the stream. After appraising looks toward the Handies summit on our left, we decided to climb up the 'grassy' slopes to the peak. (Once again, as on San Luis, we were not looking at the actual summit).
It's amazing how well grass clings to really steep mountainsides. The climb was 2400' straight up (in about a mile) - a little on solid rock, a little on extremely mobile talus slopes, and mostly on steep grass with some rolling rock hazard. We wound up at a saddle and hiked the remaining short distance to the summit (the summit was right of the saddle; the point we had originally been heading for was to the left). We shared the summit with a lot of other climbers who had come up the more roundabout route through American Basin.
We enjoyed a small lunch on top, and then descended via the opposite ridge to the standard trail with some shortcutting on sheep trails. There were a lot of sheep and flowers in the basin. We watched a shepherd dog chase one sheep right over a 60-foot cliff! The poor thing bounced a couple of times on the way down, got up gingerly, shook itself off, glared at the dog for a few moments and then hobbled off, bent but unbroken (as far as we could tell).
The rest of the 1986 trip was a series of failures and misadventures. First we hiked in to Wetterhorn Peak but were short of time so we ran up the Matterhorn instead (an interesting little summit between Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre). There was a little scrambling right at the summit, but otherwise it was a nice 'sunshine and flowers' climb. Then we were supposed to drive over Engineer Pass into Ouray, but a bridge near the top of the pass was under construction and the road was closed (there was no warning of this until we got to the bridge). So we retraced our route and took the long way around to Ouray via Montrose.
Then we took a shot at Sneffels - we got an early start from Yankee Boy Basin but were not sure of the right trail or even the right peak. We started climbing toward what was probably Dallas Peak, until we arrived at a small hut by a pond and located Sneffels using our topo map. We crossed a pika-filled boulder field and climbed up a long loose-rock couloir to a saddle. Left of the saddle was a steep, narrow couloir full of hardpacked snow and ice. We didn't have ice axes so we turned back and retreated in shame as better-equipped parties continued past us toward the summit. We drove to Telluride and stayed at the enjoyable Victorian Inn.
Then we tried Wilson Peak via the Silver Pick mine route. We drove to the end of the road and visited the mine ruins, then started up what appeared to be the correct trail. We soon found that it disappeared a short way up the north face. So we attempted a rib and a couloir from there; both were dangerous, so finally we tried to traverse a large snowfield across the face. Richard took a high route while I went across below him. We both made it across and then up to the saddle above the Silver Pick, then traversed left over to another saddle between Wilson Peak and Gladstone Peak. By this time I was exhausted, but Richard went ahead, climbing left and up to the scraggly ridge leading to Wilson Peak, so I followed, falling ever further behind. By the time I got a short way up the ridge, Richard was already returning from the summit and said I was probably still a half-hour away. A thunderstorm was rapidly moving in so I used that as an excuse to give up and turn around. It turned out to be a good excuse as we were blasted by lightning, thunder, and torrential rain on the hike out.
We took a couple of days off to sightsee (Colorado National Monument, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and the Sand Dunes near Alamosa). Then we tried LaPlata Peak. We drove around the back side to Winfield, then took a trail and a wrong branch somewhere that led us near Sayres Peak. As on Sneffels, we used our topo map to locate ourselves, then traversed a lot to a cirque behind La Plata and went directly up the cirque headwall with La Plata to our right. It had begun to snow heavily and we were in white-out conditions, so we sat at the col atop the headwall for an hour hoping the storm would blow over, but instead it intensified. So we gave up. When we stood up to start the hike down, we found we each had a solid inch of ice on our backs that we had to bend and crack so that it would slide off. By the time we reached the car, the mountain was completely swathed in angry booming clouds. The valleys were filled with soaking rains, and we had had enough, so we bade Colorado so long and flew off into the sunset.
Mountain........Handies Peak
Elevation.........14,048
Rank...............40th
Range..............San Juan
Trail length......2 miles (direct west slope)
Elevation gain..2,700'
Difficulty..........** (by our route)
Comments........Steep, sheep, and flowers
TRIP REPORT
7/29/86
Fresh(?) from our stroll up San Luis Peak, we got up in Lake City, had doughnuts & coffee, and drove to American Basin behind Handies Peak in our 2-wheel drive rental, with a few bumps but no problems. We parked at a stream crossing, got out and started hiking up the valley across the stream. After appraising looks toward the Handies summit on our left, we decided to climb up the 'grassy' slopes to the peak. (Once again, as on San Luis, we were not looking at the actual summit).
It's amazing how well grass clings to really steep mountainsides. The climb was 2400' straight up (in about a mile) - a little on solid rock, a little on extremely mobile talus slopes, and mostly on steep grass with some rolling rock hazard. We wound up at a saddle and hiked the remaining short distance to the summit (the summit was right of the saddle; the point we had originally been heading for was to the left). We shared the summit with a lot of other climbers who had come up the more roundabout route through American Basin.
We enjoyed a small lunch on top, and then descended via the opposite ridge to the standard trail with some shortcutting on sheep trails. There were a lot of sheep and flowers in the basin. We watched a shepherd dog chase one sheep right over a 60-foot cliff! The poor thing bounced a couple of times on the way down, got up gingerly, shook itself off, glared at the dog for a few moments and then hobbled off, bent but unbroken (as far as we could tell).
The rest of the 1986 trip was a series of failures and misadventures. First we hiked in to Wetterhorn Peak but were short of time so we ran up the Matterhorn instead (an interesting little summit between Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre). There was a little scrambling right at the summit, but otherwise it was a nice 'sunshine and flowers' climb. Then we were supposed to drive over Engineer Pass into Ouray, but a bridge near the top of the pass was under construction and the road was closed (there was no warning of this until we got to the bridge). So we retraced our route and took the long way around to Ouray via Montrose.
Then we took a shot at Sneffels - we got an early start from Yankee Boy Basin but were not sure of the right trail or even the right peak. We started climbing toward what was probably Dallas Peak, until we arrived at a small hut by a pond and located Sneffels using our topo map. We crossed a pika-filled boulder field and climbed up a long loose-rock couloir to a saddle. Left of the saddle was a steep, narrow couloir full of hardpacked snow and ice. We didn't have ice axes so we turned back and retreated in shame as better-equipped parties continued past us toward the summit. We drove to Telluride and stayed at the enjoyable Victorian Inn.
Then we tried Wilson Peak via the Silver Pick mine route. We drove to the end of the road and visited the mine ruins, then started up what appeared to be the correct trail. We soon found that it disappeared a short way up the north face. So we attempted a rib and a couloir from there; both were dangerous, so finally we tried to traverse a large snowfield across the face. Richard took a high route while I went across below him. We both made it across and then up to the saddle above the Silver Pick, then traversed left over to another saddle between Wilson Peak and Gladstone Peak. By this time I was exhausted, but Richard went ahead, climbing left and up to the scraggly ridge leading to Wilson Peak, so I followed, falling ever further behind. By the time I got a short way up the ridge, Richard was already returning from the summit and said I was probably still a half-hour away. A thunderstorm was rapidly moving in so I used that as an excuse to give up and turn around. It turned out to be a good excuse as we were blasted by lightning, thunder, and torrential rain on the hike out.
We took a couple of days off to sightsee (Colorado National Monument, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and the Sand Dunes near Alamosa). Then we tried LaPlata Peak. We drove around the back side to Winfield, then took a trail and a wrong branch somewhere that led us near Sayres Peak. As on Sneffels, we used our topo map to locate ourselves, then traversed a lot to a cirque behind La Plata and went directly up the cirque headwall with La Plata to our right. It had begun to snow heavily and we were in white-out conditions, so we sat at the col atop the headwall for an hour hoping the storm would blow over, but instead it intensified. So we gave up. When we stood up to start the hike down, we found we each had a solid inch of ice on our backs that we had to bend and crack so that it would slide off. By the time we reached the car, the mountain was completely swathed in angry booming clouds. The valleys were filled with soaking rains, and we had had enough, so we bade Colorado so long and flew off into the sunset.
posted by JansStores at 9:05 AM
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