.

Member Trip Report

MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES    trip menu    search   calendar

TOP ROPING
SCHOOL ROOM BOARD ROOM WHITE ROCK CRAGS
GREAT LINKS BECOME A MEMBER DISCLAIMER
SWAP MEET LAM HISTORY INDEX NACLASSICS
TRIP ARCHIVE DOWNLOADS CLIMBING NEWS & FORUM


Handies Peak via Grizzly Gulch, 14,048'

 7/12-13/2002

Author: Gina Pasquale

There were 4 of us who went. Left Friday morning and camped at Mill Creek campground. The place was half empty and very quiet. Very relaxing. Had a nice happy hour, in true mountaineer's fashion, complete with a bottle of red wine!

Got a quasi-alpine start of 6:15am, for a drive to the trailhead. Several people were camped at the trailhead there, and there is an outhouse at the trailhead too. Started hiking at 7am up Grizzly Gulch. It is a nice steep trail with gorgeous views of the east face of Handies. The wildflowers were in full bloom. Caught a glimpse of a beautiful alpine lake above timberline, Grizzly Lake. Saw a herd of 5 elk in that drainage, too.

We climbed a route mentioned in Dawson's guide, which says to head for a 13,000' saddle between Handies and Whitecross Mtn. We did this route, but there was absolutely no defined trail at all to the saddle. I was surprised. We hiked the entire north ridge to the summit, and there were no difficulties at all.

We all summitted and spent an entire hour at the top, with fantastic 360 degree views of the San Juans. It was so nice to see blue skies again. We were back to the truck a few hours later. 
 


Send your trip reports, comments, updates, and suggestions about this site to
Jan Studebaker

Website Design by Jemez Web Factory
.