Handies Peak

September 26, 2020 / 14,048’

RT STATS: TOTAL TIME - 4 HR & 38 MIN, 8.20 MILES, AND 3,322’ ELEVATION GAIN

TIME STATS: 2 HR & 21 MIN TO SUMMIT, 11 MIN AT SUMMIT, 2 HR & 6 MIN BACK TO TH

RATING (HOW MUCH I LIKED THE HIKE): 7/10

Handies Peak was my 46th 14er and it was quite short compared to some of the 14ers that I have done over the past few months! My dad and I stayed in nearby Lake City the night before. This, combined with the projected nice weather and short duration of the hike, meant that we did not have to start early at all! In fact, we started just a few minutes before 8 am. We chose to do the “harder” non-standard East Slopes Handies route starting from the same parking lot/TH area as Redcloud and Sunshine (which we summited Labor Day Weekend 2019). This route is a couple miles longer and about 1,000’ more elevation gain than that of the standard route.

Anyways, like I said earlier, we started just before 8 am. The TH elevation was just below 10,400’.

This hike was super pretty as you can see in the pictures below. I don’t have much to say about the first 1.5 hours or so of the hike, except that it was nice knowing that this was going to be a super short 14er!

The wind had started getting worse as we continued to gain elevation above 12,000’; however, this wind was especially noticeable and forceful once we got up on the ridge (elevation 13,200’). MY HANDS WERE ALREADY FREEZING COLD AND IT WAS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. From the ridge to the summit was approximately 30 minutes, so it was a relatively short time span. I sped up to the summit haha. There’s kind of like a flat section once you get to the top of what had appeared to be the summit when you first got up on the ridge. It was only less than 4 minutes until the actual summit though!

It took 2 hours and 21 minutes/4.06 miles to reach the summit! We stayed up on the summit for 10-11 minutes before ditching because it was hella windy. We took some cool pictures and I did my new signature jumping pose (which I first did up on Castle Peak 4 weeks earlier). I could not feel my hands but it was worth it because I have now completed 46 14ers >:)

Well, I sped off the summit. Not quite running, but I was moving fast. I didn’t really stop moving until I got down into the “SAFE FROM BRUTAL WIND” zone which was around 12,000’ or so. My dad and I took some pictures with my homie Handies Peak in the background.

The hike was enjoyable once again! Just kidding, it’s always “fun”, but, given that I hate the cold and wind, I would prefer to not have hella windy hikes where I feel like I’m going to blow off the side of the mountain. Flashback to Mt. Columbia back at the beginning of June haha. The wind was definitely worse on Columbia, but the wind on this Handies hike put up a challenge.

4 hours and 38 minutes/8.20 miles later, we finished the hike! Yay. I can’t contain my excitement…I mean, look at my kristin selfie. It’s a weird feeling when a hike is this short. The only 14er hike that I’ve done that has been shorter time-wise was probably Mt. Sherman. It was quite a gorgeous route and we both agreed that we were happy that we did not do the standard route.

We headed back in to Lake City to get some lunch at the Packer Saloon & Cannibal Grill. I got a grilled chicken sandwich with pepper jack and a Cannibal salad. Clean Plate Club as usual after a hike lmao. Uh, so I mentioned in the Sneffels post that we went back to Climb for dinner. I got this yummy bowl with quinoa and rice, sautéed mushrooms, carrots, and spinach, and a fried egg. I added a double order of chicken breast and my dad gave me his brussel sprouts so I had a hella big meal. But, again, Clean Plate Club ;). Quite the fuel and preparation for San Luis Peak the next morning.