UN 13795    by Brian Schultz     Thursday  July 22, 2010

Roundtrip mileage: 8 miles from Grizzly Gulch trailhead

Elevation gain: 3,395'

Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

With monsoon storms back in the forecast, we decided to change our itinerary. This unnamed peak by fourteener Handies Peak offers a short mileage route on a great trail and we figured an early start would get us on the summit before any storms kicked in. We drove to the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch trailhead last night and were a bit surprised to see no other vehicles parked as we set up for truckcamping. It was a quiet and pleasant night for sleeping.

We began at 5:05 AM by headlamp on the Grizzly Gulch trail, the same trail that we used to climb Handies nine years ago. A heavy cloud cover in the early morning didn't portend well and the sunrise itself barely poked through later. We set a moderate pace up the excellent trail and exited it at 12,000' elevation, heading up grassy slopes on the left to a small lake above. We found a handy climber's trail above the slopes that led to the lake and we stopped for a bite to eat there before putting on raincoats and pack covers.

Light showers began falling at 7:20 and soon increased in intensity. Once we reached the upper basin we spent a few minutes identifying the correct ascent gully, clarifying it with the map and GPS, but the gully had snow in it. We didn't have our ice axes with so we headed up the steep grassy slopes on the right side of the basin to reach the ridgeline above. It put us slightly further away than taking a direct line up the gully but it turned out to be a fine choice and I'd recommend it regardless of conditions. It was just a short walk on easy terrain to the summit and we arrived on top at 8:50.

Fortunately, the rain quit while on top but wet and cold conditions didn't make for a very pleasant summit stay. We took a few pictures before leaving at 9:10 and enjoyed boot skiing the basin's scree before arriving at the lake. We took an extended break at the lake and after catching up to the main trail, the weather seemed to be drying out. We arrived back at the trailhead at 11:40.

Lots of vehicles were parked in the parking area and a fellow was removing gaitors as we walked to our truck. He asked what we climbed and if we got rained on. My interest was piqued when he mentioned that he climbed some thirteeners up the road so I asked his name. He was D'Arcy Straub, a name I knew from Fourteenerworld.com and we talked for a good while. It was fun to meet D'Arcy in person, especially after exchanging comments on his Peak 15 climb last year on the website's forum.

Tim and I parted company with D'Arcy and headed to Lake City for a shower and meal. We would've talked longer with D'Arcy but we had to meet Pete Krzanowsky on the Pearl Pass road tonight and wanted to get there before dark. This was a relatively easy peak despite the rain and a good choice as a fill-in peak.

Trailhead to summit- 3 hours 45 minutes

Summit to trailhead- 2 hours 30 minutes

Start to finish- 6 hours 35 minutes