Advice needed for 4 day trip in Feb.

[super_dave]

I'm planning a trip for a friend from New Mexico and I in mid February. We would like to be out for four days and climb one or more 14ers, weather permitting. The format for the trip would to be to hike in on the first day and set up a camp, climb on the second and third day, returning to camp each night, and then pack out on the fourth day. We are not very experienced with avy predictions and analyzing snow conditions, so we are looking for routes that have relatively low avy danger. I'd like to find a location, if one exists, that we can hike into and have access with at least 1, preferably 2 or more, 14ers that will hopefully have resonable avy risks. I understand there will always be risks. Also, my friend has a 4x4 toyota forerunner that we'll be using to access roads.

For some background on our experience and ability: I have done plenty of backpacking and climbing in the summer, with limited winter experience. I have made a winter ascent and snowboard descent of Quandary as well as a night out followed by a failed attempt on Yale's east ridge last January. My friend has climbed several fourteeners and also made the summit of Denali last May. Other than that, he is relatively inexperience in the winter. We will both be in good physical condition and properly equipped for the trip - experience is our main shortcoming. We'd like to change that though and get some more days out in the cold and snow.

Some ideas that I've had are going out in the area of Handies and Redcloud + Sunshine, or possible somewhere in the Sawatch where there are many 14ers reletively close to each other. I've just having a hard time finding ideas that fit all the conditions we're looking for. Perhaps some compromises will have to be made.

Any suggestions or advice anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks a lot,

Dave

[Kiefer]

Your idea of Redcloud & Sunshine could be a good one. Isolated enough in February to give ya a good B/C experience but the road in might give you problems depending on how far you can make it. So mileage speaking, count on 2-4 days I'd say for these two. The standard route in as it wraps around to the north side of Redcloud is an Avy playground. That would prolly be the crux, getting in & out safely but no technical aspects that I can think of. Not too familiar if there's a south ridge route or not.
Plus Williams Creek is another option for the centennials, 13,811 and 13,832 just east of Redcloud/Sunshine. Closer approach too. I'm sure there's a couple variables I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Gray's and Torrey's are good, old, reliable standbys. Close to Denver, convienent, easy access and if things 'go south', easy to get help into. The only real Avy danger is traversing Kelso Mountain (eastern slope-bottom), which, is notorious for slides. But you can more or less, mitigate this to some extent by staying further centered in the basin and away from Kelso. The hike up Gray's and traverse over to Torrey's is as straight-forward as they come. This would realistically only take ya 2 days.

Sherman is also an option. Granted, there's only one 14er in the area but there's also Horseshoe (a centennial), Mt. Sheridan, Peerless and Gemini and Dyer peaks all within easy distance. Access is easy, Avy danger is generally low for this area and there's some decent camping down near Leavick. You could make this into a 2-3 day trip, but realistically, 2 days would be enough.

Uncompaghre is another, slightly harder option. It's more backcountry then the previous, longer in the approach but a relatively easy approach to the summit. The eastern bowl is a wide-open place. Heading there myself in a few days & really looking forward to it. The views down there in February would be AMAZING! Dawson has a good description of this in his Vol. 2 14ers book.
Just a few ideas.

[super_dave]

Thanks Kiefer, this is very helpful! Could you elaborate a bit on what you mean by an "Avy playground" what would we need to do if we were to try to cross an area like this? Also, would it be better to summit Sunshine and then over to Redcloud to avoid this area? Thanks,

Dave

[Kevo]

Thanks Kiefer, this is very helpful! Could you elaborate a bit on what you mean by an "Avy playground" what would we need to do if we were to try to cross an area like this? Also, would it be better to summit Sunshine and then over to Redcloud to avoid this area? Thanks,

Dave

The shelf road leading to the trailhead for Sunshine/Redcloud gets taken out by large avalanches. The approach to the trailhead is several miles (5? can't remember right now) and there are dozens of slide paths to cross. You don't want to get caught back there or try to get back there in a time when natural slides are occurring. When I was out there on a week long ski trip winter/spring of '08 there had been a massive slide that took out lots of old growth trees and crossed the road.

If you go to cross something like that, make sure you do it quickly and one at a time.

[Kiefer]

By 'avy playground' I just meant that it's an area where natural avalanches can & do occur at a higher rate then other areas due to the surrounding slopes (pitch/inclination).
As Kevo said, one at a time practice is very prudent. Being that, members of your party should move one at a time through and up the valley to relative safe areas to minimize the risk lest everyone be caught in the same slide if one were to occur.
I believe ~5 miles is about right. memory is a bit fuzzy though.

No matter where you go, even Quandary's East Ridge where avy potential is practally non-existent, you should read up and familiar yourself with slope pitch, snow types and recommended modes of safe travel, at a minimum. Get the basics down. For one, it'll make you more [arguably] proficient and confident when you head out. Plus it'll put a different spin on the whole trip that you wouldn't have otherwise; seeing the same terrain as your friend but with a higher respect for the dangers and pitfalls that may and do occur. Winter time in the backcountry is no place to let your mind wander.
Do some reading on where you're going and avy stuff. It'll make the trip more rewarding.
CAIC is a good place to start.

[super_dave]

Thanks a lot for the good advice guys. Anyone else have some ideas where we might head out to?

[avaske]

I've been looking at doing a trip to Harvard and Columbia via Horn fork Basin, looks like a good backcountry trip with relatively low avalanche danger. I think there is a recent trip report on this.

[sgladbach]

Uncompaghre is another, slightly harder option. It's more backcountry then the previous, longer in the approach but a relatively easy approach to the summit. The eastern bowl is a wide-open place. Heading there myself in a few days & really looking forward to it. The views down there in February would be AMAZING! Dawson has a good description of this in his Vol. 2 14ers book.

This would be my first choice for a real backcountry experience. I don't think the approach is that hard. Camp near the upper 4WD parking lot. Follow the standard route.

I've been looking at doing a trip to Harvard and Columbia via Horn fork Basin, looks like a good backcountry trip with relatively low avalanche danger. I think there is a recent trip report on this.

This would be a fun second choice.

After that, several of the choices mentioned would make good day trips. You could link a couple day trips together.