Route Climbed: Up Silver Creek, down East Ridge Date Climbed: August 6, 2004
Good climb under great weather. Summited an unnamed 13er and Redcloud before Sunshine. Many thanks to Aaron Johnson for excellent beta on Mill Creek descent; it came in handy as I bailed down the East Ridge due to a relatively late summit.
Route Climbed: Silver Creek (over Redcloud) Date Climbed: July 2, 2004
Ridge traverse was really nice and easy. Perfect weather the whole time. We spent about 30 minutes on the summit of Sunshine before heading down.
A couple of us took the 'Do Not Descend' route from the saddle instead of going back to Redcloud. My advice....go back to Redcloud. The route down is doable but certainly loose and dangerous. If you aren't experienced on dirt, scree, and loose rock don't even attempt it. In a large party it would certainly be easy to take a fall or get hit by rockfall.
Route Climbed: via Redcloud from Silver Creek Date Climbed: 07/08/04
What an amazing day! We saw some really beautiful flowers and met some nice people. The ridge traverse was really great. A mere hour (each way)! I didn't mind a bit! Often when we do combos, I stand at the top of the first mountain and think, "maybe we should just do that one some other day..." Today, however, I thought, "WOW! That looks close! No problem!" and I was right! I just really had an enjoyable day today. We had a GREAT camping spot the night before at the trailhead and I slept like a log...that probably helped!
Route Climbed: Sliver Creek via Redcloud Date Climbed: 7/6/04
We left Redcloud under beautiful skies. The hike over to Sunshine took 1:10. It was a little more of a commitment than it had looked from a top of Redcloud. It was a pretty nice trail over to Sunshine and we finally made it to the top.
Route Climbed: From Silver Creek trailhead over Redcloud Date Climbed: May 25, 2003
Climbed this one last year on a stormy morning, last May. The climb itself was no more than a hike with post-holing, save for the last few, snowy feet up to Sunshine's summit, but I was gob-smacked by the obliviousness of the other people on the mountain to the threatening weather. I'm always surprised that more people don't get killed by the weather in Colorado.
Route Climbed: from Redcloud Date Climbed: October 11, 2003
A bit anticlimactic really. Sunshine does offer some good views though. Highly recommended: Sundog! It's a great little peak to the NW with some short scrambling and a good descent route
bc44caesar - Feb 16, 2004 12:24 pm Date Climbed: Feb 14, 2004
Multiple
29 Apr 2006 - Northwest Face/Northeast Face
Biked from the road closure to the trailhead, hiked to the south fork of silver creek, then skinned up the northwest face. Reached the summit after around 6hrs (the bicycle approach took about 1.5hrs of this). Skied down the NE face on nice snow to about 11,800' then skinned back up to the Redcloud/Sunshine connecting ridge. Skied off Redcloud as well and back to the cars at 4:00pm, 11.5 hr day. With B. Kalet
8 Aug 2004 - Ridge Traverse from Redcloud
Did the ridge traverse from Redcloud...second summit of Sunshine this year...looked a lot different than it did in winter!!
14 Feb 2004 - East Ridge
Solo winter ascent of Sunshine's East Ridge. Exceedingly tedious...reached summit after 6hrs 25min...round trip time 8hrs 40min.
Route Climbed: Silver Creek Date Climbed: October 18, 2003
I did this mountain after climbing Redcloud. It was 60 degrees and not a single cloud in the sky in October! We then went down the scree slope which was awesome!
Route Climbed: Silver Creek, Southfork-descent route. Date Climbed: September, 26, 2003
After reaching Redcloud we went on to do Sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky this day. This was the first time I have done two 14ers in one day.
The descent route was not hard to find, there is a nice climbers trail down it. after the first switchback it heads straight down the scree slope and there was times I was rock skiing. I just create a rock slide and go with it and use my pole to slow my ascent if I go too fast. It was very fun and we lost elevation very fast. I highly recommend this route if you have a pole or hiking stick. Nothing really scary, just a good fast descent.
Route Climbed: Mill Creek Date Climbed: 08/31/2003
We took a very steep approach to Sunshine from Mill Creek. Very steep. I wasn't having the greatest day so it was a struggle but we made it to the top pretty quickly. Once on top we made the traverse over to Redcloud. People we met were very confused when they saw us returning over to Sunshine for our descent. A very nice day.
big_g - Aug 16, 2003 10:07 pm Date Climbed: Aug 14, 2003
Route Climbed: Redcloud Traverse
Easy traverse from Redcloud. Sat a while on the ridge and enjoyed the view, ate, and relaxed. It started clouding up but never did rain.
Route Climbed: Ridge over "Sun Dog" Date Climbed: August 1, 2003
My wife and I bushwacked our way up to the ridge that leads to "Sun Dog" from the trail were South Silver Creek feeds Silver Creek. We climbed the ridge and scrambled onto "Sun Dog". We crossed over the ridge and descended into the basin below Sunshine. We climbed the rock glacier on the west side of the Sunshine/Redcloud saddle and then followed the trail to the summit of Sunshine. We then descended back down into South Silver Creek and followed the trail down.
Route Climbed: North ridge from Redcloud Date Climbed: July 5, 2003
Climbed up Redcloud via the standard route, then traversed over the easy ridge to Sunshine. Beautiful day. To make things interesting, I descended to the west, and followed the northwest ridge over Sundog for my descent. Interesting route, and a good way to lose the crowds.
bakcast - Dec 12, 2004 2:00 pm
Route Climbed: NW slopes, easy snow Date Climbed: June 2001What a magnificent area!
hhsilleck - Sep 13, 2004 4:50 pm
Route Climbed: traverse from Redcloud Date Climbed: September 6 2004nice high stroll along the ridge
Saintgrizzly - Aug 10, 2004 2:12 pm
Route Climbed: Traverse from Redcloud Date Climbed: August, 199?Did the usual Sunshine & Redcloud combination. Nice day in the heights!
The Lower Marmot - Aug 8, 2004 8:39 pm
Route Climbed: Up Silver Creek, down East Ridge Date Climbed: August 6, 2004Good climb under great weather. Summited an unnamed 13er and Redcloud before Sunshine. Many thanks to Aaron Johnson for excellent beta on Mill Creek descent; it came in handy as I bailed down the East Ridge due to a relatively late summit.
jrf - Jul 17, 2004 3:53 pm
Route Climbed: Silver Creek (over Redcloud) Date Climbed: July 2, 2004Ridge traverse was really nice and easy. Perfect weather the whole time. We spent about 30 minutes on the summit of Sunshine before heading down.
A couple of us took the 'Do Not Descend' route from the saddle instead of going back to Redcloud. My advice....go back to Redcloud. The route down is doable but certainly loose and dangerous. If you aren't experienced on dirt, scree, and loose rock don't even attempt it. In a large party it would certainly be easy to take a fall or get hit by rockfall.
Speedy - Jul 16, 2004 1:10 am
Route Climbed: via Redcloud from Silver Creek Date Climbed: 07/08/04What an amazing day! We saw some really beautiful flowers and met some nice people. The ridge traverse was really great. A mere hour (each way)! I didn't mind a bit! Often when we do combos, I stand at the top of the first mountain and think, "maybe we should just do that one some other day..." Today, however, I thought, "WOW! That looks close! No problem!" and I was right! I just really had an enjoyable day today. We had a GREAT camping spot the night before at the trailhead and I slept like a log...that probably helped!
Bryan W - Jul 13, 2004 11:35 am
Route Climbed: Sliver Creek via Redcloud Date Climbed: 7/6/04We left Redcloud under beautiful skies. The hike over to Sunshine took 1:10. It was a little more of a commitment than it had looked from a top of Redcloud. It was a pretty nice trail over to Sunshine and we finally made it to the top.
Ratballs - Jun 24, 2004 11:44 pm
Route Climbed: From Silver Creek trailhead over Redcloud Date Climbed: May 25, 2003Climbed this one last year on a stormy morning, last May. The climb itself was no more than a hike with post-holing, save for the last few, snowy feet up to Sunshine's summit, but I was gob-smacked by the obliviousness of the other people on the mountain to the threatening weather. I'm always surprised that more people don't get killed by the weather in Colorado.
I have a trip-report (long, as always) here.
mountainmota - Jun 15, 2004 7:33 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: July 2002Easy 14er!
DaveC - May 21, 2004 9:38 pm
Route Climbed: over from redcloud Date Climbed: aug 97in threatening clouds, but no prob. my 10th 14er. descended past a sign that read, 'do not descend' heinous scree, but shorter.
Ryan Kowalski - Apr 19, 2004 5:25 pm
Route Climbed: from Redcloud Date Climbed: October 11, 2003A bit anticlimactic really. Sunshine does offer some good views though. Highly recommended: Sundog! It's a great little peak to the NW with some short scrambling and a good descent route
bc44caesar - Feb 16, 2004 12:24 pm Date Climbed: Feb 14, 2004
Multiple29 Apr 2006 - Northwest Face/Northeast Face
Biked from the road closure to the trailhead, hiked to the south fork of silver creek, then skinned up the northwest face. Reached the summit after around 6hrs (the bicycle approach took about 1.5hrs of this). Skied down the NE face on nice snow to about 11,800' then skinned back up to the Redcloud/Sunshine connecting ridge. Skied off Redcloud as well and back to the cars at 4:00pm, 11.5 hr day. With B. Kalet
8 Aug 2004 - Ridge Traverse from Redcloud
Did the ridge traverse from Redcloud...second summit of Sunshine this year...looked a lot different than it did in winter!!
14 Feb 2004 - East Ridge
Solo winter ascent of Sunshine's East Ridge. Exceedingly tedious...reached summit after 6hrs 25min...round trip time 8hrs 40min.
flyinghighpete - Oct 21, 2003 4:47 pm
Route Climbed: Silver Creek Date Climbed: October 18, 2003I did this mountain after climbing Redcloud. It was 60 degrees and not a single cloud in the sky in October! We then went down the scree slope which was awesome!
Steven Cross - Sep 29, 2003 3:55 pm
Route Climbed: Silver Creek, Southfork-descent route. Date Climbed: September, 26, 2003After reaching Redcloud we went on to do Sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky this day. This was the first time I have done two 14ers in one day.
The descent route was not hard to find, there is a nice climbers trail down it. after the first switchback it heads straight down the scree slope and there was times I was rock skiing. I just create a rock slide and go with it and use my pole to slow my ascent if I go too fast. It was very fun and we lost elevation very fast. I highly recommend this route if you have a pole or hiking stick. Nothing really scary, just a good fast descent.
mtnhiker13 - Sep 10, 2003 8:47 am
Route Climbed: Mill Creek Date Climbed: 08/31/2003We took a very steep approach to Sunshine from Mill Creek. Very steep. I wasn't having the greatest day so it was a struggle but we made it to the top pretty quickly. Once on top we made the traverse over to Redcloud. People we met were very confused when they saw us returning over to Sunshine for our descent. A very nice day.
big_g - Aug 16, 2003 10:07 pm Date Climbed: Aug 14, 2003
Route Climbed: Redcloud TraverseEasy traverse from Redcloud. Sat a while on the ridge and enjoyed the view, ate, and relaxed. It started clouding up but never did rain.
charms - Aug 5, 2003 8:44 pm
Route Climbed: Ridge over "Sun Dog" Date Climbed: August 1, 2003My wife and I bushwacked our way up to the ridge that leads to "Sun Dog" from the trail were South Silver Creek feeds Silver Creek. We climbed the ridge and scrambled onto "Sun Dog". We crossed over the ridge and descended into the basin below Sunshine. We climbed the rock glacier on the west side of the Sunshine/Redcloud saddle and then followed the trail to the summit of Sunshine. We then descended back down into South Silver Creek and followed the trail down.
Matt Mahoney - Jul 27, 2003 10:41 pm
Route Climbed: Silver Creek Date Climbed: July 17, 2003Climbed with Redcloud
mmoerk - Jul 13, 2003 12:08 am
Route Climbed: North ridge from Redcloud Date Climbed: July 5, 2003Climbed up Redcloud via the standard route, then traversed over the easy ridge to Sunshine. Beautiful day. To make things interesting, I descended to the west, and followed the northwest ridge over Sundog for my descent. Interesting route, and a good way to lose the crowds.
RyanS - Jun 9, 2003 11:19 am
Route Climbed: Mills Creek Date Climbed: May 24, 2003A fun route up Sunshine, if you don't mind the steepness! My trip report is available here.