Sangre de Cristo Mountains > Crestone Needle > Climber's LogCrestone Needle Climber's Log
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[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
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| Mick Leach | Route Climbed: Ellingwood Arete Date Climbed: 13 July 2002  | |
| Wish there was another choice for "Did you reach the summit?" --- Barely :). Enjoyed a great 21-hour epic (tent to tent) up the Ellingwood Arete. Had the entire mountain to ourselves on a gorgeous Saturday that (fortunately) saw no typical afternoon thunderstorms. Descent is ambiguous at best and downright deceitful at worst. Lots of off-route and poor descent trail choices left us downclimbing and hiking the most treachorous of terrain back to camp in the dark - battered, bruised and dehydrated. I'd do it again in a heartbeat! | ||
| Posted Jul 15, 2002 9:51 am | ||
| Matt Mahoney | Route Climbed: Cottonwood creek trail - south face Date Climbed: Aug. 13 2001 | |
| Awesome climb. Trail is very rough, got off route and did a lot of steep bouldering even before treeline. At the summit I watched 2 guys come up the class 4 crux of the traverse and tried to downclimb it just to get a look. Right then it started hailing and there was St. Elmo's fire on the summit. I got off route in the descent (very bad) and ended up descending too soon down the middle of a steep, exposed waterfall mixed with ice and with lightning all around. The storm passed down by Cottonwood Lake but I was dead tired from climbing every day for 2 weeks and didn't even think about climbing the Peak. It was 10 hours car to car. | |
| Posted May 17, 2002 10:58 am | ||
| jwclimbs | Route Climbed: Peak-to-Needle Traverse Date Climbed: 7.29.01 | |
| As posted in my mountain log book, "Sweet-Ass-Sweet!" 8 hrs. from tent to tent. We camped along a gorgeous section of the South Colony Creek just below lower South Colony Lake. The weather could not have been nicer. My only regret was that I didn't tag Humbolt Pk. while I was there. That's alright though, I'll be back for Ellingwoods Arete anyhow. | |
| Posted Feb 17, 2002 10:30 pm | ||
| miztflip | Route Climbed: South Face from South Colony Date Climbed: April ?, 1999 | |
| This was my second ever alpine ice and snow climb. What a great climb. Crestone Peak and Needle are two of my favorite Colorado climbs. | |
| Posted Aug 8, 2001 2:47 pm | ||
| climbcolorado | Route Climbed: South Face | |
| This some of the best 3rd class climbing in the state of Colorado! I have climbed this route twice and have learned that good route finding makes it easy. Take your time and look for cairns! | |
| Posted Jul 17, 2001 10:13 am | ||
| jratk | Route Climbed: Ellingwood Arete Date Climbed: July 9, 2001 | |
| Of all the 14ers I've climbed, this is definately my favorite. It was my 2nd time to the S. Colony Lakes and it was even more beautiful than I remember. I went with my buddy Sean and former high school teacher Mr. Spengler. We took Sean's K-5 Blazer (a beast of a vehicle) up the rough road (gets worse every time) and then hiked 2 miles to the upper lake. We bivyed and of course it rained. Got up at 3:30 and were climbing by 4. This was Sean and I's first time up but Mr. Spengler's 11th so route finding was very easy. I enjoyed the 3rd and 4th class scrambling up the ledges but the real joy were the last 3 roped pitches. Very solid rock and good protection. We summited the Needle in 6 hours but couldn't continue to the Peak because of weather so were forced to descend the standard route. 4 hours down. Excellent climb, recommended. | |
| Posted Jul 17, 2001 12:01 am | ||
| theplugger | Route Climbed: Classic South Face from Lower South Colony Lake Date Climbed: 08-01-92 | |
| As mentioned in the overview, this was indeed one of the most fun and my most favorite fourteener! My husband, J, and I camped at Lower S Colony Lake and climbed it the next day. Steep, and enough exposure to be exciting, but great rock that is bombproof. | |
| Posted Jul 16, 2001 6:11 pm | ||
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