Crestone Needle Climber's Log : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost

Crestone Needle Climber's Log

matthewp - Aug 21, 2011 3:45 pm

Yeah buddy!

Favorite climb so far by far. Such a fun day on the mountain!

triyoda - Jul 17, 2011 10:54 pm Date Climbed: Jun 21, 2011

Challenging

Partner bailed. Went solo, nobody else on the route. Great summit, but I was nervous about descending and did not stay long.

zoomloco - Jul 16, 2011 4:34 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2009

ellingwood arete direct to traverse

Ellingwood route is good if you do most of it unroped. traverse to peak is mostly not on the ceast, mostly 2nd class, and not interesting except for the initial descent. notes on all 4 classic traverses here: http://zoomloco.xanga.com/732717261/purple-mountain-majesties/

Livetronica - Jun 8, 2011 12:11 am Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2001

epic!!!

solo journey starting from the unusual town of crestone

my 4th 14er

big horn sheep, marmots and pikas galore

the Blood of Christ wilderness is very, very special

Stegosaurus - May 1, 2011 4:51 pm Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2010

Defining independence day

Some solos in the Sangres for Independence Day: Crestone Needle via Southface, followed by Broken Hand Peak via North ridge/West slopes, followed by Humboldt Peak via typical West ridge in one long day. Drove over from Rye and left the truck at the South Colony Lakes trailhead around 4:30 am, first one on the Needle summit at 8:00 am sharp, Broken Hand summit at 10:15 am, rested at upper South Colony Lake for lunch hour (beautiful trout visible in the rapids), Humboldt Peak summit around 3:30 pm, back at the truck at 6:00 pm and back in Rye in time for dinner. Beautiful day, great rock, but felt like I had been run over by a train the next morning. Highly recommend.

Jeremy Hakes - Apr 18, 2011 2:09 pm Date Climbed: May 26, 2002

Great peak

One of the best.

centrifuge - Jan 12, 2011 10:52 pm Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2007

second peak

this weekend, and lots of fun

Panthera uncia - Dec 22, 2010 6:02 pm Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2010

Standard from the TH

Got up early to climb this one from the trailhead in one push. Saw some incredible meteor action before the sun came up. Fun climb indeed!

Matt Miller - Dec 11, 2010 1:35 pm Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2008

Rough ride

The worst part of the entire journey was the ride into the trailhead. Climbed the Needle with my incredible wife Leah and then headed over to the Peak alone. Great day!

Flyingclimber - Oct 5, 2010 8:38 pm

3 in one almost four

Crestone Needle, Peak, and Humbolt

BLong - Sep 4, 2010 10:38 am Date Climbed: Aug 28, 2010

Ellingwood Arete

Great trip up the fun & exposed Ellingwood Arete route

metal4lyf - Aug 16, 2010 11:10 am Date Climbed: Aug 14, 2010

Peak-to-Needle

We took our time route-finding on a sunny day and completed the traverse in 3 hours with no problems. Trip reports and route descriptions are invaluable. Amazing traverse!

Sarah Simon - Aug 15, 2010 10:08 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2010

Standard Route / South Face Gullies

We headed to S. Colony Lakes to attempt the Ellingwood Arete, but the weather did not look promising, so we opted for the standard route, instead. Honestly, as fantastic as the Arete would have been, I have zero regrets. This standard route was (mostly) solid and fun. The worst part, in my mind, was that dreadful ascent of Broken Hand Pass, especially since the monsoons caused the massive rockfall. Dynamite day, fantastic peak.

belexes - Aug 2, 2010 2:56 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2010

South Colony/South Gully

I climbed the Needle with my hiking buddy, Sandy. The original goal was Crestone Peak, but I neglected to bring my Roach 14ers book with me, so we wandered around looking for the route to the Peak before giving up on that and going up the Needle instead. We were not disappointed. It was good to get in some class 3 scrambling. The views were great, and though the weather was pretty lousy the previous days, it was fine when we were up there. Unfortunately, we learned later that a couple from Texas died in a fall from the Needle a few days prior. Custer County SAR sent in helicopters to Upper Colony Lake to recover the bodies, just as we were breaking camp at Lower Colony Lake after the climb.

Alex Wood - Jul 31, 2010 12:25 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2010

Beautiful Summit

We had planned on doing the traverse (Needle to Peak). We had brought rope and basic rock gear, but we got a little later of a start then we had planned (left South Colony at 6). I had picked up a bug from a few days ago and it got worse on the ascent. That and the weather forced us opt out on the traverse. The Needle was an amazing summit! The approach was incredible! 14er number 18!