Peak Condition Update | Crestone Peak

Details
Broken Hand Pass and the Red Gully still hold enough snow that an ice axe and crampons areally worth the weight. The lower part of the Gully is snow free but there is a lot of water flowing. The ledges above the Gully are dry. Others reported no snow on the traverse and the standard route for the Needle is snow free once past Broken Hand. The mosquitos are not too bad...

Comments or Questions

CoHi591	Heading up Tues 7/3/2016 6:49pm Do you think we'll be okay with an ice axe and microspikes, or do you think we definitely need to use crampons? We are going up the peak and then attempting the traverse
danomite19	RE: Heading up Tues 7/3/2016 9:34pm I too hiked Crestone Peak this weekend and agree that an ice axe is needed. It is a long and slow trek up the red gully which is filled with snow all the way to the top. I used microspikes instead of crampons and did just fine, but crampons certainly would have been nice. Give yourself plenty of time to make it up Crestone Peak as it is slow grind to the summit in the gully with all the snow.
youngk2844	Microspikes 7/4/2016 8:47pm I was using spikes and an axe. I was thinking crampons would have been better in the red gully. Good luck with your climb.
zinj	NW couloir? 7/5/2016 7:06am Did you look down? How much more snow in that couloir?
youngk2844	NW Couloir 7/5/2016 7:18am Zinj, sorry but I didn't get a good look at the NW Couloir. There were a lot of low clouds when I was on top.