Crestone Peak Trip Report 10/02/2014

Peak(s):	Crestone Peak - 14,299 feet
Date Posted:	10/02/2014
Date Climbed:	09/26/2014
Author:	ChrisM
Additional Members:	eichsttl

The Flirtatious Peak
I've been trying to summit the Crestones for several years and this was finally the year. Having summited the Needle earlier this summer, the Peak finally had my full attention. I planned to climb it from the Cottonwood Creek side of the mountain range and had been looking for a climbing partner to go with me. Tony, I suspect, unknowingly agreed to accompany me. He was even kind enough to drive. He picked me up at 9am on Thursday and we headed for the Trailhead located near Crestone. Very close to the TH for Kit Carson/Challenger. The road is gravel but fairly smooth. Parking is limited near a water tank. Currently, there are no restrictions by the land owners. We arrived around 1:30pm, got our gear together, and headed up the trail. I had been on this trail two times in the past year and it hadn't changed much. The trail seems deceptively normal for the first couple of miles and then the downfall begins to increase to a point it is extremely difficult to stay on trail. The Forest Service has noted an increase in usage and hired a crew to cut passage through many of the fallen trees, but many just serve to block hikers and make them go around. Sometimes, you have to crawl underneath them. The boiler plate rock was easy and exciting. I never thought I would be one to say, "hey, this looks like fun!" But, it was. Make sure your footwear stays dry to get the most friction possible. Cairns mark the route, but every once and awhile, you need to scope the terrain to find the best way up. Once past the rock, camp is not far away. Boiler plate rock There are 3 places to camp that are reasonably level, with the first at 10,000, second at 11,400 and third at 11,800. There was a fire pit and a small tent at the first site, otherwise, we might not have thought of it as a camping spot since it was quite far from the accessible peaks. The second one is in front of the first headwall about 4.6 miles up the trail and 1.6 miles from the summit. After climbing over several sections of boiler plate rocks and a sweeping turn to the left, this camp is nestled between two streams and right next to the path that goes over the first headwall. The third spot is located in a meadow area within plain view of the red gully. There are no trees and two headwalls to ascend to get there gaining about � mile and 400 feet. Pretty sure that carrying a full pack up to the higher site (and down) would not be worth the effort, so we camped at site 2 once we found it. We were hiking along the trail, when we discovered that we were no longer on the route. According to the GPS, we were about 100 yds past where we should have turned left or north. Figuring this out, we back tracked to where the turn was and quickly found the campsite. We arrived around 5:30p and set up camp doing all the necessary site stuff plus preparing for a less than alpine start the next morning. While setting up camp, a couple of guys came into camp and began sharing their day with us. Oddly enough, they were the campers in the first campsite and they also missed the left turn, but didn't realize it until much later. They ended up approaching Cottonwood Lake from the southeast. Realizing where they were, they headed over to the red gully as if they had come down BHP. Rightly so, they asked for directions back to their camp which we were happy to provide. They must be pretty fast to cover that much ground in one day. After they left, we focused on dinner. We talked about the plan for the climbing day and turned in. With sunset around 7:30p and sunrise at 6:50a, one would think sleep time would be plentiful. Our campsite had plenty of room and water was convenient. Photo by Tony The unseasonably warm weather was a double edged sword. Great for hiking, not so for sleeping, especially having planned for a chilly night in a 25 degree bag. I guess I would rather have it the way it turned out than the other way around. Somewhere in those 11 hours, we imagined we got a great night's sleep, although I couldn't distinguish between sleep and consciousness. We awoke to grayness so the sun was about to throw some rays our way. We thought we would start at day break but it broke before we started. The sky was clear and rain had a 20% chance at some point in the day, but on our hike in, it was supposed to rain and didn't so we were thinking this could be a bluebird day. The sketchy path starts in this area and really isn't as steep as it looks. Can't get photo oriented correctly! Taken by Tony from camp, the first headwall can be seen in the distance. Stay left. The batteries were dead in my GPS and I do carry spares, but if they aren't readily accessible, what good is bringing them? Tony's GPS was up and running and we had two tracks from friends who had climbed this route before so we were confident we could make it to the red gully without too much navigation trouble. I would say the route to the red gully was a little arduous, but then what would I call the red gully? Other than the steep, rocky, sketchy, willow clogged route, it was great. There is a big tree to the left of the waterfall base which is hiding the secret escalator. The above photo shows the last headwall that must be climbed. There is a route just to the left of the waterfall base and goes up between the rocks and the wall. You can't miss it... A terrain feature worth mentioning is what I would call the class 3 table. A rock, looking like a large table top must be circumnavigated using the "table" as a hand hold and inching around to the opposite side. With a daypack, it isn't so bad, but I imagine a full pack would provide some balancing opportunities. There is a lot of air on one side of the table. The table that was just a little too wide for my outstretched arms. Taken in late Jun, this shows the 3rd campsite in the low center (light brown area) of the photo. The red gully is clearly visible, but the entrance is off to the right, then traverse left, then right (up) 1400' We found the entrance to the red gully off to the right, went up a ways, and turned left, traversing across to the gully. Thinking that we no longer needed out trekking poles, we buried the handles under enough rocks to discourage sweat seeking varmints and marked the location on the GPS. Two thoughts were born out of this decision. First, we could have used the trekking poles for stability in the slanted sea of scree. Second, we had an exit point from the gully. It would have been handier if we had marked a waypoint and kept our poles. We started up the gully knowing that we would need to stay away from wet smooth rock and probably have to cross it several times to utilize the most advantageous routes going up. Tony did a great job leading us up the gully. Once in a while, I would get an independent streak in me, and alter the route Tony chose. One time this didn't work out and it was still early in the game. I painted myself into a corner and had to cross about 10' of smooth sloping rock, and of course, it sloped into an abyss or so it looked like to me. Luckily, there were surface imperfections that I could plant my feet and scurry across. After that, I didn't wander very far from Tony's route. There were three headwalls that could not be tackled head on and had to be outflanked. We found the route to have more than it's share of class 4 moves. Maybe we weren't following the prescribed class 3 way, but our analysis desired the safest route. We didn't favor one side or the other. The left going up seemed good, but when going around headwalls, the right side seemed to have better routes. I have to say that the climber has to make those decisions for themselves. What is easier for one climber might be harder for another. Chris in the never ending red gully. Photo by Tony. A good look down from whence we came. Photo by Tony Tony is blazing the route. The final headwall was ominous appearing at the base of the gully and didn't get any better close up. The only way up we could see was the right side. Now, where, in that zone, you go up is definitely up for discussion. About this time, what appeared to be a solo climber, zoomed by us with great skill and grace. Didn't even get his name! We moved from middle to right and back again, before reaching the saddle. Much to my amazement, there was a clearly defined trail a few feet away. Where did that come from? Anyway, now we are looking up at the last section to tackle. We didn't see the ledges or whatever we were supposed to climb on. Oh, they're to the left. Great view of the ledges on the left where the final pitch begins. Photo by Tony. We have to pick which ledge to start on. Having done that, we zig zagged our way up. Leaning into the mountain and having great hand holds was key to getting up and down this area. On a note for the entire climb, there were solid handholds throughout. Still, we tested each and every one. If you grab an already plainly loose rock (which is possible) or one that is not plainly loose (you make it loose), you need a quick backup plan! When you run out of ledges, it's scramble time. Most of the summit. My dining room table is bigger. Once out of ledges, we scrambled to the tiny little summit on a bluebird day. It was 11:20am. We admired the views, the calmness of the summit and pondered the way down for 15 min. Had a little snack and some water and off we went. On our way down the ledges, we ran into the guy who passed us and he has a buddy with him. The 2nd guy, clearly the slower of the two, said he just came from Austin and they were going to do the traverse. My eyes went so wide, I thought the eyeballs were going to fall out of their sockets. But, hey, to each his own, more power to them....We carefully down climbed the gully with much the same zig zagging that we did on the way up. I was regretting not having my trekking pole. We made it back to camp at 3pm, packed, and started back to the trailhead at 3:30 arriving there at 6pm. Our times were 4.5 up and 3.5 down from camp. We really thought that we would take longer to go down than up, but not the case here. The total distance was about 12.4 miles roundtrip and a 5900' elevation gain. I analyzed the two approaches for this mountain and saw pluses and minuses to both routes. Going up and over, Broken Hand Pass, twice, has not appealed to me. I actually did it on my first real attempt of the "Peak" when a friend of mine became ill at the base of the red gully and I brought him back to camp in South Colony Lakes. The debate will most likely continue and I still can't definitely say which way is better. Summit day is easier from camp on the west side, but the hike in is tough while the east side is more straightforward, but likes to give up hard earned elevation. The discussion goes on...For me, I finally finished the Sangre de Cristo 14ers. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

The Flirtatious Peak

I've been trying to summit the Crestones for several years and this was finally the year. Having summited the Needle earlier this summer, the Peak finally had my full attention. I planned to climb it from the Cottonwood Creek side of the mountain range and had been looking for a climbing partner to go with me. Tony, I suspect, unknowingly agreed to accompany me. He was even kind enough to drive.

He picked me up at 9am on Thursday and we headed for the Trailhead located near Crestone. Very close to the TH for Kit Carson/Challenger. The road is gravel but fairly smooth. Parking is limited near a water tank. Currently, there are no restrictions by the land owners. We arrived around 1:30pm, got our gear together, and headed up the trail. I had been on this trail two times in the past year and it hadn't changed much. The trail seems deceptively normal for the first couple of miles and then the downfall begins to increase to a point it is extremely difficult to stay on trail. The Forest Service has noted an increase in usage and hired a crew to cut passage through many of the fallen trees, but many just serve to block hikers and make them go around. Sometimes, you have to crawl underneath them.

The boiler plate rock was easy and exciting. I never thought I would be one to say, "hey, this looks like fun!" But, it was. Make sure your footwear stays dry to get the most friction possible. Cairns mark the route, but every once and awhile, you need to scope the terrain to find the best way up. Once past the rock, camp is not far away.

There are 3 places to camp that are reasonably level, with the first at 10,000, second at 11,400 and third at 11,800. There was a fire pit and a small tent at the first site, otherwise, we might not have thought of it as a camping spot since it was quite far from the accessible peaks. The second one is in front of the first headwall about 4.6 miles up the trail and 1.6 miles from the summit. After climbing over several sections of boiler plate rocks and a sweeping turn to the left, this camp is nestled between two streams and right next to the path that goes over the first headwall. The third spot is located in a meadow area within plain view of the red gully. There are no trees and two headwalls to ascend to get there gaining about � mile and 400 feet. Pretty sure that carrying a full pack up to the higher site (and down) would not be worth the effort, so we camped at site 2 once we found it. We were hiking along the trail, when we discovered that we were no longer on the route. According to the GPS, we were about 100 yds past where we should have turned left or north. Figuring this out, we back tracked to where the turn was and quickly found the campsite. We arrived around 5:30p and set up camp doing all the necessary site stuff plus preparing for a less than alpine start the next morning. While setting up camp, a couple of guys came into camp and began sharing their day with us. Oddly enough, they were the campers in the first campsite and they also missed the left turn, but didn't realize it until much later. They ended up approaching Cottonwood Lake from the southeast. Realizing where they were, they headed over to the red gully as if they had come down BHP. Rightly so, they asked for directions back to their camp which we were happy to provide. They must be pretty fast to cover that much ground in one day. After they left, we focused on dinner. We talked about the plan for the climbing day and turned in. With sunset around 7:30p and sunrise at 6:50a, one would think sleep time would be plentiful.

Our campsite had plenty of room and water was convenient. Photo by Tony

The unseasonably warm weather was a double edged sword. Great for hiking, not so for sleeping, especially having planned for a chilly night in a 25 degree bag. I guess I would rather have it the way it turned out than the other way around. Somewhere in those 11 hours, we imagined we got a great night's sleep, although I couldn't distinguish between sleep and consciousness. We awoke to grayness so the sun was about to throw some rays our way. We thought we would start at day break but it broke before we started. The sky was clear and rain had a 20% chance at some point in the day, but on our hike in, it was supposed to rain and didn't so we were thinking this could be a bluebird day.

The sketchy path starts in this area and really isn't as steep as it looks. Can't get photo oriented correctly!

Taken by Tony from camp, the first headwall can be seen in the distance. Stay left.

The batteries were dead in my GPS and I do carry spares, but if they aren't readily accessible, what good is bringing them? Tony's GPS was up and running and we had two tracks from friends who had climbed this route before so we were confident we could make it to the red gully without too much navigation trouble. I would say the route to the red gully was a little arduous, but then what would I call the red gully? Other than the steep, rocky, sketchy, willow clogged route, it was great.

There is a big tree to the left of the waterfall base which is hiding the secret escalator.

The above photo shows the last headwall that must be climbed. There is a route just to the left of the waterfall base and goes up between the rocks and the wall. You can't miss it...

A terrain feature worth mentioning is what I would call the class 3 table. A rock, looking like a large table top must be circumnavigated using the "table" as a hand hold and inching around to the opposite side. With a daypack, it isn't so bad, but I imagine a full pack would provide some balancing opportunities. There is a lot of air on one side of the table.

The table that was just a little too wide for my outstretched arms.

Taken in late Jun, this shows the 3rd campsite in the low center (light brown area) of the photo.

The red gully is clearly visible, but the entrance is off to the right, then traverse left, then right (up) 1400'

We found the entrance to the red gully off to the right, went up a ways, and turned left, traversing across to the gully. Thinking that we no longer needed out trekking poles, we buried the handles under enough rocks to discourage sweat seeking varmints and marked the location on the GPS. Two thoughts were born out of this decision. First, we could have used the trekking poles for stability in the slanted sea of scree. Second, we had an exit point from the gully. It would have been handier if we had marked a waypoint and kept our poles.

We started up the gully knowing that we would need to stay away from wet smooth rock and probably have to cross it several times to utilize the most advantageous routes going up. Tony did a great job leading us up the gully. Once in a while, I would get an independent streak in me, and alter the route Tony chose. One time this didn't work out and it was still early in the game. I painted myself into a corner and had to cross about 10' of smooth sloping rock, and of course, it sloped into an abyss or so it looked like to me. Luckily, there were surface imperfections that I could plant my feet and scurry across. After that, I didn't wander very far from Tony's route. There were three headwalls that could not be tackled head on and had to be outflanked. We found the route to have more than it's share of class 4 moves. Maybe we weren't following the prescribed class 3 way, but our analysis desired the safest route. We didn't favor one side or the other. The left going up seemed good, but when going around headwalls, the right side seemed to have better routes. I have to say that the climber has to make those decisions for themselves. What is easier for one climber might be harder for another.

Chris in the never ending red gully. Photo by Tony.

A good look down from whence we came. Photo by Tony

The final headwall was ominous appearing at the base of the gully and didn't get any better close up. The only way up we could see was the right side. Now, where, in that zone, you go up is definitely up for discussion. About this time, what appeared to be a solo climber, zoomed by us with great skill and grace. Didn't even get his name! We moved from middle to right and back again, before reaching the saddle. Much to my amazement, there was a clearly defined trail a few feet away. Where did that come from? Anyway, now we are looking up at the last section to tackle. We didn't see the ledges or whatever we were supposed to climb on. Oh, they're to the left.

Great view of the ledges on the left where the final pitch begins. Photo by Tony.

We have to pick which ledge to start on. Having done that, we zig zagged our way up. Leaning into the mountain and having great hand holds was key to getting up and down this area. On a note for the entire climb, there were solid handholds throughout. Still, we tested each and every one. If you grab an already plainly loose rock (which is possible) or one that is not plainly loose (you make it loose), you need a quick backup plan!

When you run out of ledges, it's scramble time.

Most of the summit. My dining room table is bigger.

Once out of ledges, we scrambled to the tiny little summit on a bluebird day. It was 11:20am.
We admired the views, the calmness of the summit and pondered the way down for 15 min. Had a little snack and some water and off we went. On our way down the ledges, we ran into the guy who passed us and he has a buddy with him. The 2nd guy, clearly the slower of the two, said he just came from Austin and they were going to do the traverse. My eyes went so wide, I thought the eyeballs were going to fall out of their sockets. But, hey, to each his own, more power to them....We carefully down climbed the gully with much the same zig zagging that we did on the way up. I was regretting not having my trekking pole. We made it back to camp at 3pm, packed, and started back to the trailhead at 3:30 arriving there at 6pm.

Our times were 4.5 up and 3.5 down from camp. We really thought that we would take longer to go down than up, but not the case here. The total distance was about 12.4 miles roundtrip and a 5900' elevation gain. I analyzed the two approaches for this mountain and saw pluses and minuses to both routes. Going up and over, Broken Hand Pass, twice, has not appealed to me. I actually did it on my first real attempt of the "Peak" when a friend of mine became ill at the base of the red gully and I brought him back to camp in South Colony Lakes. The debate will most likely continue and I still can't definitely say which way is better. Summit day is easier from camp on the west side, but the hike in is tough while the east side is more straightforward, but likes to give up hard earned elevation. The discussion goes on...For me, I finally finished the Sangre de Cristo 14ers.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

globreal

Congrats!
10/7/2014 2:13pm

Way to go Chris. I know you've been wanting to get this peak for a while. Nice TR.

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