Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

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thurs
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Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

Post by thurs »

Hello all,

I'm going to be up in upper Spanish Creek in a few days to the Prow on Kit Carson, and I figured I might as well finish off the 14ers while I'm up there (barring San Luis tomorrow). I'd climb the N Buttress of Crestone Peak but I'm not sure about the best way to get down -- the NW Couloir seems like a decent option but I'm pretty adverse to rubble-filled gulleys and have no problem scrambling harder, more exposed terrain to get back down. However I've heard mixed things about the level of nastiness and rockfall hazard of the couloir when it's dry. Any thoughts? Other than that I am aware of how it cliffs out near the bottom. Entirely just concerned with exposure to rockfall.
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Kiefer
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Re: Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

Post by Kiefer »

thurs wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:46 am Hello all,

I'm going to be up in upper Spanish Creek in a few days to the Prow on Kit Carson, and I figured I might as well finish off the 14ers while I'm up there (barring San Luis tomorrow). I'd climb the N Buttress of Crestone Peak but I'm not sure about the best way to get down -- the NW Couloir seems like a decent option but I'm pretty adverse to rubble-filled gulleys and have no problem scrambling harder, more exposed terrain to get back down. However I've heard mixed things about the level of nastiness and rockfall hazard of the couloir when it's dry. Any thoughts? Other than that I am aware of how it cliffs out near the bottom. Entirely just concerned with exposure to rockfall.
When I first did the Peak, I was still a newbie. As I was just topping out, I spied two people descending that gully. I knew nothing about it back then.
After spending some time on the summit, I descended back to the saddle and looked down it. The two people were gone. So I decided to descend it too.
I remember it being exactly as you said, loose, lots of rubble with some rather large boulders.
There was a carirn marking the exit to the ledges (to Bears Playground) but that was YEARS ago.
For a rubble-strewn gully, 'that newbie' seemed to get down it just fine.
You'll be fine. Just expect loose rock
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thurs
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Re: Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

Post by thurs »

Kiefer wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:11 am ...
Thank you for the perspective. I am certainly no stranger to blasting down some long, loose, steep gullies, just trying to get a feel for if it's N Slopes El Diente style (I would go up and down the N Buttress 100 times before setting foot in that gulley again) or nothing too out of the ordinary for Colorado choss.
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Re: Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

Post by justiner »

I think would would complicate matters is if the couloir sports any hard snow/ice. Then the scrambling gets a little difficult. This time of year, I bet that's not going to be a problem. Last time I was there, I forgot you had to cross out of the gully before it bottomed out to get on the Bear's Playground. There's a big ol' cairn to mark where that is,
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Re: Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

Post by thurs »

justiner wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 12:03 pm ...
Thanks. We should have a good view of it from Kit C the day before. With temps and precipitation being as they've been, only worried about if they manage to pick up a little bit of something with the weak cold fronts today/tomorrow, otherwise not expecting to encounter anything like that.
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Re: Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

Post by Jorts »

Went up it back in July. The scrambling was more solid than I expected. The entrance was a little tricky site unseen. There was no cairn when I was there. I compared what I was looking at at the base to a photo I had taken earlier the same day from Obstruction across the Bears Playground. If downclimbing, maybe it'll be easier.

Here's a video from the base:

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Re: Crestone Peak NW Couloir - Shooting Gallery?

Post by rijaca »

Long ago, I descended the NW couloir two different times. Long steep gully, more slabby than loose talus. Still plenty of loose stuff. Not a place to be if someone is above you.

Snow/ice would complicate things but not expected this time of year.
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