zinj wrote:
Huzzah, my good man! I see you've provided me with an opportunity to profess my ignorance (and not by accident this time). When you refer to "the traverse", do you describe the Crestone Needle - Crestone Peak combo? And would "backwards" refer to doing the Needle first and then moving North?
Are we presuming Andrew doesn't want to drag a rope all over the Crestones just to rappel the Needle?
The traverse is usually considered 'easier' if done from Peak to Needle (West to East) as you then upclimb the more difficult section of Class4. A strong climber can easily downcilmb the class4 section though if going Needle to Peak as is being suggested as a possible alternative, 99% chance he doesn't take a rope. The advantage would be he could do the route in the daylight where there is a lot of route finding, but if he's really comfortable with the traverse doing it at night wouldn't be terrible, if I recall Homie did it in the dark in the snow/thunderstorm. All preference and weighing the pros/cons, interested to see his choice in a few hours.
thebeave7 wrote: if I recall Homie did it in the dark in the snow/thunderstorm. All preference and weighing the pros/cons, interested to see his choice in a few hours.
Eric
My recollection is that Homie and his partner sat below the final pitch hoping to wait out the storm but decided to go anyway before it got dark in order to have some light left for the down climb off the Needle.
"Wilderness settles peace on the soul because it needs no help. It is beyond human contrivance." -- E.O. Wilson
Bill Wright's account of "The Crestones Story" in Homie's blog was one of the most memorable blog postings I have ever read! http://homieprater.blogspot.com/2012/08 ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
BAD DAD budgeted 14:45 for the Crestones and 12:15 for the Blancas (incl Lindsey)
If he's up against the wall on time, wouldn't he hit LB-Blanca-Ellingwood-Lindsey and give himself a better shot at making the Culebra drop?
"Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land." - John Wesley Powell, 1883
I don't understand doing the whole thing from the south colony trailhead. First of all, is it really any faster? And then, based on his last position he wouldn't even make it to the trailhead until 1pm.
"I don't think about the past, and the future is a mystery. Only the present matters."
jdorje wrote:I don't understand doing the whole thing from the south colony trailhead. First of all, is it really any faster? And then, based on his last position he wouldn't even make it to the trailhead until 1pm.
I haven't looked at the schedule, but I can see some logic there.
First, it gives some time for resting before a big day. Second, it provides the best way to get the Crestone Traverse done during daylight. From there it's easy enough to head down and do Humboldt (via Bears Playground) and then head back through Bears Playground to do KC and Challenger, which would allow him to end up on the valley side of the Sangres for a faster trip to Culebra.
Not saying that's WHY this was chosen, just some possibilities.
But for now we are young, let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see.
jdorje wrote:I don't understand doing the whole thing from the south colony trailhead. First of all, is it really any faster? And then, based on his last position he wouldn't even make it to the trailhead until 1pm.
I don't get it either. [EDIT: other than picking your poison so to try to get daylight on the nastiest bit of the Crestones] It forces more backtracking than doing the Blancas.
San Luis --> Blancas --> Culebra --> Crestones --> Pikes is less backtracking than
San Luis --> Crestones--> Culebra --> Blancas --> Pikes
"Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land." - John Wesley Powell, 1883
I don't see Bad Dad making Culebra by 6:00 am tomorrow. Does he do Blanca group instead?
Culebra tickets for 6/20 and 6/21 only, correct? That's gonna be a problem.
"Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land." - John Wesley Powell, 1883
zinj wrote:Sunshine/Redcloud reports of trail conditions from the last 6 days look promising for Andrew.
Did he indicate his intended route? Reports suggest some snow remains in the upper Basin (and I would imagine even more so in the South Fork drainage off Sunshine).
Might shake out where he can get a mostly snow-free ascent and MAYBE pick a glissade line for part of the descent to make up some time.
His plan was to ascend via the South Silver Creek route and then glissade down closer to Redcloud. SJ Ron
