14ers.com

How difficult is the Crestone Peak South Face? How does it compare to the Keyhole Route for Longs Peak? 14ers.com, where I’m putting this post, says the Crestone Peak South Face is Class 3 and the same for the three routes up Longs Peak, including the Keyhole route. The paragraph under “Description” at the All Trails page for “Crestone Peak Trail” here, https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colo ... peak-trail, says there are sections of “technical scrambling.” Does this mean climbers should use ropes or other special climbing equipment? The trail at the All Trails link seems to be the same as the Crestone Peak South Face here, https://www.14ers.com/route.php?route=cpea2. Which routes have the 4s? The discussion here, https://14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58231, says technical scrambling is redundant and/or unclear and, thus, poor usage. Tom Birenbaum in the discussion at All Trails says there are a couple easy 4s depending on the route. Ben Walters, in the same discussion, says his group felt Crestone Peak South Face to be more in line with a class 4 “move.” I’m not sure what he meant by a move. He made his post July 14, so maybe it was the seasonal snow that made it class 4 to his group. They didn’t summit it. Do any of you think Crestone Peak South Face should be Class 4? The picture here, https://www.14ers.com/routes/cpea2/medi ... 2210220600, looks like a long steep section, though it’s hard to be sure in 2 dimensions. Is it too early in the year to do the Crestone Peak South Face? Has anyone climbed it this year? What were the conditions? I have done the Keyhole Route and 15 or 20 other, easier 13er and 14er climbs and difficult 12ers, all at least 4 miles shorter than the Keyhole Route. The Keyhole Route might be one of the two or three climbs I’ve done that were the steepest and had the most scrambling, maybe the steepest and most scrambling. Sawtooth Peak in California, which I’ve done, was comparable in these ways, though with a much shorter gradual climb.

Personally, I feel the Crestone Peak South Face route is easier than the keyhole route. I haven't been up it this year but have been up it a handful of times. I would recommend giving it a try with a good weather forecast, and being willing to turn around if there are difficulties that make you too uncomfortable. Don't climb up anything you can't downclimb Have fun, and enjoy the beautiful area!

I felt the red gulley was less demanding than the keyhole route, also the duration of the Class 3 sections were longer on Longs than the south side standard route on Crestone Peak. With that said you do need to re-climb back up to Broken Hand Pass to get back so that makes a longer more tiring day typically,

IMO, Crestone Peak is easier in every way. The main risk on Crestone is if you go during early season conditions when snow melt can result in wet rock in sections but usually avoidable. Honestly I felt like the hardest part of Crestone Peak was the top section of Broken Hand Pass. One of the things that makes Crestone Peak relaxing is there is almost no route finding.

In terms of *technical* difficulty, I’d agree that Crestone Peak is easier than Longs…that exit/re-entry move at the top of the Trough on Longs alone was, imho, harder than any individual move I encountered on most other fourteeners, including both Crestones, and the standard route up C. Peak hasn’t been worn down by quite as many thousands of hands and feet as the Homestretch, so there’s nothing that steep and smoothed down on either ‘stone unless you do them at a time of year when they’re coated in ice (though speaking of ice, do keep tabs on conditions reports mentioning Broken Hand Pass, as that tends to be the first part of the route to freeze up in autumn and the last to thaw out in spring/summer). Also, while the exposure on the last scramble to Crestone Peak’s summit was eye-opening, I thought that it’s got nothing on looking down from the Narrows or even the Ledges.

In terms of suckfest/slogginess, though, I found Crestone Peak more draining. Red Gully is looooooooong and just steep enough to be really slow-going, so it demands a good deal of time and energy, and of course the return trip back up to Broken Hand Pass when you’re already exhausted from having gone up and back down Red Gully - especially when you get near the top of BHP, where the trail disappears in steep gravel - is physically and mentally torturous, again imho. Plus, even if you’re able to get to the current 4WD TH somehow, the road you have to hike past it is a less pleasant approach than Longs’ well-maintained, scenic trail, though again, that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

Fwiw, Longs “only” took me 16h33m, whereas Crestone Peak was 18.5 hours roundtrip from the 4WD TH. Obviously I’m not setting any FKTs under any circumstances ever, and it probably is worth noting that I was several years younger and less injured when I last did Longs, but I don’t know that the outcome would’ve been much different if I’d done Crestone closer to Longs.

As someone with less experience, I would say the Crestone Peak standard route done from the 4WD trailhead is harder on aggregate compared to the Keyhole route on Longs. I feel technically they're comparable, albeit there is more route finding on Crestone; the paint markers make a difference on Longs past the Keyhole. There is more elevation gain on Crestone, which makes it a longer route timewise. Reascending and redescending the Broken Hand Pass on the way back requires some gas left in the tank. The Red Gully and Broken Hand pass have loose rock, which is less of a concern on Longs. There is perhaps more exposure on the Ledges of Longs compared to anything on Crestone, but the section is short. But if you've done Longs, and at the end of the hike you felt good, and could add 1-2 hours to the hike, then you have a very good chance on Crestone.

I 100% agree with randalmartin. If you camp below S Colony Lake the night before its WAAAAY easier than Longs. And, yes, Broken Hand Pass it the trickiest portion and you need some gas in the tank to reascend on the return. But the ascent to the top of the pass on the return isn't very difficult, just sucky. Coming down requires focus as you're pretty whooped by then.

I think Long’s class 3 portion is longer and more difficult, but I also had more fun climbing past the keyhole than I did in the red gully. Crestone Peak is more overall effort because of the length and having to come back over Broken Hand Pass.

All of these posts are assuming the person will come from the Eastern side. If that is the case, then climbing over broken hand pass is by far the most difficult part of the crestone Peak hike. If coming from the West, that issue is moot and I don't know that the difficulty outside of broken hand pass exceeds class 2+. I found Creston Peak to be fairly similar to longs. The route finding on longs is easier because of the spray painted bull's eyes. The exposure is less dramatic on crestone. If I had to pick which one was easier, my vote would be for crestone Peak.

All trails is not a good resource to use when comparing or evaluating the difficulties of 14ers. I don't know if they still have the easy, moderate, hard rankings, but several years ago when I used all trails they raided Sherman and Capital Peak as the same difficulty. While both of those may be hard when compared to a half mile flat walk in garden of the gods, they're nowhere near similar in terms of difficulty for a 14er.

Because all trails is such a huge database, people on there have very different experiences, backgrounds, and even interests. A site like this or something dedicated to glaciated mountains in the Pacific Northwest has a much more narrow focus and can better talk about differences between broadly similar mountains. Insert your cliche here, the devil is in the details, what have you.

Not exactly the answer to your question, but one you might have later if you succeed at Crestone Peak:
I believe the Crestone NEEDLE, by the standard route from S. Colony Lakes, is a good bit harder than Longs Peak Keyhole route.
Of course you can cut it down to size by camping at the lakes, but you can also do that on Longs by camping at the boulder field.
I found the crux climbing on the Needle to be considerably more difficult than on Longs. Also the route finding on the Needle is a lot tougher than following the bulls eyes on Longs.
Just my opinion, in case you ever wonder.

Sean Nunn

seannunn wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2024 4:24 pm Of course you can cut it down to size by camping at the lakes, but you can also do that on Longs by camping at the boulder field.

Except that camping at South Colony Lakes is a pleasant experience.

randalmartin wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2024 10:04 pm

seannunn wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2024 4:24 pm Of course you can cut it down to size by camping at the lakes, but you can also do that on Longs by camping at the boulder field.

Except that camping at South Colony Lakes is a pleasant experience.

That side of Broken Hand Pass is not a pleasant experience.