East Crestone Second dGPS Survey

[EricGilbertson]

On June 16 I conducted a second survey of East Crestone and Crestone with dGPS receivers. My goal was to collect enough data to meet rigorous NGS blue-booking requirements. This is the most official possible recognition of an elevation in the US. It requires 2hr+ measurements on two separate days for each peak with approved receivers. My October measurements from last year counted as the first set. This would be the second set.

Hannah, Matt, and Ethan from Trimble joined me and we used Trimble R980 dGPS receivers. These are pretty much the most accurate pieces of equipment possible for this kind of survey. We used two identical devices and logged simultaneous static data on each peak for 3 hours. I processed results with OPUS and CSRS-PPP.

Results were consistent with October measurements, with East Crestone 0.4ft +/-0.1ft taller than Crestone. The data now meet blue-booking standards, and I will be submitting to NGS. Results from October have already been published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment.

I would say these now may be the most accurately-measured 14,000ft peaks in Colorado. I think it’s time for 14ers.com to recognize East Crestone as the 14er.. I still see Crestone Peak on the list here: https://www.14ers.com/14ers

Link to detailed report and raw measurements:
https://www.countryhighpoints.com/east- ... d-surveys/

[d_baker]

Your first picture looks like piled up rocks. Is the one rock the unit is on part of the pile?
Thanks for your work and updates! Stupid but fun list(s) be damned! Haha

[ruggedland]

Just tagged E Crestone today. Most climbers we met today went for E Crestone, while one party went up to the old Crestone Peak

[nyker]

Interesting, good effort here. Just curious, do you work for USGS or is this all your personal equipment?

[bdloftin77]

Interesting, good effort here. Just curious, do you work for USGS or is this all your personal equipment?

Eric's off on a 6 week trip to pursue some South American country high points, so I'll give a quick reply on his behalf.

On the Crestones for this latest trip, he was joined by some folks from Trimble who brought their expensive $20,000 GPSs with them. Eric does have a couple DA2s and access to some other equipment. A DA2 antenna can be bought for about $455. To use/record data with the DA2, there's a paid subscription plan, Catalyst 1, which has the highest accuracy (1-3cm). The Catalyst 1 plan can be had for $145 for a 10 hour batch, or much more expsensive $480/month or $4180/year options. You'd also need tripod legs and a battery pack for the antenna. If you have the app and a cell phone with bluetooth, you can connect the antenna to your phone and record data, then send it in to the Trimble site for post-processing to get very accurate results.

[Scott P]

Just tagged E Crestone today. Most climbers we met today went for E Crestone, while one party went up to the old Crestone Peak

I wonder why people just don't tag both summits. It would only take an extra 10-15 minutes or so.

[skyrme17]

These results have to independently confirmed.

[EricGilbertson]

These results have to independently confirmed.

Not according to NGS blue booking standards. Could you point me to the standards you are referring to?

[skyrme17]

Yes, you may submit them, although submission doesn't necessarily mean acceptance. Still, a list should change based on independent and concurring results.

[HikesInGeologicTime]

Just tagged E Crestone today. Most climbers we met today went for E Crestone, while one party went up to the old Crestone Peak

I wonder why people just don't tag both summits. It would only take an extra 10-15 minutes or so.

Maybe it was people who'd already tagged the west summit? I'd recommend tagging both (and have since 2023, when I pointed out how uncomfortably close the LiDAR results were to others going for Crestone Peak the day I did so) - even those only following 14ers.com standards would have to in order to get all the named as well as ranked fourteeners. But at that tight of a difference in elevation, the (currently) officially named summit is just one geologic event away from reclaiming the top spot in the group. Personally, I'm just waiting for the magic number on this site to become 59.

[Jorts]

Is the pile of rocks that appears to be the highest point in the photo part of the survey?

[EricGilbertson]

Yes, you may submit them, although submission doesn't necessarily mean acceptance. Still, a list should change based on independent and concurring results.

If you only trust elevations of peaks that have been independently measured by different people, I would venture to guess almost none of the CO 14ers elevations qualify for you to trust. In fact, you would trust almost no peak elevation in the world.

Generally peaks are only measured at most once, if at all. In the case of East Crestone it was never surveyed before by ground survey like this.

I'm confused why people set the bar so high for this one peak, but apply different and lower standards for all other peaks. I've found a similar case for Rainier after measuring it five times, getting results published in two academic journals, and meeting NGS bluebook standards, people still refuse to believe it could have shrunk. At least Rainier national park has finally officially recognized the new elevation in an opinion piece in Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research Journal. Maybe Colorado climbers will eventually also recognize the reality that East Crestone is taller than Crestone.