Crestone Needle

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/28/2024, By: daway8
Info: Didn't summit. Started from South Colony Lakes 2WD lot. Walking the road from there is dry at first then ice patches within about a quarter mile and first signs of vehicles having gotten stuck at about a half mile. Various messy tracks for a while that eventually become only snowmobile tracks. Thankfully those went not just to the 4WD TH but even out to the split of the standard summer trail and the shortcut route that goes to the far side of Humboldt. This made the approach a breeze. But they seemed to stop after the creek crossing - either that or the tracks got lost in large drifts. The summer trail adds too much distance and was covered with large drifts and getting wind blasted. Tried to create an alternate route through the woods but promptly sunk to my waist even with snowshoes. Backtracked to the Humboldt split just past the signs. Was a faint hint of an old trench visible. Trenched this out, losing then regaining hints of the trail from time to time. Went about 2/3rds of the way from the split over towards South Colony Lakes. But besides a late start and making poor time trenching and route finding, the wind on Crestone Needle was clearly ridiculous and then lots of low cloud cover moved in. Decided to trench the remaining 1/3rd a later day - hopefully before the next storm. Blew back down to the 2WD in about 1/4 the time it took to get up. Should be must faster next time if the trench holds. Adding photos. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/8/2024, By: daniel_a34
Info: Hiked up to Broken Hand Pass, took 7 hours from 2wd South Colony trailhead (DID NOT CLIMB THE NEEDLE). Road to 4wd trailhead is packed by snowcat or snowmobile tracks, no flotation needed, and we didn't use snowshoes until the trail split. We took the south route (lower lake) in and the north route (upper lake) out. South route had some ski tracks early on but they disappeared quickly and we were breaking trail through a big side hill snow field up to the mine. Snow is very inconsistent, occasionally an icy crust that holds, occasionally sinking to the hip. Route down from the upper lake to the trail split was a little difficult to find at first (I've hiked up that trail once to do Humboldt but never hiked down it before), but once we found ski tracks (it looks like someone's skied the couloir on the south face of Humboldt?) it was an easy trip out in showshoes. Ice axe is probably wise, one hiker slid down an icy stretch above the lower lake despite the spikes on his showshoes, and finally arrested in softer snow. Switched from snowshoes to microspikes after that slide, figuring that postholing was better than sliding off a cliff... The microspikes never slipped but I would have been more comfortable with crampons in a couple places (overall though, they would have been a pain 98% of the time). Underneath the three pinnacles leading up to the pass the snow was soft enough that we weren't worried about sliding down an icy slope, but it was very difficult going. Above the pinnacles everything is loose and slidey, but that's no different than summer, be especially cautious on a downclimb. On the west side of the pass the snow is much softer and more dense through melting so it held steps much better than the east side. We didn't climb the Needle but the standard gully has a decent amount of snow in it, and I'm not sure I'd be super confident that snow at that angle would hold weight as nicely as it did on the lower angle slopes of the west side of BHP. Never saw or felt anything that made us at all nervous about an avalanche, but the icy crust on top of several gullies might make things more prone to sliding after the next storm. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/14/2024, By: RolyMinusPoly
Info: I did Crestone Peak --> Crestone Traverse --> Crestone Needle and snow was a non-issue the entire route. Maybe 10 steps on snow hiking up Broken Hand Pass, but not even a dusting anywhere else. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/13/2024, By: amderr22
Info: Great conditions. Route was still in winter conditions with only a little snow (I think I might have stepped on snow twice, if that). No spikes were required for me, but others might like them. Trek poles were helpful. Watch the weather closely but until the next storm rolls in, things are in good shape. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/10/2024, By: timkoh
Info: The only unavoidable snow/ice was in Broken Hand Pass. We probably took 3 or 4 steps on snow/ice. But other than that, completely clear conditions, not a single bit of ice and snow we couldn't avoid beyond Broken Hand Pass. The red gully was fine, the traverse was fine, the knife's edge was fine, and the final climb was fine. Summer conditions all around! Just keep an eye when the next storm rolls in. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/29/2024, By: seanhouseworth
Info: Recommend micro spikes for BHP otherwise completely dry. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/7/2024, By: wildschut
Info: Perfect conditions. My bud and I had a blast. East gully was perfect. Get on it while the getting is good. Props to the Virtual Sherpa for guiding us along the way. Great to meet such a cool dude. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/3/2024, By: durkan
Info: Some water flow low in the Red/Bacon Gully ascending Crestone Peak. Dry and well-cairned across the traverse. Saw one climber lose a rock on the headwall while ascending the Needle, so definitely check all those holds. I personally never ascended the East Gully for Crestone Needle, so descending it after the traverse was done so cautiously. (3rd time up the Needle, previous ascents were the West Gully twice) 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/2/2024, By: statzell
Info: East Gully direct route on Wednesday, August 28th. Climbers right entire gully up after dihedral and climbers left on descent. Skip west gully and crossover confusion. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/3/2024, By: chelsluckb2
Info: Hiked this on 8/28. There is a good amount of water in the red gully going up Crestone Peak. It is mostly avoidable but definitely more than a trickle. The traverse is very well cairned, so if you study the pictures and keep an eye out for cairns, you shouldn't have much trouble. The hardest part for me was the class 5 move, but I made it up ok. The final headwall was awesome climbing but in my opinion, a little overhyped in terms of difficulty. I did the north ridge of Kit Carson several weeks prior, and I found it comparable to a much shorter version of that. Slightly steeper but over before you know it. I decided to go down the east gully direct on the needle to avoid any confusion with finding the crossover. Doing it this way made the route finding quite easy. There is a proper class 4 downclimb around the dihedral, but if you are good with that I recommend the east gully direct. Overall the hike was awesome. A lot of the traverse is fairly tame but all of the climbing was a blast and you can't ask for better rock quality. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/28/2024, By: sean23
Info: No snow whatsoever. Absolute perfect conditions on the needle. Go get it while it's good! 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/11/2024, By: evanm137
Info: Summer conditions outside of one single snowfield up to broken hand pass. It's packed in quite well, and no additional equipment is necessary. It was an absolutely beautiful day on the 6th. No rain the entire day! The gullies have absolutey no snow. Completely dry and summer! 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 6/28/2024, By: Cadorade4403
Info: Broken hand pass is great going up in the morning, had spikes and an axe and flew right up it. Coming down anytime after sunrise is a nightmare. Slow stepping backwards, super soft but doable if you take your time. The red gully, as everyone has said, is full of snow the entire way up. We were able to stay out of it entirely by staying climbers left. If you stay about as far left as possible without hitting class 5 climbing, you can keep it to a manageable class 4 but it just about doubled the time up the gully compared to past climbs. To get to the traverse, there is a small break in the snow right where you need to crossover the gully on the way down. The traverse is in complete summer conditions, as is the way down the needle. Definitely doable, but make sure you have the appropriate gear and be prepared for a long day. 

Route: Ellingwood Arete/Ledges
Posted On: 6/27/2024, By: Camden7
Info: Forgot to post until now so maybe there is newer info. Simulled up the direct start, unroped and scrambled to the headwall, then belayed the 5.9 variation and 5.7+ summit pitch. Route is fully dry except for a small patch of snow at the base of the route totally avoidable with a little care. Standard route is dry and very well cairned. The Pass is still snowed in below the class 3 move, I would highly recommend an ice axe. Spikes are optional but if the snow is frozen you would need to be cautious without them. We carried them and chose not to pull them out. Mosquitoes are at their worst. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/28/2024, By: MaryinColorado
Info: I didn't climb Needle or Peak, but I took shots of the stretch leading up to Broken Hand Pass that it dawns on me might be helpful to share here. :) Still plenty of lingering snow that warrants axe+crampons.