Crestone Needle

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/20/2015, By: r_grizz
Info: The Needle threw pretty much everything it had at me (see below for scariest part of the day). Started well before dawn and climbed the entire route starting from the main trailhead. Had terrible weather pretty much all day, with everything from rain and a little snow falling in the early morning, to this wicked thick fog/mist on the upper mountain, strong winds, cold. It was brutal. Lost the route several times, especially on the descent in the dense fog, which got me cliffed out on some dangerous and exposed terrain. Contrary to other reports though, I didn't really have any problems with Broken Hand Pass. There's a steep snowfield, but I easily managed it with just my axe and without traction. I watched a guy do just fine with trekking poles and trail runners. There's a good enough boot pack staircase to use in the morning, and it's soft enough to kick step your own on the descent. Overall, awesome day up there. The Needle is one badass mountain! CAUTION: I had a staring contest with two large mountain lions on the trail before sunrise about halfway up to the Lakes. I came around a bend to see them standing on the trail. I waved my arms and yelled, but they just stood there, completely unafraid, looking at me. Then I threw some rocks at them, which got them to casually walk away. About 1/2 mile later, I saw two sets of eyes shining from the willows off the side of the trail that I assume belonged to those cats, which means they followed me for a ways after the initial encounter. I yelled at them some more and kept moving with a purpose. Never saw them again after that. It was pretty scary though and I had my ice axe in hand the rest of the way up to the lake. Definitely keep an eye out for these guys if you're up there while it's dark. They could have torn me a new one without thinking twice about it. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/14/2015, By: bradyj
Info: Lots of snow on Broken Hand. From 1/2 way up to 3/4 way up is all snow. We had axes and micro spikes and had to kick steps down. Would really have liked to have crampons. The route itself is clear of snow and dry. The Traverse is also clear of snow and dry. But be careful on Broken Hand. We did the traverse and we all felt like the most dangerous part of the day was down climbing Broken Hand. 

Route: Ellingwood Arete/Ledges
Posted On: 7/3/2015, By: Jerousek
Info: Large snow field on the descent from Broken Hand Pass - Golden opportunity for some high quality, high speed glissading with the long, gradual landing. Several small snow fields to cross on the approach to the arete/ledges. Axe/Gaiters/Light traction very helpful, but not essential. The route proper (Ellingwood Arete) is entirely dry, cracks and all. Go get it. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 5/30/2015, By: lodgling
Info: Needle is in fat. Snow conditions are still maturing and if it gets too hot this week there could be a ton of wet slide activity. Two ice bulges are present on the line but can be avoided. There is a ton of snow on the way up to BHP. To get an idea, I have attached essentially the same photo from Memorial Day 2010 and today looking down from BHP. The estimated current snow line is drawn on the 2010 photo. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 4/13/2015, By: jkillgore
Info: Still good coverage on the line, with pleasant climbing. Parts of the narrows are narrower than a ski width. Ski conditions were tough, and snow could really use a refresh. Rock hard penitente most of the way forced more sidestepping and down climbing than i‘d like. I guess i‘d give it 4* for climbing conditions, 1* for ski conditions. Still a fun way to start a long day. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 4/3/2015, By: swbackcountry
Info: (Pics included) The Peak and the Needle southern couloirs are filled in, skiable, and have ice in the usual places. Westside (Cottonwood Creek) snowline was at about 10.2k and hard freeze line at about 11.2k (which meant there was 1k of slushy postholing, skinning, and grumbling) Spring corn cycle is occurring in the Crestones. But I saw no signs of big wet slides. More so, I saw lots of wind scouring/sastrugi. The day I went up, it never thawed due to wind and cloud cover. And the skiing sucked. Digging around revealed lots of variations in the snowpack, all safe, and everything on top was either wind buffed sun crust or just sun crust in exposed sun-affected areas. A north facing couloir I skied was wind/freeze crust on powder, and did not ski well (again it did not thaw that day, so on another day it may be good). I bootpacked south facing slopes with great purchase with crampons and only a few inches of perforation in the spring crust, and north facing slopes with up to thigh deep packed powder. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/9/2014, By: Andy_Lyon
Info: The hike to Broken Hand Pass had already become a snow climb as of 10-5, with drifted snow up to a foot deep in the very steepest portion of the gully. Snow had compacted considerably and there were (small) slab cracks. However, add more snow on top of that and if you have to proceed, you may want to have your avalanche gear with you. Above the pass on the south face, things had, before the current round of moisture, melted off. Intermittent snow and lots of wet rock (and wet boots), made it slow going for his hiker. I turned back at the gully crossover point though the people who did summit that day just continued up the "east" gully as the rock was, then, dry. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/25/2014, By: mattpayne11
Info: Route was clean of snow despite heavy rain the day prior. Dry. Probably won‘t last. Conditions were foggy and windy, making for a pretty surreal experience. True trip report to follow as time allows. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/22/2014, By: sheller
Info: Great conditions. Didn‘t see any snow anywhere. Also, met a number of climbers who did the Arete and the traverse and said conditions were perfect. However, I‘m not sure if the latest storm on 9/21 dropped any snow. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/15/2014, By: meg383
Info: Still completely dry all the way to the top. Summer conditions holding, at least for a little while. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/11/2014, By: Roald
Info: Area got a lot of rain on Tuesday 9/9, but route all the way to the summit is still in good shape. Was 36 degrees on the summit at noon on 9/10, so ice concerns aren‘t too far away. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/4/2014, By: Coyote_Run
Info: Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak were dry and the conditions were perfect for climbing. The drive up to the South Colony Trail Head was also dry. 

Route: Ellingwood Arete/Ledges
Posted On: 8/10/2014, By: Monster5
Info: Ellingwood ledges still dry as of this afternoon. Bring your hexes. Trickle of negligible water running down the 4th class direct gully on the Needle and dry in the standard gully. Some water across the approach trails. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/3/2014, By: bdloftin77
Info: If you take the "short cut" from the 4wd parking lot (going right, toward Humboldt, instead of continuing along the 4wd road), lots of the trail is basically a stream. Sometimes you can get off the trail and bypass it, other times you can try to step on rocks in the trail, other times you just have to kinda straddle the trail. Very annoying. Going up Broken Hand Pass, and up the Needle, there is no snow on the route. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/5/2014, By: ezabielski
Info: Wet conditions! The entire South Colony Lakes has so much water right now. The trail has a lot of water in it on the approach, and many campsites are marshy, but not all. The East Gully is flowing quite a bit. It didn‘t impede our climb, but your feet will get wet.