Crestone Needle

Route: Ellingwood Arete/Ledges
Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: Veory
Info: Access ledges still filles with snow, direct route goes but the crack it follows is still iced up, removing most protection options. Second pitch of the direct start is very run out slab climbing, maybe 60+ feet from the last piece of pro the anchors. Above this, the climbing/ scrambling is in well, with only a some water flowing inside the 5.6 lower headwall pitch. Downclimbing the standard route is still snow all the way down, although a section near the bottom will probably be melted out enough to require a very short downscramble soon. Snow most of the way down from broken hand pass as well, with the exception of the very top. 

Route: Ellingwood Arete/Ledges
Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: DeclanKnies
Info: Climbing route is in! With a few detours. Don't know about the indirect start but it looks completely covered in snow. From the direct start the main climbing line is out due to ice and snow, but climbing directly adjacent to it on the face is in. Be prepared to have a few slabby 5.4 to 5.8 sections with no protection for 30-60 feet as long as the main crack is out. Lots of snow and ice in the basin and I reckon it'll remain that way for a while. Past the second pitch of the indirect start its smooth sailing with no snow up to the base of the 5.6 (We bypassed the 5.5 and 5.9 middle pitches, unaware of conditions in them but looked dry). The 5.6 is well protected for the most part, the very top is a bit sketchy with an ice waterfall blocking the main route forcing you to climb away from the top around a big rock and then climbing a 1 foot wide rock with massive fall potential to the left and extremely slick snow to the right. Not much of an issue for the second climber, but pretty gnarly for the lead. Following this the final 5.7 pitch is fairly straightforward with no real issues with ice or snow. Would recommend waiting a month or so for prime conditions, but if you love wet climbing shoes it's ripe for the picking! The way down is mostly straightforward we took the south col then over to broken hand. Had some group issues and ended up having to stay the night up there due to visibility and wind, but the couloir is still fully snow covered but is getting low in some places. Route finding is pretty tough without having gone up this way so make sure you know your way back. Dry from the bottom of the couloir to broken hand, easy class 2 with few snow problems until a nice glissade down from about 1/6th down broken hand. Two of our members downclimbed this in the dark, while two of us glissaded it once the sun warmed it up. From there there are a few snow crossings to the trail. Overall It is a little early in the year for this route for my liking, but it is in! 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/19/2023, By: Eagle Eye
Info: Much of what was said for (2) Peak Conditions from the previous Thursday (6/15), with a few additions: I reached the summit Sunday starting from the 4wd TH. The road is in typical summer conditions. I'll update the TH for another reason, there were about 3 or 4 cows meandering right in the road not far up from the 2wd parking. Anyway based on one of the 6/15 comments I took what is a spur/shortcut start from the old, upper 4wd TH. Versus the "old" continuation of the road. One of 2 people I talked to along the way I met nearing Broken Hand Pass, and he had tried C Needle the day before, when an afternoon storm had put a good layer of graupel or hail in the area. We both went up BHP and made a right side exit out, then parted on the (windy) pass because his destination was C Peak. In the East Gully I first started up in snow, then switched into and out of it due to either drainage or ice falling down or to avoid hard ice places in the gully. I left at the dihedral, taking the 'crossover' to the W Gully and eventually re-entered back into the much wider East Gully at a point closer to the summit ridge. I descended a different way, mostly staying along the rock edge of the E Gully. The other person I saw on this route was heading up when I was leaving the East Gully. Other than some upper parts, I descended the same way I'd come up. A very long day!!! Hope this is helpful. --Mike Via 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/17/2023, By: vonstech
Info: Started at 4:50 am from the 4WD South Colony trailhead and summit at 10:40 am. There was quite a bit of snow between the old trailhead and the South Colony lake which made it hard to follow the trail (GPS app recommended if it is your first time up there). Snow conditions on the Broken Hand Pass were prime, ice axe and crampons mandatory. From the pass to the east gully conditions are mainly dry with a few patches of snow. The east gully has quite a bit of snow. You can go up staying mainly on the snow or alternate between snow in the middle of the gully and the rock to the side. On the way up, I decided to alternate between rock and snow and not use crampons. On the way down, I put my crampons on and try to stay us much as possible on the snow. Conditions are getting thinner and many transitions between snow and rock are needed. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/16/2023, By: TheHikingDoctor
Info: Did not summit nor did I plan to. A late start and leisurely pace meant that wasn't an option. Took the 'old' approach up to South Colony, which was very snow filled and needing traction (took the 'new' route on the way down which was almost snow free). Made my way up to Broken Hand Pass and turned around due to the time. BHP chute is still very snow filled and likely will be for a few weeks. By the time I got up there the snow was quite soft, allowing me to kick step with microspikes but if you're there early morning then crampons are mandatory (and axe of course). Got some pics of the south face and Humboldt for beta. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/12/2023, By: slawrence2011
Info: Started at 4:30 from a high camp at lower S Colony. Stayed up most of the night listening to a marmot chew my backpack and debating whether there was enough snow to ski (see beta photo I took day before from just below broken hand toward cottonwood). Broken pass still full snow, but rocks starting to show at top move. Thanks to Will E for previous beta, made me willing to attempt traverse to Col in heavy spring conditions. I quickly put crampons on for comfort on many icy steep snowfields on the trail. One easy class 3 traverse move on ledges, and then when there were two vertical cairns, I misinterpreted them to mean go left rather than up, so I entered the maze of couloirs there, and kept going left, up or down as necessary, until I found a couloir that looked wide and continuous, and took it all the way up. It had about 5 spots where I would have to take my skis off, and never got much wider than 1-2 ski lengths. There was one steep icy section that I could barely get around comfortably on the right side with an axe. Hardly any sunhit even at 10 down low since so inset. When I hit the ridge, I was surprised to see the summit literally 10 feet away, and looked back at my beta photo and realized I climbed likely the W couloir which is narrower than the E. Looking at the beta photo again, the W couloir I climbed is quite far from the E couloir standard route, so I am not sure that is the W couloir discussed on the summer route, because that would be long way to traverse. I traversed down the ridge, and found the E couloir, which was very wide at the start, and softening much more quickly. I dropped in right away. After the wide section, there is a rock at the start of the narrows making it about 4-5 feet wide. Below that, 100 feet of terrain about 6-7 feet wide. I bet Cody Townsend, or the gentleman who put up a TR for the notch couloir could ski it, but I wasn't sure how to arrest that much speed from straightlining when it is literally barely wide enough to jump turn. The rock forced me to transition to downclimbing, and I kept downclimbing through the narrow section since I saw another rock pinch 100 feet down. After that, it got about 10 feet wide, and I put skis back on, for about 100 feet more skiing, until I hit the cairns leading you out climbers' right / skier's left. Then the fun. I spent hours wandering / trying to follow the cairns, which was difficult because I later learned the W couloir starts way lower than the E couloir I skied, so that part of the approach I hadn't scoped. I ended up phoning a friend, and spotting a climber who had traversed from the peak (major props!), who helped convince me that after the last cairn, to go straight down a snowfield past a couple icy rock sections, and a sketchy class 3+ downclimb, which connected me back to my approach route. Couldn't ski back down broken hand til 3, fortunately low clouds kept it reasonable, though ski traverse in from the top was barely in due to rock meltage. Probably better to downclimb the start and build a platform going forward. Then hiked all the way out. Note, I hiked out via the N trail used for Humboldt, which was much easier to follow than the S trail I used going in, and only adds less than 100 feet of elevation gain. Minor deadfall and snow to contend with, but well tracked. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/4/2023, By: Will_E
Info: Did the Needle yesterday from the S. Colony Lakes side. I started at the 2wd TH, all dry until just past the kiosk, snow is mostly continuous from there, with some intermittent dry patches. I gambled and didn't take snowshoes, it paid off, snow was mostly firm, even in late afternoon coming back. I used crampons and axe to get up/down broken hand pass, snow was stiff in the morning, slushy and slidy on the way down, had a couple short unintended glissades. I used crampons to get up the east gully, more snow than I expected to see, I stayed on rock where I could, but had to ascend a few steep snow slopes. Coming down the east gully was really tough, snow was pretty firm, I used axe/crampons most of the way. Nice day. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 4/12/2023, By: One Sierra Charlie
Info: The needle is in bad shape for skiing. Although the upper portion looked skiable, the middle and lower sections of the couloir are thin, very uneven and the snow is poorly consolidated in places. There are also two completely bare sections. I turned around about half way up where I met unconsolidated sugary snow. If you are thinking of skiing it, I would recommend taking it off the list for this season. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 2/14/2023, By: Grisel
Info: Trench all the way to to the turn off to crestone peak right before cottonwood lake (before current storm). Snowshoes from turn off to past cottonwood lake and up the snow slope to gain standard trail. Wind slabs early in the morning but burned off later in the day. East gully all the way up, mix of bulletproof snow and sugary snow. Snow conditions got better on the way down. Started just before 3am, cottonwood lake by sunrise and summit by 11am back to car at 4:30pm. Long day 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 2/4/2023, By: Chrisfish25
Info: Went in to get the Needle and Peak. Thanks for whoever laid a trench yesterday! Met up with Rob, Dan, Nick & Tyler at their campsite & climbed the needle with them. Getting to broken hand pass is pretty easy & void of any avy conditions. Once inside of the gully it was a steep snow climb to the top of the ridge! Very good snow in there right. About as stable & consolidated as it gets. I got down & went up the Peak solo. Another awesome snow climb. They crew went down to camp, they're heading up for the peak tomorrow morning. Big day out there! Great weather. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/28/2022, By: angry
Info: Approach from cottonwood is a mixed bag of dry, snow and some ice. Did not use flotation or traction on ascent. Getting to the east gully was time consuming but the rock quality is fantastic. There were a few areas iced over but easy to circumvent. All the peaks in the area look prime. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/29/2022, By: astranko
Info: Went with bangerth. It was in condition before the storm. Wandering, small trench to treeline. Gully is low-snow and safe. Climbed without any traction or axe. Used an axe on the descent to make plunge stepping faster. Make sure your scrambling skills are in form. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/20/2022, By: notidealbutfine
Info: I approached the needle from the west (crestone), and ran into virtually zero snow or ice the entire time. Still summer conditions up there. This is not the case for broken hand pass which was completely snowed over. Micro spikes would probably get you up fine. Maybe too early for crampons still. The needle was excellent, just a light dusting of snow in the shady areas, but I don't think I stepped on snow or ice all day, it was quite easy to avoid. Go get it! 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/17/2022, By: KRAZY
Info: We climbed Crestone Needle Saturday 10/15 from Cottonwood Lake. The east gully was 95% dry. The little snow encountered was easily avoidable. We did not do Broken Hand Pass, but I'll include a pic. Other climbers said it had thin snow coverage. Also I took pics of the KC Avenue and Humboldt. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/15/2022, By: WildWanderer
Info: From cottonwood creek, Dry the entire way. No traction needed. Looked down Broken Hand pass, there was about a foot of snow. Met two guys who attempted the traverse from the peak to the needle, and was told “there was too much ice on the last 2 or 3 pitches” and they turned around.