5/30/2024 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 5/31/2024, By: PaulineAnna Info: The road up towards the 4WD lot was dry and rough as always, though no problem for my Ranger FX4. I found a parking spot by Rainbow Trail Junction and started my hike up the east ridge from there. Snow started appearing in the trees at about 10,500ft, and route finding was difficult, just like the route description said it would be. Lots of downed trees added to the challenge, so the GPX track definitely help a lot! Once above tree line the I aimed for the ridge and followed it to the peak. There were fields of snow along the route, post holing a-plenty. I'd say the route was snow-covered 65%, peak was 70% snow-free. As I was passing the 2wd lot on my way to town dark cloud came in from the west, so the landscape up towards the peak may or may not have changed. |
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4/23/2024 Route: Southeast Gully Posted On: 4/24/2024, By: MBosch27 Info: Same as previous report. Good snow the whole gully, except the top. Sideslip/side step the rocks/mank/uneven melted and refrozen sastrugi... great skiing for the bottom 2000-2500' until the waterfall area... then the snow became rather heavy and mash potato again. After the top not so great area, the remainder of the gully skied about as good as it gets! SILKY SMOOTH! |
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4/3/2024 Route: Southeast Gully Posted On: 4/4/2024, By: aksean22 Info: Climbed and skied off the top of Humboldt yesterday via the SE gully. Started at the South Colony Lakes 2WD lot. The road is dry for 1/4 mile or so then continuous snow the rest of the way. The snow was firm and we made good time up the road, reaching the turnoff into the woods just as it was getting light out. Trees were easy to navigate. We went climbers right to avoid the frozen waterfall at 11300' and encountered 500' of punch crust that had me thinking it might be rough ride down, but when we worked our way back into the gully it was better protected and holding 6" of fresh pow. 2000 more feet of uneventful skinning and we were on the summit. A little breezy up high but otherwise perfect weather. The first 50' off the top was side slipping around rocks, and the next 200' were very cautious turns trying to avoid sharks, but after that it was some of the best 14er ski conditions I've ever had. Still a little crusty back in the trees but it was quickly turning to corn and not as bad as I expected. The road out goes fast. My watch said 5600 and 13 miles RT. It took us 7 hours car-car (5 up, 30 min on top, 1.5 back down). I brought crampons and ski crampons but didn't use either. It'll stay in for a few more weeks. |
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1/25/2024 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 1/25/2024, By: Steep Slabs Info: This was my first time attempting a 14er in the Sangres. Forget about driving up the 4wd trial, it is loaded with snow. I could not have done this without snow shoes or the pre-placed trench which was great, thank you artemavovk, BobAugenthaler and others. Took me six hours to summit and 4 to get back down. The right side of the final ridge was a frightening drop off but if you go left and down a little it's hard to maneuver. You just need to be very careful. The weather was pretty good. By the time I made it to the summit it was socked in with clouds. On the way down I had the pleasure of meeting Nick. He had just arrived from Austin and already in full on beast mode. He offered me water and some excellent pro tips. Should have put my snow shoes on sooner and kept them on longer. Did a terrible job stashing my snow shoes, put them by what I THOUGT was an obvious landmark but just laid them down and they got half covered with snow. Had to use my GPS to locate them. Could have been bad. After that though the descent was a dream. |
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1/20/2024 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 1/20/2024, By: artemavovk Info: Can't drive much past winter closure, some people tried but you'd be parking on private property. Road is mostly packed now, barely skiable. Bring snowshoes, please. Once you get to the bridge and ridge, you might be tempted to ask why and then get hit in the face with knee/waist deep postholing in snowshoes until treeline. Snow is not consolidated, snow is about as trash as it gets. Me and 4 others made a nice trench (shoutout to trailblazing skier who at least had some flotation). Hopefully it's not completely destroyed by everyone else who followed without snowshoes. Bring snowshoes. Above treeline all snow is avoidable. |
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1/20/2024 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 1/20/2024, By: backcountrybrodes Info: Climbed with EthanBeltramo. Started from (practically) the bottom. Left our snowshoes in the car, but probably would have been much better to wear them and stash at tree line. Might have cost us 1 hour overall - we took our time and started at 7:40am, finishing at 6pm: up and down the same route. Tree line and beyond was very windblown and no snowshoes or spikes necessary right now. Overall a great day with little wind (by Humboldt standards) and got some fun glissading in with our axes!! Summary: Go get it b4 the next storm but bring snowshoes for the 1st half and be smarter than us (: |
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12/31/2023 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 1/1/2024, By: masonzastrow Info: About 20 degrees on the peak, perfectly still. Ideal conditions. No snowshoes needed, there was a clear path the entire way below treeline. Rutted out enough that you might be able to follow it even after more snow falls. Didn't even put on spikes until above the false summit, then wore them to the summit and for the entire descent.The final push of the ridge has very little snow, which adds a handful of class 3 moves that maybe could be avoided with some care. |
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10/21/2023 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 10/21/2023, By: Briere Info: I went up West Ridge and down East Ridge. No traction was needed at all and maybe had 2-3 steps in snow. Did some bushwhacking into the trees on the East Ridge until I finally found the trail. |
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10/15/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 10/18/2023, By: fitchmt Info: Views from 10.15 on the Crestone Needle. Trail appears to be clear all the way to the top. |
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10/7/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 10/8/2023, By: jway2952 Info: Borrowed a friend's lifted 4Runner to get up the trailhead (saw less capable vehicles though). Started around 9:45 from 4WD trailhead, summited around 12:45, 45 minutes on the summit, and back to the car by 3:45 for 6 hours car to car. Some snow on the trail above 12,000 feet, but very manageable and melting out. Wind was ferocious for the last hour or so to the summit but then died down the rest of the way. Will post pics of the Crestones as I got plenty of pics of them. |
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9/28/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/28/2023, By: tpat707 Info: No snow and pretty perfect conditions on Humboldt. The needle and Crestone peak had some some snow in the gullies |
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9/23/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: shapovalovm Info: Climbed the Crestones, but took a picture of Humboldt from the top and it seems bone-dry. |
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7/4/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 7/8/2023, By: Kimberlyann00 Info: Hiked it on the 4th of July - summer conditions on the Humboldt side. It looks like Broken Hand Pass is still holding quite a bit of snow, if you're planning Crestone Peak/Needle from the SCL side. |
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6/27/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 6/27/2023, By: apfox500 Info: Hiked the west ridge and found only a few patches of snow, all less than 100 feet. Trail is definitely in summer conditions now. |
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6/25/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 6/26/2023, By: JonesAzonian Info: Arrived to the 4WD Trailhead around 5:45 AM. No problems with my Jeep Wrangler. Basically summer conditions! It was a gorgeous day and only a few minor snowfields around the lakes but zero traction is needed Gorgeous views of the Crestones and all the other peaks the Sangre de Cristos have to offer! |
