Columbia Point

Route: From Kit Carson
Posted On: 7/4/2020, By: cougar
Info: Dry from KC. All gullies and route clear. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 5/18/2020, By: CoHi591
Info: Info still similar to the last CR. There's some snow below treeline on the Humboldt trail, and some blowdown, occasionally requires a little extra attention to find the trail in the dark but didn't even think about putting spikes on, didn't posthole on the way back around noon. From the Humboldt saddle to Columbia, all snow is avoidable. The wind was absolutely insane. Knocked me down once or twice, not pleasant. I'll add pics in a sec of Broken Hand and Kit Carson. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 5/11/2020, By: angry
Info: From Obstruction, mostly dry. One small snow patch on the backside of Kitty Kat that is unavoidable. Mosquitos are out in full force ! 16.5 miles rt, 5500ft gain. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 8/11/2019, By: jscully205
Info: Excellent off the beaten path hike. Once I peeled off the Humbolt trail, there was not another soul to be found. Summer conditions the whole way and thought it was an easy to follow route. About a 6 hour day. 

Route: Obstruction Columbia from west
Posted On: 7/15/2019, By: Marmot72
Info: Up Spanish Creek (with permission of Crestone Mtn Zen Center) over Obstruction and then to Columbia Point. A couple snow patches that could be avoided on CP, which provided refreshing water on the descent. Mosquitoes truly cataclysmic-like one of the plagues endured by Egypt in the time of Moses-even with multiple applicants of big spray, just a continuous bombardment throughout the entire basin. The only relief was at the saddle. Trail dicey with tree fall- ended up on a different trail down than the one taken up. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 7/6/2019, By: graberz
Info: We started from south colony lakes and went up humboldt first thing in the morning. We then made our way over to Columbia point. The ridge provided some fun scrambling staying ridge proper and some awesome views. The scramble up kitty kat Carson was a little more difficult due to navigating a snow field and wet rock. Going across to Columbia point also had two unavoidable snow fields and microspikes and kick steps made it safe enough to negotiate. On way back we went back over the ridge 1/3 of way and found a scree field to descend down to the lake. Broken hand pass still has a snowfield present. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 7/6/2019, By: graberz
Info: We started from south colony lakes and went up humboldt first thing in the morning and then made our way over to Columbia point. The ridge provided some fun scrambling staying ridge proper and some awesome views. The scramble up kitty kat Carson was a little more difficult due to navigating a snow field and wet rock. Going across to Columbia point also had two unavoidable snow fields and microspikes and kick steps made it safe enough to negotiate. On way back we went back over the ridge 1/3 of way and found a scree field to descend down to the lake. I have pictures of conditions of other mountains. Broken hand pass still has a snowfield present. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 8/14/2018, By: Flyingfish
Info: Th route is dry all the way from S. Colony Lakes to the summit of Columbia. Gully #2 on the decent to Kit Carson was wet and slick in the center where most of the shade was but the sides of the gully was dry. Both gully 1 and gully 3 looked dry. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 12/29/2016, By: Dad Mike
Info: -started at Spanish Creek Trailhead at 5:45am -trail starts on the south side of the creek...not the north side like it says in Roach's book -was able to locate the trail with cairns and some trail tape...helped that I had been up this way in winter once before -put snowshoes on around 10,000' and wore them until I got to the bottom of the couloir -snow in the couloir was unconsolidated, but not very deep...I found very little avy danger...I opted to stay on the rocks just left of the couloir to avoid wallowing -trickiest climbing of the day was from the top of the couloir to the summit of Columbia Point...starts with a tricky traverse on icy rock...then up a narrow gully...2 down-climbs and some easy route finding on a class 3 face get you to the summit -the ridge up and over Kitty Kat and Obstruction is a non-issue -the hike down Bear's Playground was awesome with Crestone Peak towering over my left shoulder and the Carson group to my right -connected back with my trench and cruised back down to the road -back at my jeep at 3:45pm...10 hours, 12.5 miles, 6100 feet 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 10/28/2016, By: desertdog
Info: No snow on the route. The ridge traverse is a little tricker than it looks. It took us one hour to cross it. Not a soul at Colony Lakes. We had the whole area to ourselves on a perfect weather day! 

Route: Kit-Columbia-Obstruction
Posted On: 7/9/2016, By: TallGrass
Info: See Kit Carson condition report for approach. No snow to Kit/Columbia saddle, but snow on slab of ice in it. Was able to stretch to rock in middle of ice, the punch hands in snow for balance to reach rock on Columbia side. Rest of route melted out up to Columbia and on to Kitty Kat, Obstruction, Bears Playground, Tedious Ridge, and Humboldt saddle. 

Route: Columbia and Obstruction from the East
Posted On: 9/17/2015, By: TallGrass
Info: Clean and dry. Photo shows location of the memorial plaque in case covered by snow or rocks with Kitty Kat Carson on the left. See report for Obstruction Peak if coming from Humboldt saddle. 

Route: Bears Playground
Posted On: 6/5/2012, By: JosephG
Info: No notable snow. Deadfall on both the old 4WD trail and the new Humboldt trail is easily negotaited. Several route descriptions suggest staying on the N/NW side of the jagged ridge from Humboldt's saddle to Bear's Playground. We found staying on the ridge proper more straightforward; certainly more enjoyable. Generally stay right (NE) when ascending Kitty Kat (dumb name; sigh). Use trails abound. Obviously, employ your own route-finding discretion, but as a rule the use trails have the right idea. The view to Kit Carson Peak revealed snow in the Avenue in inconvenient locations. Broken Hand Pass also still has snow. Picture 1: Bear‘s Playground to Kitty Kat Carson Picture 2: Gully up Kitty Kat Picture 3: Kit Carson and the Avenue