Crestone Needed - Standard vs. East Gully - Thoughts?

[tmathews]

CrestoneNeedle 070.jpg

The cairn is circled in red (for anyone who hasn't seen it). I've never actually gone too far down the west gully. I have crossed over too early -- just above the actual crossover point. Actually, doing that didn't seem as bad as downclimbing back into the east gully just below the dihedral. It was just a little steep.

[djkest]

So is this right then?

CrestoneNeedle%20070.jpg

That first step doesn't look too daunting, but it's hard to put in context.
I just read about the unfortunate fatality in 2008 in the upper East Gulley. That should give anyone pause.

[SurfNTurf]

So is this right then?

Looks correct to me. In addition to the presence of a cairn and occasionally surveyor's tape, the way I marked it is a big rock outcropping that looks like a squid on descender's left right above the crossover. Squid Rock. Highly scientific, I know.

[Jim Davies]

Yes, exactly. There's another cairn left and below the one Terry circled, and both times I've been there, I've seen some kind of marker at the top of the rib (tape, slings, something like that). Like a lot of tricky spots, it's a good idea to look back on the way up and try to memorize the features.

[kansas]

Looks correct to me. In addition to the presence of a cairn and occasionally surveyor's tape, the way I marked it is a big rock outcropping that looks like a squid on descender's left right above the crossover. Squid Rock. Highly scientific, I know.

I actually used the squid rock as my reference last time I was up there, remembered it from our earlier trip. It's easier to spot than those damn camouflage cairns.

[highpilgrim]

There's more exposure in the east gulley.

Maybe there's more exposure in some parts of the east gulley? I think we stayed well to the right and went up a series of steep "closed in" areas that did not feel nearly as exposed as your picture indicates. I realize that picture angle/perspective can have that effect on an image, but I don't remember anything nearly as open and exposed as your image shows. It's been a while since I was up there, so maybe I've just forgotten the details. But all of my pictures seem to confirm my memory of it.

Here's another:

another one down.jpg

[msmith7361]

So is this right then?

CrestoneNeedle%20070.jpg

That first step doesn't look too daunting, but it's hard to put in context.
I just read about the unfortunate fatality in 2008 in the upper East Gulley. That should give anyone pause.

This picture is awesome.

[Headwall5]

I haven't climbed the east gully but what people are saying about the routefinding from west to east is true. Me and my friend went too low in the west and had to climb back up when we realized we were getting "cliffed out"

[Kitten]

The worst part of the crossover is the first step, so you can always make the decision on the spot which way to go.

Absolutely right, if you have long legs go for it. For me it was the worse part of this hike, maybe because the first time we climbed it was icy and that did not help.

[jdorje]

Crestone needle routefinding is a bit tricky since all the rock is so knobbly - maybe it's a fractal thing, but it all looks very very alike. But I believe the crossover is rather easy to find if you keep your eye out for the very distinctive overhanging rock right at the rib of the crossover. Unfortunately there's not a good picture of this rock in the route description - it's shown at oblique angles in photos 12, 13, and 14. I remember seeing a good picture of this rock in a trip report I read prior to climbing, and we didn't have any trouble finding the crossover in either direction. (We also used little cloth flags to mark the return route, which may have helped. And we did go wrong with a reverse-crossover, when we went to the right up the west gully and found ourselves right in the middle of Photo 20 - which contains another very distinctive rock to memorize - right by the east gully. No harm done though.)

Also, I haven't climbed the east gully, but the west gully climbing - particularly the upper half - was rather awesome. Much better than the lower east gully.

Better images of the rock - but still not perfect:

[BillMiddlebrook]

I can't easily post the link from my phone now, but there's a good shot of that rock in the Stash Photos tab of the Needle route.

[Wish I lived in CO]

This thread has been of particlular interest as I'm planning to climb the Needle this summer for the first time. Found this Utube video of initally crossing over the east gulley before climbing up to the notch at the west gulley: