Crestone Needle

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 8/5/2023, By: Logan5280
Info: Packed in on 8/3, and did the traverse peak to needle on 8/4. There are tons of campsites near the turn to Broken Hand Pass, and despite the few mosquitoes, there was a surprising lack of bugs at camp. BH pass wasn't too bad in the dark, it just requires a little caution near the top. Our group disagreed slightly on which gully was correct for the ascent up CP; make sure to follow the trail and cairns to looker's left up the red gully, and don't ascend the gully halfway through the traverse. We quickly identified the correct gully, but a route line on a gps may be helpful if it's still slightly dark out. The red gully has a trickle of a waterfall on the right side for the bottom half, but it's mostly avoidable. There's a snowfield near 13.7k that can be mostly avoided, and doesn't require spikes. The summit ridge scramble is dry and in good condition, although it was certainly novel for it to snow briefly on the summit in august. Aside from the red gully snowfield, the entire traverse is dry. A helmet is certainly a good idea since there's quite a bit of loose rock lurking around. The exposure is real near the top, but the rock quality is excellent. A real highlight of the day was being buzzed by 2 fighter jets while on the summit of the needle. The needle descent is dry, except for a small trickle near the bottom of the gully. Keep an eye out for the correct turn to leave the gully. Overall, an excellent experience in the mountains 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/28/2023, By: Pcypher
Info: Summer conditions other than about 30 feet of snow covered trail as you get to final approach below broken hand pass; we didnt use traction but I had poles. Small area of ice at crux move getting up broken hand that could be avoided. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/24/2023, By: terribletigzy
Info: Posting this trip report under both Peak and Needle for simplicity. Broken hand pass is clear and snow free. There is one short snow crossing just below where the steep begins up the pass, but there are large footholds, making it very easy even when icy in the early morning. Red gully is clear of snow with running water in the center for approximately the first half of the gully. Snow in the upper gully slightly complicates the upper portion of the route, but it can still be kept class 3 staying on the left side of the gully. I crossed over the right of the gully near 13,900 or so where to snow required a single step to cross. The traverse is almost entirely snow free. There is one small snowbank you need to climb over just before dropping to the base of the black gendarme, but it is inconsequential. Crestone Needles East Gully is completely snow free. If you stay on route, this traverse is almost entirely class 2/3 aside from the 5.2 bulge and the 4th class headwall. Aside from the traverse, this route is the tale of two gullies. The East Gully on Crestone Needle is Steep with lots of solid rock and the Red Gully on Crestone Peak is less steep with much more rock. Rockfall is a major concern in both these gullies, I would avoid true center in both. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/27/2023, By: kissmyiceaxe
Info: A few small patches of snow to cross in BHP, but no traction or axes needed. Summer conditions out there and lots of bugs. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/27/2023, By: kissmyiceaxe
Info: A few small patches of snow to cross in BHP, but no traction or axes needed. Summer conditions out there and lots of bugs. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: alexherronco
Info: Traverse as stated is in good summer shape. Only thing to note is there is an abandoned backpack halfway through at a high notch. The backpack is green and has full overnight gear. Looks like it has been there at least a little while as the wildlife has chewed on it. Added a spooky touch. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/15/2023, By: andlours
Info: After crossing the snowfield in the red gully and entering the traverse there is one deep, snow filled gully that I had to downclimb around. This gully is at the very beginning of the traverse. After that, the route was in summer conditions with no need for snow gear. There was one small patch of snow under the 5.2 crux, but it's negligible. The route is very well cairned and the rock is incredibly stable. I descended the east gully route and there wasn't any snow until reaching Broken Hand Pass. I started late, but I think I was the only one to do the traverse on 07/14. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/10/2023, By: SchralpTheGnar
Info: Long day trip from Highlands Ranch to the needle with my daughter, her first time up the needle. Beautiful weather, a little windy up on the summit pitch. I wore trail runners with strap on grivels for the snow section and used approach shoes for the summit scrambling, she had on hiking shoes with spikes. We left the upper TH at 6am and were back by 5:30, it was her first time using an ice axe so we took the snow sections nice and slow with some ice axe tutorials. Made it up to the 4wd TH in my 2004 stock 4runner with no issues. It'd been 20 years since I last summited, I'd forgotten how fantastic that mountain is. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/6/2023, By: highpointmike
Info: Small patches of snow on the trail leading up and around Colony Lakes but no equipment needed. Broken Hand Pass still holding snow and will be for at least another week. Was able to get up with poles and microspikes but coming down was a little more challenging without an axe or crampons. This was honestly the hardest part of the climb. Little to no snow the rest of the way. Took the route to the right of the dihedral all the way to the top instead of jumping back into the gully which had some snow and then an easy walk to the summit. Nothing harder than class 4 moves. Beautiful clear day. Crestone Peak looked snowier. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/6/2023, By: jfm3
Info: I climbed the Needle starting & ending at the car at the 2WD trailhead. The road from the lower to the upper trailhead is dry. The road from the upper trailhead to the South Colony Lakes basin has multiple areas of running water, including one stream crossing that can be done on rocks. I took the southern bypass and there is a snowfield right before the big bend in the trail. The snow starts at ~12,400' on Broken Hand Pass. There is a clear track across the snowfield. I use strap-on crampons over my running shoes and a short ice axe. The ascent was short and easy with crampons. If you have crampons, bring them. Spikes are almost always insufficient and crampons make the snow crossings so much easier. The snow ends at the large boulder step near the choke on the north side of the pass. The traverse from the pass to the gully is dry. I stayed in the east gully all the way up. The rock is excellent and there is no confusion about where to go. The gully below the crossover area is all running water. Stay just east of the water for good climbing. Above the crossover, the gully is mostly snow. The snow was fairly solid, but I stayed on the dry rock. I think climbing the snow with crampons would be straightforward. The top of the gully has an obvious snowdrift. From there, the route is dry to the summit. Descending the east gully on the descent wasn't a problem. The upper part of the snowfield on Broken Hand Pass was somewhat slick at 1 PM as I descended. Kicking steps may be necessary to get a good crampon bite. Watch for weak spots in the snow- I sank through on one step and banged my shin on a rock. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/4/2023, By: ehyson
Info: Broken hand pass is still covered in snow. See my Crestone Peak update for more details, and come prepared with snow gear. Once youre over the pass, we were able to take the standard route up the Needle with very few issues. There is still some snow and water in the gully, but you can stay to the right side the whole time (looking up) and stay dry. There were lots of cairns the whole way, and the difficulty did not exceed class 3 except for the crux to avoid the dihedral. Overall we were surprised/relieved how straightforward the climb was considering how much snow was still on broken hand. 

Route: Ellingwood Arete/Ledges
Posted On: 6/25/2023, By: amitchell
Info: Route has substantially melted out since the last team was up there. Started at 3am, made it to bottom of route at 6am, summit at noon, back to th at 3:30pm. There is no bothersome snow on the direct start, the whole thing goes at its summer grade: 5.6/5.7. There is a section at the top of the class 3/4 where we had to climb some snow. It was doable with trialrunners and an axe. There's a chance you could go around it to the far left, but we didn't explore that option. The class 3 entrance to the upper technical pitches was snowed over, so we opted to rope up and add a third tech pitch to the bottom. It went at 5.2. The first upper pitch goes at summer beta. The very top has some snow, but it's all circumventable. Final pitch is fully dry. One thing I want to say, the moutain project pictures show different options and note confusion for where to go on this last pitch. It's obvious. Take the OBVIOUS left facing dihedral in the middle. Yes, it goes at 5.7. No, it does not feel more like 5.9. But hey, even if you can't pull the one slightly difficult move, it is very easy to french free on some 0.5 and 0.75 cams through that section. One other thing I'd like to note for first timers: the standard descent is no joke. The summit is a maze of rocky features; spires, gulleys, little Ridgelines. You will be tired, exposed, possibly in a rush. Study the descent route as much as you studied the climb, because that's the true dangerous part of this climb. 

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