Crestone Needle

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: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/17/2022, By: ClimberBoi
Info: Hiked up from south colony trailhead, weather was perfect, a few clouds both days we were up and nothing else. Snow melt was going down the majority of the trail, however, there were dry paths up the entire way. Broken hand pass, along with most north faces was holding a few inches of snow consistently. There was boot pack up most of it, however, it is warm, slippery snow and without microspikes was incredibly challenging with a large pack. The other side of the pass is completely dry, and the weather at cottonwood lake where we stayed was perfect. The south face of Crestone Peak had running water but was snow free. The traverse was completely dry up until the red gulley below the 5.2 bulge, and the section above between the bulge and the knife edge. At the top of the gulley above the bulge, someone left a large green osprey backpack, filled with food, clothes, a sleeping bag, and backpacking supplies. Not sure what happened to the owner, but certainly eerie. The amount of snow that was above the knife edge and on the narrow ledges approaching the final pitch was enough to sketch us out, seeing as we had no snow equipment. We turned around, the downclimb from the bulge was tricky but possible, and the rest was easy. Down hiking broken hand pass in its current condition without microspikes was incredibly difficult and sketchy. While it seems to be warming up slightly, from this time on I would highly recommend being more prepared than me and bringing microspikes at the very least, and having plenty of layers for the incredible temperature differences along the route. 

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. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/26/2022, By: 9patrickmurphy
Info: My partner and I were thoroughly underhwhelmed (in a good way) by this route. It's gotten so much hype about being so hard in various ways, but we thought it was incredibly straightforward. Broken Hand Pass is lame, but there's a well-defined use trail where there isn't a very well-constructed trail. The trail to the gully from the pass is also very straightforward. The descent to the gully was also rather obvious. Climbing in the gully ("east gully direct") itself felt like it only exceeded class 3 for maybe 5 moves total? The only routefinding we did was out of worry that we would end up in the wrong place, but after having done it I can say there is no wrong way up this gully, you just go up what looks the easiest. We were discussing how odd it felt that the old crossover variation used to be the standard, as the "class 4" east gully was really more like class 3+ on good rock, never exposed, a pretty obvious route, etc. I thought this was a delightful peak and wouldn't caution many people away from it. If you're comfortable on class 3 and have some rock climbing experience, this peak really shouldn't be that hard for you. Broken Hand peak was a nice addition afterwards, and the views of Crestolita were fantastic. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/13/2022, By: powderizedbookworm
Info: Hiked Crestone Needle standard, but just went up and down the East Gully rather than crossing routes/gullies. The rock was very straightforward and solid, and I didn't see any reason to leave that gully. I also descended that way, and was able to walk normally through most of it with the exception of ~10 min where I felt more comfortable downclimbing facing the rock. Everything was dry, despite the swirling clouds and misting rain that had been in the area on the tenth. One nice bonus was very near the top (~14,050 ft I'd guess), just a few steps before I'd turn West for the last few minutes up the summit ridge, I was able to cheat as far East as I could get and was treated to a lovely exposed view of both South Colony Lakes, which are not visible from the summit. I assume I was near the top of the Ellingwood Arete route, and I would definitely recommend checking it out.