Crestone Peak Trip Report 08/11/2007

Peak(s):	Crestone Peak - 14,299 feet Crestone Needle - 14,196 feet Humboldt Peak - 14,068 feet
Date Posted:	08/11/2007
Modified:	07/29/2013
Date Climbed:	08/08/2007
Author:	benners

North Buttress with Traverse and Humboldt
Peaks: Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, Humboldt, Sangre de Cristo Range Date Climbed: August 8, 2007 Group: Stu (marmotman) and Ben (benners) Route: The Peak's North Buttress, traverse to the Needle, Humboldt's standard from South Colony Lakes Day one TR found here. T.j., Janet, Stu and I left the Mountain View Inn at 3:00am on Wednesday August 8. We drove our rental Jeep back up the South Colony Lakes road, arriving at the upper TH at 4:30am. The events of the previous day dictated that Stu and I would be heading for Crestone Peak first while T.j. and Janet headed for Humboldt. Stu and I would then traverse over to the Needle, drop down to South Colony Lakes and ascend Humboldt, meeting them on the summit for my finisher. We left a radio with T.j. and Janet and explained the route to them, the four of us said our goodbyes at the TH. Stu and I quickly ascended back to the Humboldt/Crestone Peak saddle and made our way to Bear's Playground. Alpenglow on the Crestones: We reviewed the North Buttress route from the playground and began our ascent. The route follows the Northwest couloir route to around 13,300 ft. and then cuts straight up along the ridge to the summit of the North Buttress. The route is Class 3 and 4 and very exposed in certain places. The North Buttress route from Bear's Playground: Climbing on the North Buttress route: Once on the summit of the North Buttress the route descends to the bottom of a notch. Stu and I interpreted this wrong and ended up descending down a narrow couloir west of the North Buttress summit. There was one move in the couloir which took both of us ten minutes each to negotiate: an eight foot downclimb to the bottom of an overhanging cliff bisecting the couloir. Once below this obstacle we quickly became cliffed out and we realized our mistake. We then had to ascend back to the top of the North Buttress, the entire error costing us thirty minutes. Our second attempt led us in the correct direction and made much more sense, we descended to the bottom of the notch (between the Northwest Buttress and the East summit of Crestone Peak) and began the exposed traverse which would eventually connect to the Northwest couloir route. I have no idea what we were thinking descending the initial couloir, the correct route is not difficult to find. At some point we descended this crack: The traverse was scary but there were ample holds, the exposure started out very spooky but quickly relented as we traversed straight across the slab and the safe terrain below us crept closer and closer. Stu traversing a slab below the North Buttress with nothing but air under him: We finally rejoined the Northwest couloir route, summited the Peak at 9:00am and looked back on the final section of our route. The final section of the North Buttress route seen from Crestone Peak's summit, the red line marks our initial mistake: We spent a few minutes on the summit and headed down the South Face route three hundred feet, cutting left up the cairn-marked couloir to begin the traverse to Crestone Needle. The initial section of the traverse: The route winds in and out of couloirs and up and down and around cliffs and buttresses and, quite frankly, was the most hellaciously difficult routefinding endeavor I have ever embarked on. Almost no cairn on the damn thing led to the correct place, there were abundant cairns where the route was obvious and no cairns marking important direction changes where we really needed them. We probably made forty five minutes worth of routefinding errors, choosing a direction and then backtracking again. Because of this I will not go into detail about the traverse route, Stu and I arrived at the base of the crux pitch two hours and forty minutes after beginning the traverse. Somewhere on the traverse closing in on the Needle: By this point clouds had moved in and reduced the visability to a hundred feet or so, making it hard for us to choose a line up the pitch. Looking straight up the final crux pitch, some guidebooks rate it at 5.0: We picked the best line we could and began the ascent. The climbing was awesome, it entailed a hundred feet or so of Class 4 ("Colorado Scrambles" rates it 5.0) on knobby rocks sticking out everywhere. The surrounding peaks were poking in and out of the clouds as we climbed, I savored the moment as much as I could. The top of the pitch leads directly to the summit, this was such a sweet way to summit a fourteener! We reached the top of the Needle at 11:45am. Climbing the final pitch: Summiting the Needle: We spent a while on this summit. T.j. and Janet communicated over the radio that they had summited Humboldt and were about halfway down. Unfortunately the plan did not work out but all four of us had such a great experience that it didn't matter. Stu and I left the summit and descended the South face route down to the lakes. We ran into my Dad and Janet near Lower South Colony lake and let them know we were still going for Humboldt (they were going to head to the Jeep and wait for us). Stu and I dropped our packs near the lakes, sucked down our final bit of water and headed for Humboldt. We ascended from the lakes to the saddle for the third time in two days. We really pushed it and worked our way up quickly (we had people waiting on us!), I personally was very tired and it was grueling but I didn't care much, the idea of finishing the fourteeners was a sufficient source of energy. Ten minutes from the summit I became very excited, the weather (which was threatening us earlier in the day) was perfect, the summit was in sight and there was no place I would have rather been. Stu and I strolled onto the summit at 3:00pm, an hour and twenty minutes after leaving T.j. and Janet at the lake. Stu and I on Humboldt's summit, #58 for me: Don't ask me why but I was compelled to do a few pushups: We spent a good amount of time on the summit, taking pictures and soaking it all in. I could not have asked for a better way to finish: on this day Stu and I summited three peaks, completed the four "great" fourteener traverses, and I completed the fourteeners gaining my sixtieth summit in sixty weeks. I thanked Stu for relentlessly pursuing this goal with me, I could not have done it without him. We also later thanked T.j., my Dad, for funding the project and for being so active in it, I am so fortunate and very thankful that he goes to such amazing lengths to share my passions with me. He is a great father. After a good while we headed down, enjoying the afternoon sun and talking nonsense to each other like we usually do after a really long day (mostly we make up sentences aimed at making the other person laugh through the exhaustion). We arrived at the Jeep at 5:00pm to a passed out T.j. and Janet. They had a great experience as well, summiting Humboldt peak was a large undertaking for them, Stu and I were very proud! Despite the fact that Stu and I never got to hike with them, knowing that there were loved ones in the area having as much fun in the mountains as we were made it just as meaningful. This was a truly amazing day in my life, I will never forget it. I would also like to thank Bill for creating this site as well as all of the great people who are a part of it. Many of you have been a huge encouragement to me. I have relied on the information made avaliable by Bill and others more times than I can remember, it has truly been an important tool for my fourteener journey. My only regret is not getting to know more of you along the way which is something I hope to change in the future. Please look me up if you want to hike, anyone and everyone! -benners Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

North Buttress with Traverse and Humboldt

Peaks: Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, Humboldt, Sangre de Cristo Range
Date Climbed: August 8, 2007
Group: Stu (marmotman) and Ben (benners)
Route: The Peak's North Buttress, traverse to the Needle, Humboldt's standard from South Colony Lakes

Day one TR found here.

T.j., Janet, Stu and I left the Mountain View Inn at 3:00am on Wednesday August 8. We drove our rental Jeep back up the South Colony Lakes road, arriving at the upper TH at 4:30am. The events of the previous day dictated that Stu and I would be heading for Crestone Peak first while T.j. and Janet headed for Humboldt. Stu and I would then traverse over to the Needle, drop down to South Colony Lakes and ascend Humboldt, meeting them on the summit for my finisher. We left a radio with T.j. and Janet and explained the route to them, the four of us said our goodbyes at the TH. Stu and I quickly ascended back to the Humboldt/Crestone Peak saddle and made our way to Bear's Playground.

Alpenglow on the Crestones:

We reviewed the North Buttress route from the playground and began our ascent. The route follows the Northwest couloir route to around 13,300 ft. and then cuts straight up along the ridge to the summit of the North Buttress. The route is Class 3 and 4 and very exposed in certain places.

The North Buttress route from Bear's Playground:

Climbing on the North Buttress route:

Once on the summit of the North Buttress the route descends to the bottom of a notch. Stu and I interpreted this wrong and ended up descending down a narrow couloir west of the North Buttress summit. There was one move in the couloir which took both of us ten minutes each to negotiate: an eight foot downclimb to the bottom of an overhanging cliff bisecting the couloir. Once below this obstacle we quickly became cliffed out and we realized our mistake. We then had to ascend back to the top of the North Buttress, the entire error costing us thirty minutes. Our second attempt led us in the correct direction and made much more sense, we descended to the bottom of the notch (between the Northwest Buttress and the East summit of Crestone Peak) and began the exposed traverse which would eventually connect to the Northwest couloir route. I have no idea what we were thinking descending the initial couloir, the correct route is not difficult to find.

At some point we descended this crack:

The traverse was scary but there were ample holds, the exposure started out very spooky but quickly relented as we traversed straight across the slab and the safe terrain below us crept closer and closer.

Stu traversing a slab below the North Buttress with nothing but air under him:

We finally rejoined the Northwest couloir route, summited the Peak at 9:00am and looked back on the final section of our route.

The final section of the North Buttress route seen from Crestone Peak's summit,
the red line marks our initial mistake:

We spent a few minutes on the summit and headed down the South Face route three hundred feet, cutting left up the cairn-marked couloir to begin the traverse to Crestone Needle.

The initial section of the traverse:

The route winds in and out of couloirs and up and down and around cliffs and buttresses and, quite frankly, was the most hellaciously difficult routefinding endeavor I have ever embarked on. Almost no cairn on the damn thing led to the correct place, there were abundant cairns where the route was obvious and no cairns marking important direction changes where we really needed them. We probably made forty five minutes worth of routefinding errors, choosing a direction and then backtracking again. Because of this I will not go into detail about the traverse route, Stu and I arrived at the base of the crux pitch two hours and forty minutes after beginning the traverse.

Somewhere on the traverse closing in on the Needle:

By this point clouds had moved in and reduced the visability to a hundred feet or so, making it hard for us to choose a line up the pitch.

Looking straight up the final crux pitch, some guidebooks rate it at 5.0:

We picked the best line we could and began the ascent. The climbing was awesome, it entailed a hundred feet or so of Class 4 ("Colorado Scrambles" rates it 5.0) on knobby rocks sticking out everywhere. The surrounding peaks were poking in and out of the clouds as we climbed, I savored the moment as much as I could. The top of the pitch leads directly to the summit, this was such a sweet way to summit a fourteener! We reached the top of the Needle at 11:45am.

Climbing the final pitch:

Summiting the Needle:

We spent a while on this summit. T.j. and Janet communicated over the radio that they had summited Humboldt and were about halfway down. Unfortunately the plan did not work out but all four of us had such a great experience that it didn't matter. Stu and I left the summit and descended the South face route down to the lakes. We ran into my Dad and Janet near Lower South Colony lake and let them know we were still going for Humboldt (they were going to head to the Jeep and wait for us). Stu and I dropped our packs near the lakes, sucked down our final bit of water and headed for Humboldt.

We ascended from the lakes to the saddle for the third time in two days. We really pushed it and worked our way up quickly (we had people waiting on us!), I personally was very tired and it was grueling but I didn't care much, the idea of finishing the fourteeners was a sufficient source of energy. Ten minutes from the summit I became very excited, the weather (which was threatening us earlier in the day) was perfect, the summit was in sight and there was no place I would have rather been. Stu and I strolled onto the summit at 3:00pm, an hour and twenty minutes after leaving T.j. and Janet at the lake.

Stu and I on Humboldt's summit, #58 for me:

Don't ask me why but I was compelled to do a few pushups:

We spent a good amount of time on the summit, taking pictures and soaking it all in. I could not have asked for a better way to finish: on this day Stu and I summited three peaks, completed the four "great" fourteener traverses, and I completed the fourteeners gaining my sixtieth summit in sixty weeks. I thanked Stu for relentlessly pursuing this goal with me, I could not have done it without him. We also later thanked T.j., my Dad, for funding the project and for being so active in it, I am so fortunate and very thankful that he goes to such amazing lengths to share my passions with me. He is a great father.

After a good while we headed down, enjoying the afternoon sun and talking nonsense to each other like we usually do after a really long day (mostly we make up sentences aimed at making the other person laugh through the exhaustion). We arrived at the Jeep at 5:00pm to a passed out T.j. and Janet. They had a great experience as well, summiting Humboldt peak was a large undertaking for them, Stu and I were very proud! Despite the fact that Stu and I never got to hike with them, knowing that there were loved ones in the area having as much fun in the mountains as we were made it just as meaningful. This was a truly amazing day in my life, I will never forget it.

I would also like to thank Bill for creating this site as well as all of the great people who are a part of it. Many of you have been a huge encouragement to me. I have relied on the information made avaliable by Bill and others more times than I can remember, it has truly been an important tool for my fourteener journey. My only regret is not getting to know more of you along the way which is something I hope to change in the future. Please look me up if you want to hike, anyone and everyone!

-benners

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

krz2fer	Nice 8/12/2007 6:13pm job on finishing them on up. Surely it feels good!
PKR	WOW 8/21/2007 4:05pm Congratulations on your incredible accomplishment! What a way to spend a summer vacation.
Marmot72	Nice work! 11/23/2007 1:17am I was there a month before you, and while parts of the NW buttress ascent were incredibly fun, in one place I was telling myself I had no business being there. My camera‘s batteries died, so I have no pictures, but I‘m pretty sure I stayed on the east of the ridge instead of the west of the ridge on the final pitch to Crestone Peak. Kudos on the traverse! I got off route and had to abandon my attempt, just dumping down into the Cottonwood Lake basin.
maverick_manley	Congratulations! 11/30/2010 5:28pm Awesome route for a finisher. I loved this route. The exposure on the traverses to Crestone Peak (North Buttress) is the maximum I've seen on a 14er. Good job man.
Matt	Congratulations 2/5/2011 12:22am on finishing. It's been fun and inspiring watching you two bend the rules of what can be done in a day and pull it off every time. That route looks like a lot of fun, too. Maybe we'll hit it later this week, instead of the standard. Thanks.

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