+1 on Wetterhorn. It is short, sweet and the last stretch is pretty similar climbing to the Crestones in terms of exposure, steepness and the rock is pretty solid. The Needle's rock is great. The red gully can be loose in places with rubble to watch out for. The Needle has tougher route finding. When climbing, look behind you a lot and make mental images. It looks very different descending. But the Needle is much shorter. We found the Peak required a lot more effort when we climbed it this year on July 4 though some of that was due to some remaining snow and a lot of poised rubble left by recent snowmelt. We were surprised to have the peak all to ourselves that day. That's one of the nice things about the tough ones. One last note: the area is marmot heaven. Don't leave anything they might gnaw laying around.milan wrote:Wetterhorn is a good advice, the class 3 is short, solid, and the exposure is similar to Crestones. Also Eolus, Wilson Pk, Longs. Kit Carson from the Avenue will give you an idea about the conglomerate, also a good idea. The other class 3 are more loose - Sneffels, Lindsey, Maroon, Snowmass, the climbing is different, all of the gravel in the gulleys. I would say Crestones were much nicer. Rain may make Crestones slippery, be careful.
Dave
