Route Description

Take Colorado 69 south from Westcliffe. Drive 4.5 miles and turn right on Colfax Lane. Drive 5.5 miles to the end of Colfax. There is a sign to the trailhead here. Turn right and drive 1 mile on a dirt road to a junction. Continue straight up the 120 Road for 0.3 mile to the Lower 2WD trailhead. If you park here, it’s approx. 5.3 miles to the end of the road where the trail begins.
Rough 2WD Trailhead: From the lower 2WD trailhead, continue 2.7 miles to a higher parking area at the first river crossing. In 2010, the road is scheduled for closure at this point and this will be the "official" trailhead.
4WD Trailhead (closing after 2009): From the first river crossing, continue another 2.6 miles to the 4WD trailhead at the end of the road. Note: In 2007, all of the nasty rock sections were crushed and "improved" to allow easier 4WD travel to the upper trailhead. There is a small parking area before the road crosses the river and ends at the main parking area. The trail starts past the gate in the main parking area.

Details:

From the trailhead at the end of the road (Photo #1), pass a gate and hike southwest up the road for 3/4 mile. Near 11,400', the road turns right and ends and a trail starts and continues through the bushes and into the trees - Photo #2. Follow the trail as it turns left above 11,600' and parallels the stream below the lower South Colony Lake. After leaving the trees, there is a trail junction. The main trail stays right and crosses the stream and a new trail starts to the left. There should be a small sign for the route up to Crestone Needle. Turn left and follow the smaller trail towards Broken Hand Pass. Photo #3 shows the view of Crestone Needle from this area. The trail has many large cairns and climbs south up the slope before turning west below steep terrain. Continue to 12,600' below Broken Hand Pass (Photo #4 and Photo #5) where the trail leads to a steep, narrow section with few options Photo #6. Climb through this section and follow the trail up to the pass at 12,850'.

Taken from a short distance to the east of the pass, Photo #7 is a view of the remaining route up the South Face. Turn right, hike a short distance on a defined trail, climb up through some rocks and continue toward the South Face. Photo #8 looks back on the hike from the pass. As you cross this slope, much of the remaining route quickly comes into view - Photo #9. This is a good place to stop and study the upper terrain on the route. Photo #10 is a closer look. In short, the goal is to hike over to a large gully, climb a few hundred feet, climb west over a rib, and ascend a second gully to the summit ridge. Sounds simple. Most guidebooks oversimplify the task. I'll try to make it as simple as possible by naming the two gullies "east" and "west." The east gully does go to the summit but, if you want to keep the difficulty at Class 3, it is necessary to switch to the west gully during the ascent. Follow the trail as it ascends the grassy slope on easy terrain. Near 13,200', the trail leads through terrain that requires some brief scrambling. Stay on the climbers trail as it approaches the rugged south face. Near 13,300', down climb a steep pitch and descend approximately 75' to the lower portion of a large gully. This is the east gully. In summer, there will likely be a bit of water running down the lower half. The lower portion of the route shown in Photo #9 and Photo #10 begins in this gully. The remainder of the route to the summit consists of Class 3 rock climbing.

Climb approximately 300' in the east gully until you reach a section where the center of the gully becomes deep and narrow. Above this area, the gully becomes more difficult and forms a dihedral - seen in Photo #11. The easiest/standard route (Class 3) involves crossing from the east gully to the west gully near the start of the dihedral. It's a steep climb up (to the left) onto a rib that separates the two gullies. Photo #12 shows a couple of climbers that have climbed out the east gully from the location shown in Photo #11. Taken from a bit higher, Photo #13 shows another view of the climb up onto the rib. Climb toward a notch located to the right of an angled rock tower - there is likely a cairn in the notch. When you reach the crest of the rib, the west gully appears. Photo #14 looks back on the rib before dropping into the west gully It's not easy to see this location until you have started the climb up onto the rib. Follow ledges and small cairns down into the west gully. Look carefully at this terrain to minimize route finding during your descent. Photo #15 was taken in the area.

The west gully is straightforward and leads to the summit ridge. Photo #16, Photo #17 and Photo #18 show the terrain. Climb steep, stable rock for nearly 400' where the gully ends near the top of the east gully - down to the right. A brief trail leads to a few more Class 3 rock sections (Photo #19) and up to the summit ridge. It's a good idea to stop here and look back at the terrain to visualize your descent - Photo #20. Without careful route finding, it's easy to miss entry into the top of the west gully. Continue up to the summit ridge (Photo #21) and scramble over to the summit - Photo #22. On the descent, take your time to find the left exit out of the west gully. It is above a steep drop-off seen in Photo #15.

CLASS 4 VARIATION - Climbing the entire east gully:
This variation follows the entire east gully to the summit ridge. It is more difficult than the route described above and also has some sections of loose rock... From the point where the above route crosses over to the west gully, continue climbing into the dihedral in the east gully. It may be easiest to climb the rock on the right side before locating a comfortable point to enter the confines of the dihedral. Photo #23 shows a climber descending this area but it gives an idea of the terrain. Above the dihedral, the gully widens slightly and has a few difficult Class 4 sections. Photo #24 and Photo #25 look down on the gully. Continue up the obvious gully to 13,900' where it opens up a few hundred feet below the summit - Photo #26. Care must be taken in this area because there is plenty of loose rock. Photo #27 looks down on the upper portion of the east gully. Follow the remainder of the east gully up to the east side of the summit ridge. Turn left and scramble up to the summit.