Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

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Custer County SAR
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Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by Custer County SAR »

Custer County SAR has a new interactive ArcGIS Storymap project posted on our website, analyzing mission responses in the Crestone Group from 2015-2020, including those in the Saguache County response area.

It is our belief that the patterns revealed by the author, can help reduce the number of incidents in the area, particularly accidents on the descent of Crestone Needle's South face. Climbers who descend below 13,300 ft here, and are aware that they have lost the route, must re-ascend to regain the route and proper exit and then continue by traversing south-east along the ridgeline. Continuing your descent towards Cottonwood Lake results in a high probability of becoming cliffed out, or risking a potentially fatal fall. By prioritizing route finding on the descent and utilizing existing navigational tools, these objective hazards can be avoided.

If you are planning to climb Crestone Needle, please review the section Corrective Action - How to Stay Safe on the Needle, as well as the interactive map, detailing where others have lost the route and the outcomes of those missions, before your climb. The project is located at http://www.custersar.org, click on 'Rescue Patterns'


As always, be prepared to spend an uncomfortable night out, if need be, while awaiting rescue. Hitching a ride out by helicopter, may mean you're on your way to the nearest trauma center, or worse, so do your homework and help out Colorado SAR teams by buying a CORSAR card, before you go! https://dola.colorado.gov/sar/cardPurchase.jsf
Crestone Needle Route Finding(1).jpg
Crestone Needle Route Finding(1).jpg (186.34 KiB) Viewed 5371 times
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Always tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back, even if you aren’t hiking alone.
That person should also know what vehicle you are driving, what trail head you will be parked at and what your intended route is.
seano
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by seano »

That's a surprising number of Needle rescues (almost half!) on the Ellingwood Ridge! I would have expected far fewer, given that it sees only a fraction of the standard routes' traffic, and most of those people probably have a rope with them.
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nyker
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by nyker »

This is helpful to alert folks of potential consequences of wrong moves on this peak and others.
Too often climbers myself included may not fully realize dangers of a peak if we happen to
get up and down safely in an uneventful way, have someone else leading the way or just have good luck that day...
a situation which could very easily have turned out differently with a single wrong turn.

thanks for posting
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SamWerner
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by SamWerner »

Thanks for the post and the informative map! I climbed the Needle this past weekend so these points are still fresh in my mind. As I was hiking with my group, and we had difficulty finding the route at a few key points, I wondered where LNT and climber safety intersect. For example, we used colored tape to mark key points to aim for as we ascended, and took them down as we passed them while descending. We had a lot easier time finding the route than we otherwise would have. The few climbers that came up after us may have seen them and had their experience altered by it, but others expressed appreciation at the easier routefinding. The two key points descending were the crossover from West to East gully with a small easy-to-miss cairn, and the 13,300' point mentioned above.

I wonder if a simple wooden sign at the 13,300' point with "Trail ->" would be beneficial to stop people from descending further than they're supposed to. Obviously the best solution is for people to be more informed when they climb, but clearly that isn't working out given the frequent rescues here.
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Custer County SAR
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by Custer County SAR »

We have inquired about placing signage in the past, but it is a federal wilderness area, outside of our county sheriff's office and our team's authority.
https://www.facebook.com/CusterSAR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Always tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back, even if you aren’t hiking alone.
That person should also know what vehicle you are driving, what trail head you will be parked at and what your intended route is.
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by 9patrickmurphy »

Super interesting stuff, clearly someone spent a lot of time on this and I'm very thankful of the work you guys do
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CliminDave
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by CliminDave »

Coincidentally, there is a rescue going on this evening…

https://www.kktv.com/2021/07/08/rescue- ... -colorado/

May all rescuers and climber remain safe tonight!
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by nyker »

Oh man...hoping for a good outcome here...
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

SamWerner wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:10 pm Thanks for the post and the informative map! I climbed the Needle this past weekend so these points are still fresh in my mind. As I was hiking with my group, and we had difficulty finding the route at a few key points, I wondered where LNT and climber safety intersect. For example, we used colored tape to mark key points to aim for as we ascended, and took them down as we passed them while descending. We had a lot easier time finding the route than we otherwise would have. The few climbers that came up after us may have seen them and had their experience altered by it, but others expressed appreciation at the easier routefinding. The two key points descending were the crossover from West to East gully with a small easy-to-miss cairn, and the 13,300' point mentioned above.

I wonder if a simple wooden sign at the 13,300' point with "Trail ->" would be beneficial to stop people from descending further than they're supposed to. Obviously the best solution is for people to be more informed when they climb, but clearly that isn't working out given the frequent rescues here.
In general it’s bad form to leave tape on a route, could turn into trash, what if someone else picks it up and you get lost trying to find it, just poor etiquette as it’s not standard practice. Maybe that will change someday and taping will be like wanding alpine routes 🤷‍♂️
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SamWerner
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by SamWerner »

SchralpTheGnar wrote: Wed Jul 07, 2021 10:07 pm
SamWerner wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:10 pm Thanks for the post and the informative map! I climbed the Needle this past weekend so these points are still fresh in my mind. As I was hiking with my group, and we had difficulty finding the route at a few key points, I wondered where LNT and climber safety intersect. For example, we used colored tape to mark key points to aim for as we ascended, and took them down as we passed them while descending. We had a lot easier time finding the route than we otherwise would have. The few climbers that came up after us may have seen them and had their experience altered by it, but others expressed appreciation at the easier routefinding. The two key points descending were the crossover from West to East gully with a small easy-to-miss cairn, and the 13,300' point mentioned above.

I wonder if a simple wooden sign at the 13,300' point with "Trail ->" would be beneficial to stop people from descending further than they're supposed to. Obviously the best solution is for people to be more informed when they climb, but clearly that isn't working out given the frequent rescues here.
In general it’s bad form to leave tape on a route, could turn into trash, what if someone else picks it up and you get lost trying to find it, just poor etiquette as it’s not standard practice. Maybe that will change someday and taping will be like wanding alpine routes 🤷‍♂️
That was the only route I've done that for, and given that in the time between mine and your messages someone had to be evacuated for missing a turn easily prevented by marking the route, I think it was wise. Yes there's the risk of relying on tape that could blow away or have someone else take it down, but until there's a sign to prevent people from going down the wrong route into danger, a small piece of tape is a much lower impact to the mountain than a helicopter.
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by TomPierce »

This has been covered before, and probably will remain controversial, but isn't the better (and admittedly, probably naiive/idealistic) option for climbers to simply get better at basic mountaineering skills? I mean, this isn't rocket science: You came up the very route you now want to go down. So pause occasionally, look behind you, commit the descent route to your short term memory. Duh. Maybe place a few small cairns, just a couple of small stacked rocks, if you really need to. Safely remove them when you descend.

I'm not some sort of mountaineering bad ass, but I've climbed the Needle twice and both times I ascended different variations of the Ellingwood Arete (aka Ledges) up the face opposite of the decent route, i.e. I didn't have the benefit of getting a preview of the decent route by climbing up it, I was seeing it fresh for the first time after our first ascent. Even with that handicap both of our descents were relatively uneventful. I just don't see the need to dumb things down by placing a sign. Super basic mountaineering skills should get you down safely, esp in this age of photo-by-photo beta (we didn't have that luxury when I first climbed it).

Fwiw, I have no problem w surveyors tape, just remove it on the descent, you'll be passing right by it.

Just my opinions.

-Tom
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Re: Rescue Patterns in the Crestone Group

Post by John Landers »

TomPierce wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:39 am This has been covered before, and probably will remain controversial, but isn't the better (and admittedly, probably naiive/idealistic) option for climbers to simply get better at basic mountaineering skills?
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I have always enjoyed the challenges of route finding on the more challenging peaks. It is not about being better than someone else, it is a personal challenge.
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