Crestone Needle
Geology (Crestone Needle) Title: Geologic History of the Crestones Entered by: ztop Added: 6/30/2010, Last Updated: 6/30/2010 Sources: Bolyard, D.W., 1959, Pennsylvanian and Permian stratigraphy of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between La Veta Pass and Westcliffe, Colorado: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 43, p. 1896-1939 Blakey, Ron, 2005 (and updates online)http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/garm.html; Brill, K.G., 1952, Stratigraphy in the Permo-Pennsylvanian zeugogeosyncline of Colorado and northern New Mexico: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 63, p. 809-890 Hoy, R.G. and Ridgway, K.D., 2002, Syndepositional thrust-related deformation and sedimentation in an Ancestral Rocky Mountains basin, Central Colorado Trough, Colorado, USA: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 114, p.804-828 Lindsey, D.A., Clark, R.F., and Soulliere, S.J., 1986, Minturn and Sangre de Cristo formations of southern Colorado; a prograding fan delta and alluvial fan sequence shed from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 41, p. 541-561 One of the most exciting times in Colorado geologic history was the Pennsylvanian period when continental collisions formed the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Europe and Africa collided with North America forming the Appalachian and Ouachita Mountains, and North America tried to break in two through southern Oklahoma. As the continent was being squeezed and ripped apart, the Uncompahgre highland was uplifted in central and western Colorado, the Front Range and Apishapa uplifts to the east, and the Central Colorado Trough became a deep basin between the two highlands. During the late Pennsylvanian and Permian periods, massive amounts of sediment were shed off the Uncompahgre into the trough. The coarsest sediments are called the Crestone conglomerate (see shredthegnar10's report). Boulders up to 10' in diameter rolled down the mountainsides and were deposited in a pile of sediment that reached more than 9000' in thickness, a massive amount of bouldery rock. It was an environment similar to that of Red Rocks and Garden of the Gods, but must have been much steeper with more dramatic landslides and mudflows. There is very little fine grained sediment, but one notable band is much-beloved by readers on this website. Kit Carson Avenue is a bench developed on a 4-6' thick mudstone which is amazingly continuous considering how little fine-grained sediment there is in the Crestones. There are still huge boulders in this mudstone, but its softness allows it to weather out and leave a path across Kit Carson Peak. Ironically, the basin where those rocks were deposited has been inverted and now forms the spine of the Crestone Peaks area of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The cement that holds the boulders together makes the Crestone Conglomerate a stable and hard rock as many climbers appreciate. The sediments form a 3000' high wall on these peaks, a massive amount of coarse-grained conglomerate to be deposited in narrow basin. Largest Version
Name History (Crestone Needle) Title: Naming of Crestone Needle Entered by: 14erFred Added: 5/14/2010, Last Updated: 5/14/2010 Sources: Borneman, W.R., & Lampert, L.J. (1978). A climbing guide to Colorado's Fourteeners. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Company. Hart, J.L.J. (1977). Fourteen thousand feet: A history of the naming and early ascents of the high Colorado peaks (Second Edition). Denver, CO: The Colorado Mountain Club. Some time before 1853, trappers and traders entered the San Luis Valley (west of the Crestones) and saw some resemblance between the Crestone Group (The Needle, the Peak, and Kit Carson) and the Three Tetons of Wyoming, which were the best known mountains of the west. Thus, the Crestone Group is called the Trois Tetons on the Wheeler Survey's maps of 1877 and 1879. Crestone Peak and Needle were also once known as the Crestone Needles and as the Spanish Crags. According to Spanish lexicons, the name "Crestone" has many meanings, including "a large crest, cock's comb, crest of helmet, or outcropping of ore (the suffix "-on" means large)...as seen from the south, the present Crestone Peak is remarkably like a cock's comb; most people are sure of the resemblance" (Hart, 1977, p. 25). The last Colorado 14er to be climbed (by Albert Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis on July 24, 1916), Crestone Needle was first named "the South East Spannish [sic] Crag" by the U.S. Land Office Survey of 1883. However, locals referred to the mountain as simply one of the Needles. In 1921, the Colorado Mountain Club named the mountain "Crestone Needle," and in 1923, the CMC officially accepted this name for its list of Colorado highpoints.

Crestone Needle

Geology (Crestone Needle)

Title: Geologic History of the Crestones
Entered by: ztop
Added: 6/30/2010, Last Updated: 6/30/2010
Sources: Bolyard, D.W., 1959, Pennsylvanian and Permian stratigraphy of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between La Veta Pass and Westcliffe, Colorado: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 43, p. 1896-1939 Blakey, Ron, 2005 (and updates online)http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/garm.html; Brill, K.G., 1952, Stratigraphy in the Permo-Pennsylvanian zeugogeosyncline of Colorado and northern New Mexico: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 63, p. 809-890 Hoy, R.G. and Ridgway, K.D., 2002, Syndepositional thrust-related deformation and sedimentation in an Ancestral Rocky Mountains basin, Central Colorado Trough, Colorado, USA: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 114, p.804-828 Lindsey, D.A., Clark, R.F., and Soulliere, S.J., 1986, Minturn and Sangre de Cristo formations of southern Colorado; a prograding fan delta and alluvial fan sequence shed from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 41, p. 541-561

One of the most exciting times in Colorado geologic history was the Pennsylvanian period when continental collisions formed the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Europe and Africa collided with North America forming the Appalachian and Ouachita Mountains, and North America tried to break in two through southern Oklahoma. As the continent was being squeezed and ripped apart, the Uncompahgre highland was uplifted in central and western Colorado, the Front Range and Apishapa uplifts to the east, and the Central Colorado Trough became a deep basin between the two highlands.
During the late Pennsylvanian and Permian periods, massive amounts of sediment were shed off the Uncompahgre into the trough. The coarsest sediments are called the Crestone conglomerate (see shredthegnar10's report). Boulders up to 10' in diameter rolled down the mountainsides and were deposited in a pile of sediment that reached more than 9000' in thickness, a massive amount of bouldery rock. It was an environment similar to that of Red Rocks and Garden of the Gods, but must have been much steeper with more dramatic landslides and mudflows. There is very little fine grained sediment, but one notable band is much-beloved by readers on this website. Kit Carson Avenue is a bench developed on a 4-6' thick mudstone which is amazingly continuous considering how little fine-grained sediment there is in the Crestones. There are still huge boulders in this mudstone, but its softness allows it to weather out and leave a path across Kit Carson Peak.
Ironically, the basin where those rocks were deposited has been inverted and now forms the spine of the Crestone Peaks area of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The cement that holds the boulders together makes the Crestone Conglomerate a stable and hard rock as many climbers appreciate.
The sediments form a 3000' high wall on these peaks, a massive amount of coarse-grained conglomerate to be deposited in narrow basin.

Largest Version

Name History (Crestone Needle)

Title: Naming of Crestone Needle
Entered by: 14erFred
Added: 5/14/2010, Last Updated: 5/14/2010
Sources: Borneman, W.R., & Lampert, L.J. (1978). A climbing guide to Colorado's Fourteeners. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Company. Hart, J.L.J. (1977). Fourteen thousand feet: A history of the naming and early ascents of the high Colorado peaks (Second Edition). Denver, CO: The Colorado Mountain Club.

Some time before 1853, trappers and traders entered the San Luis Valley (west of the Crestones) and saw some resemblance between the Crestone Group (The Needle, the Peak, and Kit Carson) and the Three Tetons of Wyoming, which were the best known mountains of the west. Thus, the Crestone Group is called the Trois Tetons on the Wheeler Survey's maps of 1877 and 1879. Crestone Peak and Needle were also once known as the Crestone Needles and as the Spanish Crags. According to Spanish lexicons, the name "Crestone" has many meanings, including "a large crest, cock's comb, crest of helmet, or outcropping of ore (the suffix "-on" means large)...as seen from the south, the present Crestone Peak is remarkably like a cock's comb; most people are sure of the resemblance" (Hart, 1977, p. 25).

The last Colorado 14er to be climbed (by Albert Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis on July 24, 1916), Crestone Needle was first named "the South East Spannish [sic] Crag" by the U.S. Land Office Survey of 1883. However, locals referred to the mountain as simply one of the Needles. In 1921, the Colorado Mountain Club named the mountain "Crestone Needle," and in 1923, the CMC officially accepted this name for its list of Colorado highpoints.

Geology (Crestone Needle)

Name History (Crestone Needle)

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