Crestone Peak

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/2/2020, By: Piotr
Info: Dry summer conditions, just a little trickle down the center of red gully. The worst part of the hike was descending Broken Hand Pass - definitely bring at least microspikes, as the snow and footsteps are frozen solid and iced over. A tip: follow signs for Humbold/Upper Lake, and then take a trail connector to Crestone Trail below lower lake to save yourself some distance on "regular" Crestone Needle trail. This also avoids crossing a broken log bridge on Crestone trail. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/28/2020, By: cmkzp9
Info: Snow around crux of Broken Hand Pass, microspikes helped a lot going up and down. No snow elsewhere on the route. Ice axe not necessary but might help. There are deep postholes in the snowy sections so you could probably do it without spikes. Snow rock solid in morning. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/22/2020, By: jahselassie
Info: Really just wanted to give an update on the Cottonwood Creek Trail. There was a significant amount more of deadfall that has fallen on the trail, etc. since hiking Crestone Peak in late June. My hiking partner and I joked that it felt like a completely different trail.

Careful route finding and being familiar with the area helped. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/21/2020, By: jcrom777
Info: Broken hand pass was still covered in snow. There are some footprints to follow but even when I relied on those they occasionally caved or gave out. Was up to my knees and hips in snow on a few occasions. Didn't wear micro-spikes on the way up but did on the way down. Glissaded down part of it though I don't know that I'd recommend as the snow melts it's just not solid enough for a proper glissade. Rest of the route is snow free.

Side note: I didn't notice any cairns on the way up red gully but there is somewhat of a trail on the left as you ascend. That said, I think I would have preferred the more solid rocks on the right anyway as the "trail" was loose on the way down and would result in extra steps on the way up. Was nice on the way down though. But for ascent, there's really only one direction to go at that point and it's up. Trying to switchback and relatively pointless. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/14/2020, By: LivingOnTheEdge
Info: Didn't go up and over Broken Hand as we were headed for Columbia Point on this day, but figured approach info would be valuable. Broken Hand looked stocked from top to bottom but can't speak to the depth of the snow. Packed snow at the trailhead and decently packed trench up the road to the split at the old trailhead. We broke trail from there up to the Lower South Colony Lake on the Humboldt Trail, but were not prepared for hip deep drifts and constant knee deep slogging. Melting pretty quickly, but I wouldn't be surprised if all of that snow doesn't melt off this year. Plan for the potential of full on winter conditions if you want to ensure your success. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/11/2020, By: ekviatnie
Info: Winter conditions. This morning snow in the valley but melted by this afternoon. Snow covered road to lower South Colony lakes TH. The S Colony approach is 6-8” of slushy snow. Once at the Upper S Colony TH, 12” of slushy snow. I was the first person and the trails were not visible. I walked a bit, but turned around as I am not familiar with this area. High, constant winds and about freezing temperatures mid day at the upper TH. There is enough snow to avalanche so be careful. 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 9/4/2020, By: Eli Watson
Info: 99% summer conditions, but fresh snow dustings and spots of ice are starting to linger in the shady spots of northern aspects observed around 3:00 PM. Did not terribly interfere with any of the exposed scrambling - just watch your feet in those spots. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/27/2020, By: LetsGoMets
Info: Summer conditions.

Smoke conditions: Excellent today, air quality felt good, blue skies and a very minimal haze with good distance viz. Best day I've seen in a couple weeks for sure. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/9/2020, By: durkan
Info: Camped down near and with enough distance from South Colony Lakes. Conditions dry the whole way, minus in the red gully (avoidable).
After tagging Crestone Needle via standard route, we had service to re-verify our weather window for Crestone Peak and then went for it.

If you decide to do the standard route for both Crestones in a day and avoid the traverse, I suggest doing them in the order like we did: Crestone Needle, then Crestone Peak since the red gully on Crestone Peak requires less route finding and the ridge after is well cairned. 

Route: Cottonwood Creek
Posted On: 8/9/2020, By: macg91
Info: Summited both Needle and Peak via standard routes (no traverse) as a day hike from Cottonwood Creek. This makes for a long day but is doable if you're fast and the weather holds up. As others have noted conditions on the approach trail seem to have improved over the past years. First few miles are clear and easily navigable by headlamp. Last mile or so is steeper with a bit of route finding and some bushwhacking but I didn't feel this slowed me down too much. Overall this seemed like a good alternative to the South Colony Lakes approach especially if you don't want to deal with the 4wd road, with less total mileage and no need to regain Broken Hand Pass after summiting the Peak. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/30/2020, By: Marshall
Info: Got my stock AWD 2005 CR-V to the 4WD TH. Don't know if I'd recommend it, but I did it. Great conditions, great day. Only thing of note is to watch for cairns with pink ribbon when coming off of the Needle. That is your exit from the gully. Follow cairns and take care! No mosquitoes at the lake but plenty of flies. We did not camp. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/31/2020, By: Bspryn880
Info: Did the Peak to Needle route. Route finding was pretty straightforward except for the beginning. Going back down the Red Gully from the peak, try and stay as far left as possible to locate the beginning of traverse. I would guess its around 13,300, think 14ers quotes 13,600? Other than that Cairns are nicely dispersed throughout. I would highly recommend this traverse, I did it solo and the last crux wall up needle wasnt as scary as they say imo. I took the middle of the three up the final pitch and felt like that was the best move. Didnt have the "o shit exposure" that the left side has, and not as difficult as the right. Happy climbing! 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/25/2020, By: s mckinney10
Info: There's still a small snow pack about a quarter way up the red gully, but you can work around it with no issues/no traction needed. The gully was soaked from the rain the night before, but everything is in full summer conditions. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/12/2020, By: jryor121
Info: Hiked east crestone, northeast crestone, crestone peak, and crestone needle in a day without the traverse. It was a very long day. The conditions are fully summer conditions, no need for anything other than a helmet. I'd love to share some beta on northeast crestone, since it seems that there isn't much info to be found on the seemingly impossible peak (PS it's not as bad as it looks).
https://www.strava.com/activities/3750559860 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/12/2020, By: jslove1
Info: I wanted to add other recent info that I did not encounter any mosquitoes, although there were a lot of flies (not biting fortunately) at night at the upper parking lot.