Crestone Peak

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/19/2025, By: bdloftin77
Info: Broken Hand Pass has some snow. I made it up and down okay without them, but microspikes would have been helpful. Red gully had some water, but not snow. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/17/2025, By: jklammer
Info: Upper trailhead to Crestone Peak summit and back to trailer head, around 12 hrs 430a-4p. Waited on summit for clouds to clear and they never did. The entire hike is great, summer, dry hiking conditions. Gully was clear besides a little water in the lower center - lots of space to navigate around. Great climbing. I was a bit intimidated ahead of time - but didnt need to be because the scramble is secure the whole way. It was clear in morning, then fog blew in and we were socked in on the summit. It clear up when we almost down the gully. A handful of tents at the S Colony Lake, with plenty of backpackers walking up on my return. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/10/2025, By: CDubFTW
Info: Made it to the 4WD TH in my Jeep Grand Cherokee, just need the Rock mode and careful route planning. We decided to try the road when a BMW SUV said they made it. Parking lot filled up at like 4 pm on Friday, but there are plenty of pull-offs along the road. Lots of people camped around Lower South Colony Lake, with easy stream access on the connector between the split trails. Broken Hand Pass was shit. Hard to track the trail in the dark and all loose and steep. The back side of BHP was still steep and loose down the basin until you drop down to the lake. The Red Gulley had a creek running down the bottom half. The gulley switched between beautiful sticky rock slabs and crap chutes. Felt more like Class 2 most of the time with a few easy Class 3 portions. After reaching the top of the gulley, stick to the left of the ridge crest and you're there. Also zero snow near this route. Hope this helps!
Time wise:
2h10m from 4WD to Lower South Colony Lake
1h10m to climb BHP
1h to reach bottom of Red Gulley
2h up to the summit (it's a glute burner) 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/21/2025, By: Ariella6
Info: Road from 4wd lot up to trail had muddy/wet spots.

Rest of trail is dry and in summer conditions. 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 7/22/2025, By: evanm137
Info: This route is AWESOME! Just make sure you research the crux beforehand, since that's the gnarliest part. If you have climbing experience, are comfortable with exposure, and love a challenge, then this route is an absolute pleasure. Summer conditions absolutely everywhere on this mountain. Did the traverse as well. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/21/2025, By: madmattd
Info: Came up Cottonwood side, camped near the waterfall at 11.4k. Mosquitos around but not a big issue, only a couple bites over 2 days without spray/headnet use. I found the navigation fine for the 4 miles to where I camped. The tricky parts generally written about are in the ~3/4mi from where I camped to the junction with the route to Crestone Peak/Cottonwood Lake - it's easy to miss a turn in the faint footbed and get off route, especially in the willows. I added a small cairn or two at faint unmarked turns, in general it is decently cairned, but in the dark if you've never been on it before it could be challenging to follow (not terrible in the day time). There's also a couple class 3 pitches (one by the base of the upper waterfall near 11.7k' verges on class 4 in my opinion) to spice things up if you're trying to camp higher than I did. I had the "benefit" of going up and down this section on consecutive days so I now feel pretty good about where the route goes. There is also a lightly-cairned route that prompts you to cross the stream just above the 11.4k' waterfall, and recross around 11.8k' - this goes but I think the proper trail (which does NOT cross the main stream) is the better way to go overall.

No snow on the entire route. Tons of water especially low in the red gully but easy to swing back and forth to keep dry soles. Very straight forward class 3 with minimal route-finding - just go up! Take and use a helmet!!! Rock fall can happen and it was staggering how many people were climbing the red gully without one (or left it on their packs). 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/2/2025, By: OntheRocks78
Info: There are some no overnight parking signs posted at the 2WD TH that other hikers told me are new. Plenty of people still parking overnight however. The road to upper TH is rough but I made it in a VW Altas 2WD, which has good clearance. Probably would not attempt to again. Mosquitos present at S Colony lakes campsites but tolerable. Route is essentially snow free. Did not do the Needle but looks to be summer conditions as well. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/28/2025, By: jmfb3
Info: Such a great climb! Summer conditions with ~2-3 small snowfield crossings. Traction could be helpful if you're nervous / cautious, but my group did not use traction and had no issues.

Be warned - THE MOSQUITOS. They're horrendous. My legs look like I have a horrible case of poison ivy. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/22/2025, By: ericolson
Info: Great day camped down at colony lakes but the wind was horrendous, started Bout 430 up broken hand pass , still some patches of snow fun for sliding down on the way back but easily avoidable, still a little snow in the gulley but easily avoidable if you veer left, little more class 4 moved but not to shabby you end up a little above the notch and makes you closer to the summit, no need for spikes or axe almost summer conditions it’s melting fast! So go for it 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/16/2025, By: HokieTom
Info: I will post some photos shortly. The red gully, or more correctly named now, the white gully, is loaded. However, a lot of melting later on the 2nd photo. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/12/2025, By: tjf242424
Info: I didn’t do the Peak or the Needle, but I took the attached photo from Crestolita, which may be of interest to some. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 5/23/2025, By: Stormline24
Info: I hiked to Crestone Peak and Needle on Thursday, 5/22/2025 via Cottonwood Creek TH, with a plan to do the traverse, conditions permitting. The Red Gulley is full of snow and has had a recent very large avalanche with debris from about 500 feet from the top all the way to the bottom. I climbed up to about 500-600’ from the ridge of the peak and was stopped by an area of solid ice about 35 feet long and the width of the section I was in. I didn’t have climbing crampons or protection, so bailed on it.
Crestone needle has had two smaller avalanches as well, running down the south facing aspect.
I experienced partial snowfield collapses on 4 occasions here ( 1 going up and 3 coming down) where at least 100’x100’ area would just collapse and sink 2-3” when I stepped onto a snowfield( similar to an avalanche start).
This area is quite unstable right now. It looks too thin to ski and too wet and heavy and prone to slide, to climb right now, due to recent snow. I don’t think the Red Gulley will be ready, possibly until July, for summer conditions- the avy debris is very thick and right now spans the full width of the gulley.
Crestone Needle southern aspects including the full traverse was covered in snow as well (see pics). 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/27/2024, By: daway8
Info: Incremental update: a lot more of the approach trail has melted out since Saturday although higher up there was just enough fresh snow to cover some of the ice on the trail, though not enough to lose the trench that I and several others helped put in - trench is solid enough that I managed without snowshoes but I was already at the base of the Red Gully before being in direct sun, otherwise snowshoes might have been needed. Red Gully still has a few short but sketchy sections of ice where crampons and ice axe are pretty much essential. From saddle to summit there was only moderate snow. Nearby NE Crestone was almost totally bare but the wind at the saddle sounded like a jet engine so didn't climb. Going down the Red Gully, snow conditions extremely variable, sometimes perfect for glissading with great bite from the ice axe, other times it was soft enough that I struggled to stop and a couple times found a spot where I sank to my waist, which was alarming but thankfully everything remained stable. Down lower there was some barely covered ice and then completely bare ice. So overall the descent took much longer than hoped for. Will add photos shortly. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/23/2024, By: Skimo95
Info: Thanks to Bigfoot & co for the cottonwood trench. My partner didnt use snowshoes but I found them somewhat helpful the last mile or so to gully turnoff. There are a couple few ice steps in the red gully that will need to be navigated carefully using sharp crampons and one axe minimum. Great day out overall 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/21/2024, By: daway8
Info: Adding my two cents on this non-summit day, in part to share some photos. Started solo from Cottonwood Creek. First 2-3mi is a breeze, easy to follow in the dark, though that valley seems to get bitter cold in the night. But then quickly lost the trail in a maze of ice floes, partly frozen waterfalls, steep snowy scrambles, etc. Was not prepared for how aggressively variable the second half of this approach is. Eventually bigfoot1 overtook me and we both went up to the base of the Red Gully which is pretty much fully loaded top to bottom. We could see tracks running up the gully, so presumably others made it up earlier but we both wasted a ton of time and energy bushwhacking up that far and decided not to continue. Looks like the previous group probably used a steeper, more direct approach from Cottonwood vs the standard summer version of the trail we attempted to follow. In retrospect, that may have been the better option.