Crestone Peak

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/10/2017, By: SummitStormer
Info: Unavoidable snowfield on ascent to Broken Hand Pass and upper half of Red Gully on Crestone Peak.

Ice axe a must. Our group did not use crampons or microspikes.

Traverse is totally clear of snow (traverse turnoff is at the bottom of the highest snowfield in Red Gully) and is well-cairned the entire traverse.

Creastone Needle totally clear of snow, save for approach on Broken Hand Pass. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/7/2017, By: JaredJohnson
Info: Still plenty of snow on broken hand pass and at the top of the red gully. Ice axe and traction required. It's a little unclear whether microspikes are sufficient on this route, I'll share what I know:

- a couple of snow fields on the way to broken hand which are best approached with ice axe and microspikes

- broken hand pass had plenty of snow to ascend which required an ice axe and microspikes at minimum. we went down pretty late and the snow was really terrible to work with, I wish I had put on my crampons for the steepest sections of it, but we both managed to get down in our microspikes

- on the first 2/3 of the red gully there's impassable snow and lots of snowmelt running down the middle so you have to climb off to the left a lot to avoid it. This makes it class 4 IMHO

- At the top 1/3 of the red gully there are two snow sections that can be ascended. It may be possible to avoid the first section by climbing off to the left as well. I had altitude problems and had to turn back right at the base of these sections so I'm not sure if microspikes would have been sufficient here or crampons are required. I talked to a couple of other climbers who had been up 7/4 in crampons and they were ambiguous about it -- so at any rate spikes seem a bit sketchy.

I'll post some photos but I'm afraid I wasn't too concerned about capturing conditions when I took them. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 7/2/2017, By: jknappe17
Info: Route is currently in pretty good shape. We camped near lower south colony lake and started up towards broken hand pass about 4:15 AM. A couple easy snowfield crossings on the north side of broken hand pass and in the Red Gully, though if you are starting early AM traction and ice axe are advisable. Descended snowfield in Red Gully to begin the traverse at about 8:00 AM. Hardly any snow at all on the traverse with technical summit pitch up to the Needle completely dry starting at the 5.2 bulge. Beautiful day. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/2/2017, By: iliketrails
Info: Still a decent amount of snow on broken hand pass, definitely recommend traction. I took the east gully all the way to the summit, there is still a bit of snow in the east gully which made it a little difficult. I decided to descend down the west gully and cross over. West gully was snow free. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/19/2017, By: jschooch
Info: Red Gully is still full of snow but was melting very rapidly by Saturday afternoon which made for a challenging descent. We were able to cross over a few snow bridges in the lower half of the gully but they may not be stable for much longer. Watch out for large cavities near exposed rock in the center of the gully. Still a lot of snow on the approach to Broken Hand Pass but it is in good shape. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/12/2017, By: nsaladin
Info: Conditions on Crestone Peak as of Yesterday. Turned around at 13,300' due to deteriorating snow conditions (about an hour too late). Entire red gulley is full of snow, thin ice bridge near the choke. The needle had snow all the way up the entire east gulley as well. Snow from the last Boulder field switchbacks to the choke on broken hand pass.

No snow to deal with on the road, lots of snow on the route to the needle from the old trailhead and very little snow on the route to Humboldt/Lakes. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 5/30/2017, By: RWSchaffer
Info: As others have noted, the South Colony Lakes road is clear to the upper 4WD trailhead. Beyond that there are increasingly many melting snow drifts along and across the road until snow coverage becomes continuous above the upper stream crossing.

Consolidated snow fields cover both approaches to Broken Hand Pass and the South Face of Crestone Peak. The only spot where consolidated snow is lacking is around the rock band, about a third of the way up Crestone Peak's south couloir, which is ice.

Ice axe was mandatory. I put on crampons at the upper stream crossing and kept them on to the summit and back. I postholed a few dozen times on the way out, but would not have bothered with snowshoes if I had them. A good freeze the night before meant that gaiters were unnecessary until I began my descent shortly before noon; absent the freeze, conditions would have been much worse.

Although I did not attempt to climb them, I have included pictures of the south faces of Crestone Needle and Kit Carson Peak to show coverage. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/29/2016, By: dogballs
Info: Same conditions as recent reports. Pretty much summer out there. There is still some snow on the North side of Broken Hand Pass. No traction required going up, but I did put spikes on for the top half of the decent. The Red Gully was bone dry. I found that if you stay climbers left going up the rock is generally good and keeps you out of the fall line if there are people climbing above you. From the trailhead the top of Broken Hand Pass was reached at 2hr15min, summited Crestone at 4hr05min, summited East Crestone at 4hr15min and round trip took 7hr20min. Long day, but beautiful weather. There were some clouds hugging the summit in the morning and left some rime ice. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/30/2016, By: Dean82
Info: Nice and dry. The only snow was before the top of Broken Hand Pass. The snow was nothing to worry about. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/25/2016, By: jdorje
Info: Snow was forecast for today, but I do not believe any fell.

Red Gully appeared completely free of snow as of yesterday. In general, a few north-facing slopes below 13-14k have just a little bit of snow. Most routes are basically in summer conditions. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/24/2016, By: chicagostylehotdog
Info: Small ice patches on the closed section of the road up to South Colony Lakes. Spotty snow up to Broken Hand Pass, but can be managed without microspikes. Microspikes may be useful for the descent, but nobody in our party used them and there wasn't much of an issue. Tiny amounts of avoidable ice in the red gully up to Crestone Peak. I can't recall any snow on the traverse itself or on the needle route back to BHP.

I agree with the opinion that you should skip the crossover altogether on the standard route to crestone needle and stay in the East Gully. The most difficult part of the East Gully is a few feet beyond the crossover to the west gully, which looked just as difficult. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/23/2016, By: MC.Ikema
Info: The Red Gully was completely dry, no snow or ice on route (no water running down the gully either). Broken Hand Pass has patchy areas of snow/packed snow. Didn't use traction climbing up, but was thankful for traction on the way down. That said, it looks like precipitation is moving through on Tuesday (10/25) so do not expect these conditions to last! 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/9/2016, By: IsaacD
Info: Snow started on BHP - anywhere from 1-4 inches in places. Did not use any sort of traction or flotation, you can walk up BHP without any real issues. A bit of snow/ice in the red gully, but very easily avoidable. We did the traverse, and there was a little bit of snow here and there, but again, very easy to avoid. A little snow on the wall up to Crestone Needle made me slightly nervous but we were able to work our way around it. By the time the sun is hitting the peaks most everything is melting. Go get the peaks before it snows! 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/10/2016, By: kayleenann8
Info: Got too late of a start to summit Crestone Peak, but update on the trail I was on: the trail to Broken Hand pass is starting to collect snow. I was glad that I wore microspikes and had my axe just in case. I am a novice snow climber and was easily able to pick my way up and down the pass. Other than that, the Red Gully had a few ice patches up to about 13,500' (about as high as I went). Generally, the southern facing aspects are still dry and clear, but the northern facing aspects are collecting snow. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/3/2016, By: JQDivide
Info: A little Snow in the upper portions of Broken Hand Pass, micro spikes are helpful. Would guess that snow will not be melting out any time soon.
Crestone Peak, no snow on the route. A little water in the Red Gully, but avoidable.
Traverse was dry, no snow.
Crestone Needle, came down East Gully, mostly dry, no snow. Any water was avoidable.

WATCH OUT FOR FROST: saw lots of frost on rocks, especially the last pitch up to the Needle, Topped out on the Needle about 10am, so the wall was still in shade. But the closer you moved "north" or towards the basin, the more sun and less frost.