Crestone Peak

Route: S. Couloir
Posted On: 5/17/2014, By: freeinthehills
Info: Crestones are fat. Decent contrived, but absolutely smooth from 20 ft below the summit. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 2/18/2014, By: jmanner
Info: Attempted Crestone Peak, from Cottonwood Creek, on Presidents Day... The trench from the late January climbs is in excellent shape. We added our own foot prints and ski tracks on top of them. Anyone going up should have a excellent path all the way to the boulder field. We never took our skis off to skin, there wasn't a need. One word of advice: Stay left when you get to the boulder field its a lot easier to climb up on that side. We only made it up to 11,750 before heading back home: family obligations of one of the party.

Its drying out fast up there...

FYI: The skiing sucked. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 1/27/2014, By: Yikes
Info: stable snow in gully. some icy spots. lots of hard pack where we couldn't even kick in steps with crampons. ice axe and crampons definitely required. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/7/2013, By: EmmaM
Info: We encountered residual hail deposits from the previous day (Wednesday) on the traverse from Peak to Needle, most of which is avoidable. Overall conditions were good and not icy, as hoped. The avenue of Kit Carson - viewed from the summit - is filled with snow. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/14/2013, By: djrunner
Info: No snow gear needed. There is one small snow field on the way up to Broken Hand Pass, which is avoidable on the left side. Bringing snow equipment would be unecessary weight. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/30/2013, By: jimmtman
Info: Not much snow going up to BHP - one short steep section (photo 1) with lots of steps and then it is dry. We had crampons but others used microspikes. The Red Gully is largely melted out and the route tends to weave left and right to avoid the snow - only a couple snow crossings were mandatory - no traction used or needed. Thunderstorms started at noon and went until 5 pm or so.

Jim 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/21/2013, By: SherpaSara
Info: Ice ax still definitely required. The snow is melting a lot, but there is still a big snow field in the upper portion of Red Gully and contains some highly questionable snow, especially as the day warms up. Oh yeah, and the marmots seem to be all over the place and made nice snacks out of my trekking pole grips, bike handgrips, and bike seat. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/13/2013, By: zephyr_pelicante
Info: Ice axe required. Snowshoes not needed. Crampons are overkill, microspikes help but to be honest I didn't use them on most of the ascent or descent.

Some postholing up BHP but overall still faster than summer. Ice Axe required.

The red gully has quite a bit of snow in it, but it's melting fast, be careful not to hike in snow where you hear water running. Also it's really hot so the snow isn't exactly the most stable or hard. Overall about the same as summer cond. as far as difficulty. If you like rock climbing you can climb on the class 4 stuff to the right and left of the snow fields (very solid rock here) but you will have to cross the snow in the gully at least twice.

Above the gully no snow. Great views, amazing mountain. Lots of runoff. be careful on the snow. Trust nothing!! 

Route: (any)
Posted On: 4/30/2013, By: jdorje
Info: As of a few days ago, visible snow on the Crestone group from the west was at its highest point of the year. The last few days have been mostly sunny with very high temperatures (70s in the valley) and snow is visibly less with each day. There appears to still be full snow cover from about 11000' and up. Visually, the Crestone group appears to have significantly more snow than the Blanca group now. Kit Carson avenue is a mass of white, and no doubt all the gullies are pretty deep as well. More snow is forecast for tomorrow.

The east side of the range is more north-facing and no doubt holds a lot more snow by this point. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 2/18/2013, By: FireOnTheMountain
Info: Solo mission for Crestone Peak via Cottonwood Creek was a success. A truly wonderful day. Otina/Kevin's group trail was still there for the first 2 miles (I thank you kindly for this) after that it was all me.

Snow was pretty good in the Red Gully. Some spots in the middle of the couloir that I shyed away from.

1st Pic - Red Gulley
2nd - look up at the bottom (4th class rock bands were negotiated in the bottom of the couloir but after that it was snow sailing)
4th - Summit Ridge

If anyone would like more info or pics I would be glad to provide them. Humboldt looked kinda dry as was the traverse to Needle. Kit Ave pretty loaded. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 2/3/2013, By: kushrocks
Info: This was without a doubt the most exhausting day I have ever had climbing 14ers in Colorado but also one of the most rewarding. Yesterday all 7 of us Kevin (Kevin Baker) Otina (bergsteign) Ryan (Dchild10) Prakash (maverickmanley), Heather, myself (another Ryan) and Sophie (my dog) successfully summited Crestone Peak after a brutal 18 hour day. 11.25 hours up and 6.45 hours down. The term of the day is "post hole."

We started at 4am and the first 2 or 3 miles we wore microspikes which helped with traction. After that it became time to put the snowshoes on as the snow got deeper . . .and deeper . . . and deeper. The rest of the approach to the Crestone Peak was brutal as we worked our way through knee to thigh deep snow while wearing snowshoes. While the snow sucked the views were absolutely spectacular.

We ditched the snowshoes just below the base of the peak as temps were warm enough . . .or at least I was working hard enough I could temporarily wear a tshirt. By the time we were at the base of the Red Gully we had already been on the trail 8 hours. We thought the snow would be more compact and be able to crampon up. The whole upper peak was covered in snow and frost which made us pause. We were confident enough that the snow in the gully wouldnt slide but decided to stay high left on whatever rocks we could find just in case. Stilll we post holed the whole way up in crampons. The snow up the Red Gully was as my good friend Jeff Golden (SurfNturf) would say "about as supportive as a strippers father." At the top of the gully we thought the worst conditions were over but we were wrong.

Countless times during the day we though we would have to turn around but with a good team helping eachother out we succeeded. The final 65 feet gave us the most pause. However, we worked together helping each other find hand, feet, and ice axe holds taking an additional 30 minutes as we very carefully traversed and climbed over frost and sugary snow. We finally summited at 315pm and knew we had to turn around right away to get down the Red Gully before dark. We spent less than 5 minutes on the summit. Again we helped each other down the top section taking our time and then carefully made our way down the Red Gully. We were able to carefully plunge step our way down a majority of the Red Gully. We still had to be very careful though. We got back to our snowshoes at the base of the peak just as it was getting dark and began the long endless walk out.

Kevin had done the traverse two weeks ago. I asked him how much more snow there was this time than last time and he said "oh about 2 more feet". 

Route: any
Posted On: 10/12/2012, By: jdorje
Info: After weeks without snow, there was significant snowfall on the 12th and 13th, on all of the Crestone group if not all of Colorado. Photo 1 is from evening on the 13th (yeah, it doesn't even show Crestone Peak...conditions report is under CP as it's the highest).

As of the 25th there had been no further visible snow. Significant snow remains on north-facing slopes above ~12,000, while south-facing slopes were basically clear of it.

On the morning of the 26th there was a bit of new snow. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/23/2012, By: forbins_mtn
Info: Climbed Crestone Peak from S. Colony Lakes. Snow is still on BHP, and packed down. So it's there for a while and probably for good. We brought spikes, wore them once. You can skirt around it. But if you want peace of mind - might as well bring them.

Peak, Needle and the traverse were completely snow free. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/17/2012, By: ChrisinAZ
Info: Approaching from S Colony Lakes, the climb up BHP had a few inches of snow starting at around 12500'. Getting up to the pass is very doable, but microspikes are recommended.

As of Sunday, the standard routes up both the Peak and the Needle, as well as "E Crestone", were virtually completely free of snow from BHP. No special gear needed. Watch for patches of slick ice on either route in the morning.

"NE Crestone" was more difficult to approach, as the north side of the Crestones holds several inches of snow--enough to be treacherous, but not enough where ice axe and crampons would be useful. We had to approach above the couloir on low 5th class rock, though once the saddle between "E Crestone" and "NE Crestone" was attained, the climb was straightforward and snow-free.

The traverse was almost entirely snow-free, though there were a few inches of snow on the part of the traverse in the gully to the R of the Black Gendarme, as well as the first set of ledges after the short knife edge.

This information is current as of Sunday; a bit of precipitation is supposed to fall today, but with good weather the rest of the week, these conditions are likely to hold through next weekend. A TR is forthcoming... 

Route: 
Posted On: 7/1/2012, By: Nelson
Info: Conditions: Summertime. The only navigation issue was exiting the Red Gully onto the traverse. Do not descend below 13,780 until you are on route. Once you are on it, it is surprisingly well cairned.

If you stay on route, the rock is pretty solid. Off route and even some on route there are loose rocks. Test everything.