Crestone Peak

Route: South Face
Posted On: 12/21/2024, By: bigfoot1
Info: So I made a mistake on my last Crestones trip report when I assumed that the snow went away. The snow did not go away, snowshoes are a must past like 11.5k ft. There are 2 snowshoe trenches now leading from 11.5k where all the rocks are, mine goes down to the right a bit and a left one (broken out by David, nice to meet you! Thanks for helping break out the trail!) that goes over a little hump but they both meet back up by the flat, wide open bit. We made it up to the end of the normal trail right at the bottom of red gully(?) and there are snowshoe prints going all the way up the gully and to the peak. The snow seemed suspicious to me, and I really should have brought my ice axe (i didn't think there would be a lot of snow), so I did not summit, once again, and definitely did not do the traverse. It looks like you could drop your snowshoes off by the lake and take the bare rock up to the right of the gully, but I wasn't sure how much ice was on the rocks from all the melting. It is definitely summitable if you are super careful (and more confident in your avalanche/snow reading abilities than I am), and the ridge traverse did appear dry from below. I would recommend crampons instead of snowshoes for the gully though just to have more dexterity. Snowshoes are so clunky. There are lots of remnants of loose dry mini avalanches and some cracks in the wind slabs. The snow is all faceted and acts like a bunch of small marbles. 

Route: Cottonwood Creek/South Face
Posted On: 12/12/2024, By: bigfoot1
Info: Attempt. I started from the west side from cottonwood creek. Only about an inch of snow at the bedding of the trail, and grows to about 6 inches by 10k ft. I broke out a rough snowshoe trench starting about 1.5 miles in to about 12k ft when the snow goes away. There are some icy waterfalls around 37.94896, -105.58964 and that is the only place I felt like I could have used an ice axe, but it isn't a no fall zone. Trail started getting hard to follow at about 11.1k ft. At 11.5k ft, there are tons of cairns leading up to the left which I accidentally (not enough snow to be worried about avalanches) followed which is way off the normal trail. I didn't want to be led to the start of some trad climbing route/dead end so I descended back down to where the trail should supposedly be, and decided to try the crestone traverse another day. 

Route: South Face via Cottonwood Creek Trail
Posted On: 10/9/2024, By: CraigE
Info: Great conditions. Trail was dry from Cottonwood Creek Trailhead all the way to the red gully, and the gully had just a little water running down the middle. No snow or ice to deal with anywhere. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/10/2024, By: timkoh
Info: The only unavoidable snow/ice was in Broken Hand Pass. We probably took 3 or 4 steps on snow/ice. But other than that, completely clear conditions, not a single bit of ice and snow we couldn't avoid beyond Broken Hand Pass. The red gully was fine, the traverse was fine, the knife's edge was fine, and the final climb was fine. Summer conditions all around! Just keep an eye when the next storm rolls in. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 10/5/2024, By: stevmar22
Info: Traverse is completely dry with the exception of a couple small snow patches on inconsequential sections. BHP has a fair amount of snow/ice on it and microspikes are helpful but not absolutely necessary. Get it while you can before the season's over! 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/3/2024, By: Habret
Info: The Red Gully is still snow-free, but in the morning, expect a small amount of ice below 13,600' where the stream is flowing. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/28/2024, By: kieranjsmith
Info: Hiked Crestone Peak from the 2WD South Colony Lakes TH on Friday. There was a good amount of snow on the north side of Broken Hand Pass. I made it up and down without spikes but I think they would have made it safer and quicker. The snow had softened by the time I first got there (12:30pm), but I still slipped a few times and I can imagine it would be slicker in the morning. Water running down half of the red gully, but the left half (climbers left) was clear and dry. I met folks who said that the Needle was similarly dry, but I cant say from personal experience. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/9/2024, By: constipated_pete
Info: Fantastic conditions -- a bit of water running down the center of the red gully on the peak, full summer conditions otherwise. The red gully was a party on Sunday, a large group was celebrating a finisher (at 77?? very impressive)

Wind moved around in weird ways once we got up near the black gendarme but it calmed down for the money pitch up the headwall. One party far in front of us on the traverse but once we broke off to start the traverse we didn't see anyone else until we were back down at South Colony lake.

Absolutely fantastic route. The red gully is fun and straightforward. The traverse is not terribly interesting until you get to the needle but all the moves are secure and there's an amazing build up towards the headwall, which gets steeper and steeper until you suddenly top out. Bill's route description is spot-on. I was very glad to have previously climbed the standard route on the needle, the descent is confusing and unintuitive (especially the notch at photos 11/12) even for experienced 14er climbers. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/3/2024, By: durkan
Info: Some water flow low in the Red/Bacon Gully ascending Crestone Peak.
Dry and well-cairned across the traverse. Saw one climber lose a rock on the headwall while ascending the Needle, so definitely check all those holds.
I personally never ascended the East Gully for Crestone Needle, so descending it after the traverse was done so cautiously.
(2nd time up Crestone Peak) 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/31/2024, By: The_Ramp
Info: Despite a significant rain and hail storm on Thursday night (8/29) at the South Colony Lakes TH, route was completely snow and ice free. Plenty of water in the red gulley though (all very avoidable) and trail through willows around Cottonwood Lake was muddy in spots. 

Route: Crestones Traverse
Posted On: 9/3/2024, By: chelsluckb2
Info: Hiked this on 8/28. There is a good amount of water in the red gully going up Crestone Peak. It is mostly avoidable but definitely more than a trickle.

The traverse is very well cairned, so if you study the pictures and keep an eye out for cairns, you shouldn't have much trouble. The hardest part for me was the class 5 move, but I made it up ok. The final headwall was awesome climbing but in my opinion, a little overhyped in terms of difficulty. I did the north ridge of Kit Carson several weeks prior, and I found it comparable to a much shorter version of that. Slightly steeper but over before you know it.

I decided to go down the east gully direct on the needle to avoid any confusion with finding the crossover. Doing it this way made the route finding quite easy. There is a proper class 4 downclimb around the dihedral, but if you are good with that I recommend the east gully direct. Overall the hike was awesome. A lot of the traverse is fairly tame but all of the climbing was a blast and you can't ask for better rock quality. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/7/2024, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Had a nice day ticking Crestone Peak, NE Crestone, E Crestone, Crestone traverse, then summit of the Crestone Needle. All routes are full summer conditions, just a little water running down the red gully. Beautiful climbing day. Back at the lake at 1:30pm and got rained/hailed on back to the car. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/5/2024, By: James Dziezynski
Info: Red Gully is in great shape; no snow and only a trickle of water down the middle. Great conditions. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/28/2024, By: sean23
Info: Perfect conditions. No snowfields, and you can navigate around the stream in the lower gully. The mosquitoes are bad at camp but fine once you begin climbing. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/16/2024, By: AsTheDuke
Info: Basically summer conditions. No ice axe or traction required. Lower Red Gully has a small waterfall running through it. Upper Red Gully has a snowfield that can be passed on climber's left between the rocks and the snowfield. Worst mosquitos were by Cottonwood Lake and above Lower South Colony Lake. A little hazy as of 7/15 due to wildfire smoke, but not to the point it worsens the views significantly.