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"Crestolita"

Peak Condition Updates  
6/11/2025
Route: SW Ridge
Posted On: 6/12/2025, By: tjf242424
Info: I parked at the Cottonwood Creek TH (reachable by any vehicle) and approached up the Cottonwood Creek Trail. I camped at a great spot at around 11,300 ft and the trail was easy to follow the entire way, with an obvious trail to the waterfall and then lots of cairns above the waterfall. Above camp, still well marked with cairns. I left the trail at around 12,000 ft and followed the rightward slanting grassy ramp identified in several trip reports and then up the SW ridge to the summit. Very minimal snow, perhaps 10 total steps and no need for any traction. I was told the standard route on Broken Hand is also clear of snow. I didn’t attempt to connect Crestolita to Broken Hand, but I would assume that there is still snow on the northern aspects of Crestolita. 
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1
4/13/2025
Route: SW Face
Posted On: 4/14/2025, By: Lubellski
Info: I went up the Cottonwood Creek trail to the junction where left leads to a waterfall and right leads further up the canyon between Crestolita and Pico Aislado. No contiguous snow until about 10,400'. In the morning it held my weight but it was sloppy in the afternoon. Once I got out of the creek area and onto the SWish face of Crestolita there was basically no snow except a few wind drifted patches along the ridgeline. Windy, but pleasant temps. Great route with no carins or signs of other people. TH accessible in any vehicle. 
8
5
12/7/2024
Route: North gullies
Posted On: 12/8/2024, By: daniel_a34
Info: Photo of north facing gullies on Crestolita from Broken Hand pass. Did not go any nearer to Crestolita than BHP, but snow on north facing slopes of BHP was very inconsistent even within the same gully. Sometimes a very icy crust, sometimes sinking to the hip. See conditions report on the Needle if you want more details. 
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1
9/10/2024
Route: Custom scramble
Posted On: 9/11/2024, By: daway8
Info: There's graupel in the air and the first signs of fall colors on the ground - the seasons are changing! Took an intentionally spiced up, largely ridge direct route up Broken Hand Peak from Broken Hand Pass, hitting all sorts of fun towers and ledges along the way - mix of class 3 and 4 with a few bits of class 5. Vastly more interesting than the ho-hum class 2 route just below the ridge. Then took what I can only call a highly customized route up Crestolita - a mix of nice grass ramps, solid rock ribs and loose gullies. Very fun peak to explore. Graupel started partway down the peak and continued on and off much of the day - enough to coat the ground at my campsite, but it was all completely melted by morning. Others reported graupel the day before I hiked in but there was virtually no sign of it on the peaks except the tiniest little pockets in highly shaded areas that posed no difficulty for climbing. Still time for some delightful scrambling on this stellar Crestone conglomerate before things start to get icy, but might not be a lot of time... 
9
10
8/23/2024
Route: North gully
Posted On: 8/23/2024, By: Sbenfield
Info: Went up the north gully for this peak. When viewed from broken hand pass, it is impossible to miss. The gully is typical rubble trash, but does not exceed class 2+. I would recommend a helmet. Near the top of the gully I found some grassy terrain that took me almost to summit. A few easy class 3 moves at the very top. Had no summit views because I was in a cloud. 
12
4
6/24/2024
Route: Cottonwood Lake
Posted On: 6/26/2024, By: JasonKline
Info: I came from Cottonwood Lake as covered in https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=17127 It is currently summer conditions, and the only snow/ice encountered on the route was at the saddle immediately before the summit when approaching from the southwest. The snow sloped down steeply enough on the sides that a fall would have serious consequences, so I chose to loop around to the north. The mosquitoes are horrendous. 
1
1
6/24/2023
Route: Northeast Face
Posted On: 6/25/2023, By: pbradley14er
Info: Crestolita was not on my agenda, but I got a good look at the northeast face. The gullies are filled with snow. I'm guessing you would need crampons and an ice axe to climb it. 
5/6/2023
Route: North Couloir
Posted On: 5/7/2023, By: supranihilest
Info: Such a fun route. Able to drive within half a mile of the South Colony 4WD trailhead. Patchy annoying snow on the road above the gate. In spots the road is practically a river. Took the Humboldt cutoff to the lakes. Good snow in the morning. Cramponed up Broken Hand Pass, no scrambling required right now due to adequate snow coverage. Dropped straight towards "Crestolita" north couloir. Couloir itself was fully stocked top to bottom, snow up to 50-55 degrees. Bulletproof front pointing near bottom and top otherwise great step kicking snow. Large cornices block middle and climber's right branches so we went far climber's left then up a small slot where we had to chop through a small but vertical cornice. Then down climbed about 200 feet on the south face and scrambled/traversed west to the summit block. Going directly up the block was at least Class 3, probably Class 4, so instead we scooted climber's right over the north face and scrambled up grassy, rocky ledges at Class 2+ to the summit. Solid rock, very exposed, and an absolute blast. Down climbed a south facing couloir off the block and traversed back to the vertical cornice which we climbed down facing in, then very carefully down climbed the couloir, especially the bulletproof sections. We then went for Broken Hand Peak. Get a very early start for these ones, they're all day affairs. Easily one of the best 13er routes I've ever done. Gear: crampons mandatory, two axes mandatory, helmet mandatory, flotation mandatory on the deproach, huge smiles mandatory. 
12 3
8/6/2022
Route: Cottonwood Lake
Posted On: 8/8/2022, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Be very cautious routefinding! We ended up getting cliffed out trying to find the crossover of the main gulley. GPS indicated we were exactly on route (clearly we weren't). Had to do some weird downclimbing and found a notch that we could slide through to the main gulley. Never did see the supposed ledge to follow and descended the rotten gulley on the way down. 
1