Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Crestone Needle - 14,196 feet
Date Posted	08/15/2015
Date Climbed	08/09/2015
Author	Double Oh Seven
Additional Members	[climber]

Hanging out on the Needle-Standard Route
While I am not sure I can add much in terms of beta to a great route. This trip reminded me why i keep coming back to the mountains. Every since Colin and I climbed the Peak last year we had be interested in getting back and doing the Needle. Katie decided to join in and we figured since we were there we would do Humboldt for fun as well. Here we go Thanks for Reading... 14ers members- (climber) Colin; Double Oh Seven (Jeff) Additional Members - Katie Day One Hike In We met up at around noon at the lower trailhead. The weather looked great, for the first time in years I was going to backpack without getting rained, snowed, or hailed on. The first logistical issue was how to get everyone up to the trailhead at one time so that we didn't have to run multiple trips on the 4wd road. Colin drew the short straw and climbed into the back. The road is a little rougher than a typical 4wd but not too bad. It was a quick backpack to the lower South Colony Lake. We set up camp and we were off to bed by about 7:00. Looking forward to the 4:30 wakeup call. The tricky spot on the 4wd road. The Tacoma had no problem with it. Notice Colin hanging out the back. How you get 3 people up the 4wd road in a 2 man truck. Colin caught some good air back there a few times. Day Two The Needle We were off by 5:00 am with headlamps. A couple of climbers were already up on Broken Hand Pass and within 30 minutes there was a steady stream of headlamps behind us. Heading up in the dark to BHP (photo credit: Katie) Photo Credit: Katie Photo Credit: Colin Most of the snow on Broken Hand Pass was gone and there was one short section with good steps in place. I had heard this could be bypassed right on class 3 rock but i didnt see anyone opting for that. No special equipment was needed and we were off the snow in 30 seconds. Some scrambling brought us to the top of BHP and our first views of the route. We followed the great trail to just before the East Gully you run into a short and steep but fun downclimb. I had more trouble with this move than everyone else but handholds and footholds are plenty. Looking up from the bottom the holds are much more obvious and this was no issue on the way back. Downclimbing to the east gully Katie on the downclimb to the East Gully Jeff enjoying the rock before the East Gully (photo credit: Katie) A few hundred feet of great scrambling in the East Gully led us to the transation out of the East Gully. This is often described as the hardest move on the route. I had the benefit of going third and watching everyone but i think we all found the move pretty straight forward with great holds and great rock. This move is also much easier on the downclimb you have a ledge in the middle of the gully you can jump on. Everyone on the East Gully Transation Katie at the Crux Move Colin on the transition to the Rib Jeff transitioning out of the East Gully (photo credit: Colin) Katie then led us up to the Rib and down to the West Gully. Once again great rock (a recurring theme on this mountain) some brief exposure and more fun climbing. Katie grabbed a great shot of Colin and I topping out on the West Ridge. Katie leading everyone up the Rib Colin and Jeff at the top of the rock rib (photo credit: Katie) Jeff enjoying the views on the Rib (photo Credit Katie) At this point the spirits were high and i think we all had smiles from ear to ear comments of "I don't want this to end" and "let's just run laps on this all day" were being tossed about. There's not much to add here about the route so I will let the pictures do the talking.... West Gully climbing Climbing on good rock Katie on the ridge before the summit Yep this pictures says it all.. One cool thing is we saw people on the summits of 5 different mountains at one time. Colin is pretty fast going downhill so he led us all the way back down the mountain. One route finding issue is that there is a carined trail that leads you out of the gully about 150 feet too high. We did this and realized our mistake and traversed back into the gully. It does look like tricky downclimbing could get you down from here but it is not the standard route. Just make note of where you enter the East Gully for your return. Big Horn Sheep on the descent (photo credit: Colin) One last look We got back to camp around noon and after sucessfully killing time by climbing the Needle we got to the real purpose of this trip.... Fishing and Drinking Beer. Colin had never fished before or so he claimed... See below for more on that. Colin claimed to have never fished before. He landed this cuthroat on his first cast...to be honest kind of pissed me off. His luck quickly ran out as he went swimming to retrieve a snagged lure. Chilling the beer in Upper South Colony. If Avery would like to sponsor my next climbing trip with a sixpack PM me. Humboldt On our final day we all wanted to check Humboldt off the list. The plan was to hit the summit before sunrise as none of us had ever done a sunrise summit. We hiked it in the dark and hit the summit a few minutes before sunrise. The only thing was...we were stuck in the clouds. We still got some cool cloud shots though... From Humoldt Summit Colin on Humboldt (photo Credit: Katie) Humboldt Summit Thanks for reading Have fun and be safe out there! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Hanging out on the Needle-Standard Route

While I am not sure I can add much in terms of beta to a great route. This trip reminded me why i keep coming back to the mountains.

Every since Colin and I climbed the Peak last year we had be interested in getting back and doing the Needle. Katie decided to join in and we figured since we were there we would do Humboldt for fun as well.

Here we go Thanks for Reading...

14ers members- (climber) Colin; Double Oh Seven (Jeff)
Additional Members - Katie

Day One Hike In

We met up at around noon at the lower trailhead. The weather looked great, for the first time in years I was going to backpack without getting rained, snowed, or hailed on.
The first logistical issue was how to get everyone up to the trailhead at one time so that we didn't have to run multiple trips on the 4wd road. Colin drew the short straw and climbed into the back.
The road is a little rougher than a typical 4wd but not too bad. It was a quick backpack to the lower South Colony Lake. We set up camp and we were off to bed by about 7:00. Looking forward to the 4:30 wakeup call.

The tricky spot on the 4wd road. The Tacoma had no problem with it. Notice Colin hanging out the back.

How you get 3 people up the 4wd road in a 2 man truck. Colin caught some good air back there a few times.

Day Two The Needle

We were off by 5:00 am with headlamps. A couple of climbers were already up on Broken Hand Pass and within 30 minutes there was a steady stream of headlamps behind us.

Heading up in the dark to BHP (photo credit: Katie)

Most of the snow on Broken Hand Pass was gone and there was one short section with good steps in place. I had heard this could be bypassed right on class 3 rock but i didnt see anyone opting for that. No special equipment was needed and we were off the snow in 30 seconds. Some scrambling brought us to the top of BHP and our first views of the route.

We followed the great trail to just before the East Gully you run into a short and steep but fun downclimb. I had more trouble with this move than everyone else but handholds and footholds are plenty. Looking up from the bottom the holds are much more obvious and this was no issue on the way back.

Downclimbing to the east gully

Katie on the downclimb to the East Gully

Jeff enjoying the rock before the East Gully (photo credit: Katie)

A few hundred feet of great scrambling in the East Gully led us to the transation out of the East Gully. This is often described as the hardest move on the route. I had the benefit of going third and watching everyone but i think we all found the move pretty straight forward with great holds and great rock. This move is also much easier on the downclimb you have a ledge in the middle of the gully you can jump on.

Everyone on the East Gully Transation

Jeff transitioning out of the East Gully (photo credit: Colin)

Katie then led us up to the Rib and down to the West Gully. Once again great rock (a recurring theme on this mountain) some brief exposure and more fun climbing. Katie grabbed a great shot of Colin and I topping out on the West Ridge.

Colin and Jeff at the top of the rock rib (photo credit: Katie)

Jeff enjoying the views on the Rib (photo Credit Katie)

At this point the spirits were high and i think we all had smiles from ear to ear comments of "I don't want this to end" and "let's just run laps on this all day" were being tossed about. There's not much to add here about the route so I will let the pictures do the talking....

Yep this pictures says it all.. One cool thing is we saw people on the summits of 5 different mountains at one time.

Colin is pretty fast going downhill so he led us all the way back down the mountain. One route finding issue is that there is a carined trail that leads you out of the gully about 150 feet too high. We did this and realized our mistake and traversed back into the gully. It does look like tricky downclimbing could get you down from here but it is not the standard route. Just make note of where you enter the East Gully for your return.

Big Horn Sheep on the descent (photo credit: Colin)

We got back to camp around noon and after sucessfully killing time by climbing the Needle we got to the real purpose of this trip.... Fishing and Drinking Beer.
Colin had never fished before or so he claimed... See below for more on that.

Colin claimed to have never fished before. He landed this cuthroat on his first cast...to be honest kind of pissed me off.

His luck quickly ran out as he went swimming to retrieve a snagged lure.

Chilling the beer in Upper South Colony. If Avery would like to sponsor my next climbing trip with a sixpack PM me.

Humboldt

On our final day we all wanted to check Humboldt off the list. The plan was to hit the summit before sunrise as none of us had ever done a sunrise summit. We hiked it in the dark and hit the summit a few minutes before sunrise. The only thing was...we were stuck in the clouds. We still got some cool cloud shots though...

Thanks for reading Have fun and be safe out there!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

zombiewolf	Great TR 8/16/2015 8:23am Great TR, I love the photography. I am to climb the Needle in a week or so, I hope our weather is as nice as yours was on the Needle. Was that fish caught out of S. Colony Lake?
Double Oh Seven	Thanks 8/16/2015 8:53am Zombiewolf You will have a blast on the Needle. We were fishing out of upper south colony lake. We saw people catching fishing in the lower lake but we had the upper one to ourselves and there were fish all over the place in that lake.
[climber]	Thank you, Sir! 8/17/2015 9:37am Thanks for writing that up, Jeff. Great job! Also, thanks for the beer, use of the fishing pole, and free ride to the TH. It’ll be beer and lures on me next year :) . Had an awesome time with you and Katie and can’t wait for the next one. Let me know how Longs goes too.

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Day One Hike In

Day Two The Needle

Humboldt

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