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Peak(s)  Crestone Needle  -  14,196 feet
Date Posted  04/13/2010
Date Climbed   04/11/2010
Author  cjw
 Crestone Needle   
Sunday a group of 5 five us went for Crestone Needle. Again we rented a snowmobile in Denver and met up with Frank and Brittany in Westcliffe.

Snowmobiling was "advanced" according to Brittany, and my legs were noodles upon arriving at South Colony Lakes. By the time we hit Broken Hand Pass they wanted no part of the Needle, but I was there to support Pam. My quads have not been this sore since....I can't remember. I have barely been able to walk for two days.

Snow conditions were mediocre, perhaps a couple inches of mashed potatoes on a slightly slick surface (i.e. most recent snow hadn't fully bonded yet). The choke had 1-2 spots which were narrower than my skis were long. Otherwise it is as I remembered last time I skied it.


Splits were:

5:00 am wake up
7:00 am leave snowmobiles @ SCL TH
9:30 am top of broken hand pass; Brad parts to do Crestone Peak.
12:45 pm summit (don't ask how it takes 3 hours to do the last 1,300').
3:00 pm broken hand pass.
5:00 pm snowmobiles (we waited for Frank and Brad to ski Broken Hand Peak)

Some photos can be found here:

http://www.eol.ucar.edu/~cjw/Skiing



Comments or Questions
ap snow
User
Nice!
4/13/2010 11:24pm
Thanks Chris!


mountainmicah83
User
Great job.
4/14/2010 1:30pm
Nice work on the summit and thanks for the beta.


Presto
User
Fantastic Photos!
4/14/2010 3:21pm
From everyone ... thanks for the links, gb! Happy trails! :D


Easy Rider
User
Great job!
4/15/2010 4:19pm
Looks like decent conditions.
Good luck on the remaining peaks!
The shots of the Needle from Broken Hand are amazing.


gb
User
Fun Day, Chris!
10/25/2014 10:50pm
We put a few more photos on our blog. http://14erskiers.com/blog/2010/04/tr-crestone-needle-11-april-2010/

Brad and I also skied the N Face of Broken Hand Peak: http://14erskiers.com/blog/2010/04/broken-hand-peak-broken-dogleg-couloir-4-11-10-13573/

Off for more Sangres skiing tomorrow!


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