After climbing Crestone Needle the day before, it was time to attempt the Peak. After a generally rotten night (thanks to the mountain goat from hell) Bob and I awoke around 06:30 and started hiking at about 07:00. The trail was the same as the one I was on yesterday, up to the top of Broken Hand Pass.

At the pass we found a trail heading down into the valley containing Cottonwood Lake. This trail was in the process of being refurbished, but not a lot of work had been done yet so it was steep in some places and poorly defined in others. By the time summer's over it should be a nice trail. Just before Cottonwood Lake there was a room-sized North Face tent set up for the long haul, probably for the trail maintenance work. This tent even had a solar powered electric fence strung down low, to keep the marmots out I'm sure. The Crestones sure have plenty of hungry marmots around.

Foto ©2002 by John C. Maki

Cottonwood Lake is in a very pretty setting, quite different from the other side of the pass. I would enjoy camping here sometime in the future. We hiked around the north side of the lake and into a basin below Crestone Peak's south face. The trail steadily climbed toward the south couloir, our goal for this route. I ditched my trekking poles in a convenient rock and we made our way to the base of the couloir.

Foto ©2002 by John C. Maki

The Red Couloir of Crestone Peak is unusual for a 14er, especially one in the Sangre de Cristos, in that it is composed of relatively soft red sandstone. Surrounding the sandstone is the characteristic conglomerate of the Crestone group. Interesting to think of these peaks as once lying on the bottom of an ocean. Gerry Roach suggests avoiding the lower part of the couloir as it is deeply inset, by climbing the rock to the right of the couloir until about 13,500'. The couloir didn't look difficult in the beginning but we reasoned that it must get tricky higher up, or maybe the small trickle of water is normally more of an issue. We found some cairns and climbed more or less on the ridge above the east side of the couloir. Occasionally this required some easy third class moves but for the most part was not difficult. The route was well cairned and not difficult to follow; it was not as easy to determine where to cut into the couloir but trial and error worked okay there.

We crossed a side gully and found some cairns leading into the couloir. From there we just followed the couloir up to the red notch at about 14,200'. The routefinding was straightforward here, not as tricky as Crestone Needle. The rock was a little loose but not too unpleasant. From the red notch between Crestone Peak's twin summits we scrambled to the higher west summit and reached it at 10:30. The path here was easy to follow, the hardest part was a fun move around a corner, but I think easier terrain could be found. The summit was small and steep on all sides, and this was an exciting place to be.

          
Fotos ©2002 by John C. Maki

We had a great view of the complicated Kit Carson Mountain, and since the air was a lot more clear of wildfire smoke than when we climbed the Blancas, we could actually see the Blancas. We could see someone on the summit of Kit Carson for a while; a few days later I received an email from Ryan Schilling saying that he and his girlfriend Erin were on Kit Carson and saw us reach the summit of Crestone Peak. Small world yet again... To the northwest I think we saw Mount Ouray, a high 13er. The weather was great, clear and sunny with just enough breeze to make me want to add a second shirt to keep the chill off. I put on some sunscreen, we signed the register and took summit pictures, then headed down at 11:00. From the red notch I scrambled up to the east summit, no difficulties there. I had a nice view of Crestone Needle and the traverse between Peak and Needle, and could see Upper South Colony Lake and Humboldt Peak.

On the way down I decided to stick with the couloir instead of bypassing it below 13,500', just to see what the fuss was about. After the loose upper couloir the red sandstone of the couloir was clean and smooth, undulating up and down like one of those big wavy slides I remember from when I was a kid. The couloir was fun to descend, the occasional steep parts were easily bypassed to the right or left and the sandstone had nice steps in it to climb down. When dry this is a reasonable route to climb or descend; I wouldn't want to be on the sandstone if it was wet or snowy. In such conditions the couloir could easily become a death slide. There was only one spot that I remember having to downclimb a short steep section on moderate 3rd class rock, no big deal.

                     
Fotos ©2002 by John C. Maki

Bob stayed high on the east side of the couloir on the way down, and I lost track of him for a while as I waited on a grassy knoll below the start of the couloir. I looked over to the east and Bob was descending the next gully, he had crossed over higher up on a cairned trail and just followed it to see where it went. I think this might have been part of the Peak/ Needle traverse, though it might have been a little low. When he caught up we continued down the trail to Cottonwood Lake, then back up toward Broken Hand Pass.

I was feeling strong while hiking down the couloir but climbing uphill to the pass wiped me out. Still, it was only 600' vertical from the lake to the pass and we made it up there quickly enough. Another half hour and I was down from the pass, making the descent an even 02:30 hours for me. We didn't see any signs of our friend the goat as we packed up camp and hiked back down to the Jeep. The drive down the 4x4 road was worse than the way up, mostly because I was tired and just wanted to be done with it. Gradually we passed the really rough parts and found some easier terrain about halfway through. At 3.0 miles we came across a couple of backpackers hiking up the road. It turns out they were Bob's friends Jason and Danielle, heading up to knock off the Crestones in a week-long 14er mission. They had come from climbing the Wilsons and Sneffels, the Crestones were next and then Lindsey for 7 14ers total. I think they would only have 4 or 5 left after that. We chatted for a while then left them to continue their hike to the lakes while we drove back down to the plains.

At long last we finished the 4x4 road and I hooked up the sway bar links for the drive back. We aired up the tires at a gas station in Westcliffe (free air! how rare is that?) and looked for somewhere to eat. The mexican restaurant we were thinking of did not open for dinner for another hour, and the place we had lunch the day before was closed too. We thought we'd find something in Wetmore down the road, but it was also closed. This time we cut north toward Florence and 115, which leads to I-25 near Colo Spgs. We ate at a steakhouse in Florence, then had an uneventful drive back home.

Another successful 14 series for Bob and me; we've been able to hit these afternoon climbs 3 out of 3 times so far. I'm sure some people would think it crazy to climb a 14er, especially one like Little Bear or Crestone Needle, starting mid-afternoon. While I don't recommend this for everyone, sometimes it doesn't hurt to think outside the box and base your climb on current weather conditions and your own physical condition and willingness to descend in the dark if need be. On the routes where human-caused rockfall is your biggest danger, like Little Bear, climbing in the afternoon when you're alone on the mountain makes a lot of sense. It sure beat trying to fit everything in one day...