Tom Grundy's Crestone, Crestone Needle, Kit Carson, Challenger, and Humboldt Peak Page

I got a bit of a break from 14ers with a trip to Great Sand Dunes NP and visiting in La Veta. Then I drove up the east side of the range to meet up with Sam and Raquel to climb 14ers. First up were the peaks by the Crestones. At one time these were called Le Trois Tetons for their similarity to the more famous Grand Tetons in Wyoming, but the name didn't stick. In any case they are suitably rugged mountains and have a number of technical routes that we sadly would not be taking (although I was glad not to schlep all that gear).

The northern Sangre De Cristo 14ers were accessible from a base camp. Without a 4WD vehicle we had a bit of extra walking up the road. We packed up our overnight gear and then hiked in to South Colony Lakes in the afternoon of September 7th. It started out quite hot but was chilly by the time we got there. On the way we found a fork in the road, and a spoon and a knife. Our campsite was a little lumpy but had a bit of protection from the wind by low brush.

packing up for the hike in

Sept-8-2016 We got up early. It was cold. We were hiking by 6:30 and went up over Broken Hand Pass and down the other side to Cottonwood Lakes. From there we traversed west and up the gully and South Face Route up Crestone Peak. There was a lot of scrambling up to 3rd class, but it was mostly on solid rock and pretty mellow. We reached the 14,244 ft summit and enjoyed the views. We were mostly sheltered from the wind on the way up, but it was pretty windy on top.

Raquel and early morning light on Crestone Needle

looking back at S Colony Lakes and Mt Humboldt from Broken Finger Pass

Sam and Raquel getting near the top of Crestone Peak

view south near the Crestone Peak summit - you can see the great sand dunes and Blanca on the right

summit mini cookies with Sam

360 degree panorama from near the top of Crestone Peak - Sam and Raquel are near the summit. Kit Carson et al. are in the sun on the left

I was pretty tempted to avoid the loss of elevation and traverse the fairly short distance over to Crestone Needle, but it was rated 5th class with quite a bit of 4th class with exposure. I probably would have tried it if I was solo, but Luckily Raquel was along to keep us safe from ourselves. We descended and retraced our steps back to Cottonwood lakes and then up to Broken Hand Pass.

Raquel starts down - Crestone Needle behind her

coming down the red gully

From the pass we headed up the ridge towards Crestone Needle. This peak had a lot more involved route finding and scrambling and climbing. Supposedly it was class 3, but I'd say more class 4 with a decent amount of exposure. We were also getting more tired and slow. We made it to the 14,191 ft summit around 2. Raquel in particular was traumatized by the steep rock and exposure. Most of this was on conglomerate so there were lots of holds, although they weren't always the most trustworthy. Crestone Needle was the last of the Colorado 14ers to be climbed (as far as recorded history goes anyway) with a July 24, 1916 ascent by Albert Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis who traversed over from their first ascent with two others of Crestone Peak.

Raquel being brave on the way up Crestone Needle

scrambling up near the summit of Crestone Needle

panorama from the top of Crestone Needle
Crestone Peak is centerish with Kit Carson hiding to the right and the "bears playground" a little lower to the right of the peak.

warning sign at the start of the Crestone traverse

We didn't spend a whole lot of time on the summit and soon were slowly working our way back down. It was slow and tedious but the careful attention was necessary. We were pretty excited to make it back to the easier terrain before the pass. Things were getting cold again by the time we made it back to camp for a quick dinner and sleep.

Sept 9, 2016 - This was an even longer day, so we got another early start hiking in the cold by 6:20. There was a nice sunrise on Crestone Peak. The trail up to the ridge seemed to be extra long. Then we headed west and scrambled up to the Humboldt Peak saddle and headed east up the somewhat loose ridge. Next up was a large broad plain known as the "Bears Playground". We enjoyed the pleasant walk across that before starting up the next peak of talus and up over "Obstruction Point". Next up was another few peaks in the way "Kitty Kat Carson" and Columbia Point (named for the space shuttle). We passed over these and then had some 4th class downclimbing to the saddle before Kit Carson Peak. From there it was more talus and dodging steeper bits while slogging up to the 14,165 ft summit. There were great views here, but we still had plenty to do.

Crestones Sunrise

Raquel on the bears playground - Crestone Needle behind her

Raquel on the ridge

Raquel does not appreciate Sam airing out his toes

looking back the way we came

playing on Kit Carson Pk

panorama from Kit Carson Peak with Humboldt mid left and Crestone centerish

We returned the way we came up almost to the saddle and then continued down the S face to a convenient ledge that diagonalled up the face. There we followed a Bighorn Sheep up this sidewalk along the side of the mountain. Then we continued around and down before hitting another saddle and then scrambling up to the 14,081 ft Challenger Peak Summit (also named for the space shuttle).

following a bighorn sheep on the ramp on Kit Carson Pk

some acro on Challenger Peak (Kit Carson is on the left)

For the return we were able to skip some summits and traverse a few more slopes to save a bit of elevation gain and loss. It still took a while to get back to the saddle by Humboldt. Then we headed up that. It wasn't all that far, but we were tired and not moving very fast. We did tag our 3rd 14er for the day though. The sun set on our way back to camp. With some good weather luck and hard work we were able to get all these peaks in just 2 days from our base camp.

Raquel and Sam climb back up on the way past Kit Carson Peak - the "sidewalk" cuts the face to the notch

panorama from near Columbia Point with Humboldt mid left and Crestones centerish

Bench Lake is formed by a natural rock dam

on the summit of Humboldt - at this point I had 6 14ers left to do

panorama from Humboldt with north on the center left

Sam, Raquel, and my shadow on the descent from Humboldt

Crestones Sunset

We collected water at sunset and then made it back to camp in the dark. We were exhausted but satisfied. The next day we hiked out down the trail and the road. It seemed a long way and we were hot and sweaty by the time we got to the parking.

Raquel and Sam back at camp - lighting by Fenix

back in the flatlands and almost back to the vehicles

Summary of September 7-10th, 5 14ers, and a few bonus peaks, about 35 miles and 13,950 feet of elevation gain (really I'm sure we did 50 more somewhere bringing it up to an even 14,000). multiple tears and tired slackers plus glorious sunrises and sunsets and views.

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