TR: When given a second chance, be sure to take it. Crestone Peak 14,294’

[goldenboy]

March 4, 2007
Mtnbikerskierchick, goldenboy, cjw, Don Pedro, non-mags Jasper and Pam

Approx 14 miles
Approx vert: 6500’
Start: 5:30am
Finish: 9:30pm

Last week was clearly the week of the year in Crested Butte. With around 3 feet of snow at the area, and double that in the backcountry, we gorged on powder everyday until we could barely stand. Sadly, all that snow in the backcountry was just waiting for a trigger to send it down the mountain, and the ski area was no longer holding freshies by the weekend. Another plan was needed to make the most of a valuable ski day. Sitting in the rain shadow of the San Juans, the Sangre de Cristo range received barely any snow all week, so plans were made for an attempt on the S couloir of Crestone Peak.

Don Pedro, Jasper, and myself headed down from Crested Butte and picked up MBSC in Salida. Cjw and Pam secured our lodging in the little town of Crestone, where we met up. One of the joys of climbing fourteeners is finding yourself in a town like Crestone, where a hippy burning incense in the middle of the road with a pile of magic crystals wouldn’t seem even remotely out of place. Seriously, the place is weird.

Our trailhead was low like many in the Sangres- just 8,420’. We were still able to skin up the patches of snow available at that elevation, but the going was slow. Even below treeline, the occasional cliffband had to be negotiated.



Don Pedro and Jasper were out front, just charging their way through the forest. Eventually the going got easier and we started making good time.

Pico Asilado, and yes, the line does go…








Looking back…





By now though, we were all starting to wonder if we had made a mistake. The southern “wall” of the Crestones should be dominating our view to the left, but there were only lesser summits to be seen anywhere. We hadn’t seen cjw or Pam in quite a while, and cjw had the map. We had blown it, of that we were now sure, and cjw had correctly left this nice big valley and gotten into the correct one an hour or two previously. Personally, I had given up on the day, but DP, MBSC, and Jasper all wanted to at lest climb up to a visible col a few hundred vert above and at least see what could be seen. I reluctantly changed my mind and decided to follow. Halfway up the col, Crestone Needle announced its’ presence and it was obvious that the correct valley was just on the other side of the col.





We made the col and realized that we had been given a second chance, because all we had to do was drop a few hundred feet of vert and we would be at the base of the couloir.


Jasper at the col, Needle right, Peak left.





Needle close-up





We got to the base of the couloir and found cjw and Pam, who had only been there for 15 minutes! It turns out that even the right way is no walk in the park. The climb:













Note the sand dunes and the Blanca group in the background:




The top 200’ was exposed mixed climbing, but thankfully the Crestone conglomerate yields many choices for hand holds. Pam nearing the summit, with the famous pink pants behind.





At this point it was after 3pm and it was time to get going.
You can see Pikes way off in the distance:




The San Luis valley. The trailhead is in the lower left, where the trees start at the edge of the valley.





The ski alternated between rock hard chalk, breakable crust, and windswept frozen features. The couloir was shaded by now, so we don’t have too many ski shots (all of mine are blurry), but here’s a few decent ones:

cjw:





me:






Anyone seen a shot like this anywhere?





Negotiating the crux:



Further reinforcement that it’s not easy getting to the base of Crestone:





The sun began to set on the peaks, and we still had a LONG ways to go.







We went under this cool overhang and saw some crystal ice-art:








We had no choice but to make our way through the forest in the dark via moonlight and headlamps. The snow was rotten, there were downed trees everywhere, and creekbeds and cliffs to negotiate. Still, the frozen waterfalls were cool and it wasn’t too cold at all and we all made it out OK.





Surprisingly, the bar in Crestone was open and serving cold sandwiches. A cold sandwich seemed completely unappealing, however, so we left Pam and cjw to their wonder-bread sandwiches and raced towards Salida. Don Pedro was traveling at the insane speed of 70 in a 65 when we got pulled over. The cop took 10 or 15 minutes to give DP a warning and we got to Salida at 11:04. In other words, 4 minutes too late to even get a hamburger at McDonalds. The only choice available was 7-11. I don’t know what time that hot dog went on the rollers, I don’t know what’s in the squeeze chili, I don’t know what the squeeze cheese is actually made of, but I do know that it was one of the most delicious and satisfying meals ever!

All in all it was a great and satisfying way to spend Jasper's birthday. Thanks to MBSC and Don Pedro for sending me their photos to add to my own for this TR. More photos on cjw's site:

http://www.eol.ucar.edu/~cjw/Skiing/stonepk/index.html

[Lani]

Very nice, cool looking alpine peaks. That line on the Needle looks pretty sweet.

Those peaks could be hog heaven with a fatter snowpack, eh?

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Simply amazing pics and a great write-up to boot. I've been wanting to do that one for a while now, we got some good views of the North Couloir on Crestone while skiing Challenger Peak a while back and it looked wicked but I think the South Couloir is the route of choice for that peak.

Were you able to ski all the way down through the lower headwall?

[goldenboy]

Simply amazing pics and a great write-up to boot. I've been wanting to do that one for a while now, we got some good views of the North Couloir on Crestone while skiing Challenger Peak a while back and it looked wicked but I think the South Couloir is the route of choice for that peak.

Were you able to ski all the way down through the lower headwall?

Yeah, the whole thing was skiable, just a quick sidestep through the crux and that would have been easy if the snow was even a tiny bit better.

The N couloir looks sick, I wish it was in better shape most years.

[Danno]

sweet TR!

[Rontele]

killer TR. this looks just like an absolutely amazing experience.

[skier666]

SICK!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

Nice work people.
This is what I call a nice line

[goldenboy]

Nice work people.
This is what I call a nice line

Yeah, that one vaulted to the top of the list for me.

[LeeLau]

"The top 200’ was exposed mixed climbing, but thankfully the Crestone conglomerate yields many choices for hand holds. "

Was that a scramble or class 5 roped climbing with skis? Either way it sounds tough going for high-elevation with skis?

btw - it would have been easier if CD had gone ahead and broken trail for you eh?

[HikeforTurns]

Congrats on a big day! I bet it was epic! You guys done much skiing in the Sangres? I have yet to make it in there with the split, seems like there is lots of untapped potential. That and its pretty much deserted in the winter

WELL DONE!

[BigDaddy]

Nice days work... Doesn't Shirley Maclaine have a house in Crestone? Strange energy lines are thought to converge there and create great ski adventures...

[cjw]

Nice work people.
This is what I call a nice line

From the top!

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

^^^Thanks, those are some great shots, it looks as fun as I had hoped.

[cjw]

You guys done much skiing in the Sangres?

I've skied off all of them. Pick your PR (Lindsey, Needle, Kit Carson):

Ski photos.

I need to repeat Blanca (may as well do Ellingwood again while I'm there), I walked down the top 200 feet due to lack of snow.

Cheers,
Chris

[goldenboy]

"The top 200’ was exposed mixed climbing, but thankfully the Crestone conglomerate yields many choices for hand holds. "

Was that a scramble or class 5 roped climbing with skis? Either way it sounds tough going for high-elevation with skis?

btw - it would have been easier if CD had gone ahead and broken trail for you eh?

Class 4 unroped climbing. The rock of the Crestone group is some of the finest anywhere on the planet. There's a reason that the Needles' Ellingwood arete route is in "50 Classic Climbs of North America" The Prow on Kit Carson and the North Pillar route on Crestone Peak are 2 other classic multi-pitch ~5.8's in the area.

We did OK for a bunch of punters, eh?

[HikeforTurns]

I've skied off all of them. Pick your PR (Lindsey, Needle, Kit Carson):

Cheers,
Chris

Wow all the sangres eh? thats alot of peaks! Just kidding. Id like to do Eureka's North couloir this spring. Good looking trips on your site there.

[JoshP]

Nice work, thanks for the springish ski mountaineering stoke. The Sangres look amazing. I really need to plan a roadie down thatta way one of these days.

Looking forward to the spring, big steep line, 18 hours of sunlight, corn shralping time of the year. Not too far away.

[soul_skier]

God I love that valley, I spent a week there climbing 14ers and rock climbing in general after sophmore year of high school. The whole time I was camping there I was thinking about how sweet it would be to go there in the winter.

[CommanderBaker]

yessir thank you very much - its been a little too long since I played around thatta way. TR greatly enjoyed!

And definitely believe in the whole second chance stuff - take it and run

[Hutch]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

So Jasper must be 36 now, huh. Old man.

[CommanderBaker]

Nice work, thanks for the springish ski mountaineering stoke. The Sangres look amazing. I really need to plan a roadie down thatta way one of these days.

Looking forward to the spring, big steep line, 18 hours of sunlight, corn shralping time of the year. Not too far away.

Did i hear road trip?

[cjw]

Wow all the sangres eh? thats alot of peaks! Just kidding.

D'oh!

that would be; all the fourteeners down there....

[brutah]

SICK!!!!!!!!!!!

seconded, that picture is amazing

[summit]

strong work! i love it!