TR: Crestone Needle (11 April 2010)

[mtnbikerskierchick]

Nothing like beginning my fourteener skiing season with a bang! Crestone Needle was hot on my list of fourteeners to hit early in the spring last year, before my desires were thwarted after tearing my ACL in February. This season, I knew that things would be the same- Crestone Needle is typically one of the quickest lines to melt out and usually has to be skied early in the spring. I've had my eye on skiing this peak since early March. But, the proper weather windows just weren't there until this past week, and I was quick to snatch up the opportunity.



I spoke with my mom on the phone the night before. "I'm skiing my first fourteener in two years tomorrow. It's a pretty big one." Pause. "Can't you start with something easier?" "I don't really have any easy ones left, except for Pikes Peak." I tried to justify skiing the Needle to my mom as much as I was justifying it to myself. After laying eyes for the first time on the Needle 4 years ago, my jaw dropped upon gazing up at it's 55-degree slopes. I knew what I was about to face. My mom hesitated, "Is your knee really ready for this?" "Mom, it's not like I haven't been climbing and skiing mountains all winter. I've been getting out there. Maybe the peaks I've been on haven't been fourteeners. But, really, when it comes down to it, a few hundred feet isn't a huge difference." I was ready. It had been too long since I had been on top of a fourteen-thousand foot peak!



Goldenboy and I headed down on Saturday afternoon, leaving enough time to check out the trailhead and make sure that snowmobiles could be used up the South Colony Lakes road. After venturing up the road a ways, we confirmed this, though the snow was melting fast in the lower pitches. We headed back to Westcliffe and met up with our friends Ivana Huckalot, cjw, and AgaveAfish, who would also be joining us the next day.

The next morning began before dawn. The snowmobile ride went smoothly. And before we knew it, we were standing at South Colony Lakes with Crestone Needle towering above us.


Our ski route, the South Couloir, was on the other side, so we crossed over Broken Hand Pass.




After reaching the top of Broken Hand Pass, we said goodbye to Ivana Huckalot, who decided to head over to Crestone Peak after seeing that the Needle looked a bit thin.


The rest of us made the traverse over to the Needle.


The traverse involved a few rock maneuvers.




From there, the route was a nice couloir climb.


As much as I enjoyed the climb, I was happy to be on the summit of my first fourteener in two years.


The views were amazing.




AgaveAfish and I.


Skiing from the summit was adventurous.


goldenboy.






Me.




A little straightline through an ice fall.




We followed our route back to Broken Hand pass.



Photo courtesy of Chris Webster

At Broken Hand Pass, we reunited with Ivana Huckalot. Ivana and goldenboy continued up Broken Hand Peak to ski a line that Frank has had his eye on for years.



But, that's another TR

Crestone Needle was my 46th fourteener skied. Eight more left!

For more details and more pics, check out my blog!

[Kevo]

You guys make it look easy! Congrats on an amazing ski descent and a very strong showing for your first 14 in 2 years (and your 46th 14er)!



Side note- I've climbed some harder (more technical) 14ers- Soloed Capitol when it required crampons and an axe, climbed Pyramid and several others. I lead ice climbs regularly in the winter months....I climbed the Needle this past fall in wet conditions and I don't think I've ever been so sketched on a mountain in CO. Something about the water running down that couloir really freaked me out. I'm very impressed that you guys did so well up there. Congrats again and thanks for sharing!

[summit]

great work! looks fun!

[Huckwheat]

Wow, that is an amazing looking ski! Nice work!!!

[Bluebird]

nice work. I climbed the needle when I was 15 and remember being quite scared at times. Can't really comprehend skiing it, but it looks fantastic.

[montanaskier]

congrats on getting back on that 14er horse. Keep on keeping on.

[MarkoInTheBoat]

Solid work MBSC! I'm looking forward to the party on Pikes this spring.

[Meadow Skipper]

Beautiful, and congrats on being back on the 14er quest. Keep up the strong work!

[soul_skier]

god I miss the sangre de cristos, such a sweet range

[samthaman]

god I miss the sangre de cristos, such a sweet range

when were you there?

[^^^]

Back at it! So good to see you knocking down that list again.

[CG]

Good to see you back indeed. Keep it up

[Kya]

And off she goes!!!!! Yeah Brittany!

[Name Redacted]

I love that valley. THat conglomerate rock is so fun for climbing too. I've climbed the needle twice but need to get up there in the winter sometime.

[Cruiser]

Thanks for that! You gotta love the South Colony Lakes area!

[Shadam]

Soooo, you couldn't just huck that??? only joking. That guy that's always hanging around you sure has his uses, trail breaker, camera man, guinea pig, etc etc. But does this mean he will have done them all twice???
9 14"ers in one spring? you can do it!!!

[mtnbikerskierchick]

^^^ Hahaha! Goldenboy's not doing them all twice, just a few of them. We've skied 30+ of them together so far! But, he might not have bothered with skiing all the 14ers had he not met me! I do enjoy his trail-breaking capabilities though I thinks that's the only reason I keep him around...

9 14ers in one season is not hard. I've done over 20 in one season before. But, the ones I have left require very particular weather windows and I may not be able to complete them this year because of that, as the weather seems to be off to a poor start this spring. We shall see!

[Press Release]

That is pretty sweet. The exit looks pretty wild. Looks like an epic day.

[adimmen]

It must feel doubly good to get back into the high peaks after last year. Way to go.

[dbldmnd]

Nice work, glad to see you out there on top of the world again.

[powdork]

sweet, as always.

[AsheanMT]

This TR is thoroughly lacking in suck.

[KillingCokes]

Very nice Brittany. Great to see you getting back out there.

[tone capone]

Congratulations on that one, best of luck this spring, wishing you good fortune.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Fine work by all involved, great beta in there too. What's left on the list now? Take your time too, no rush, the mountains aren't going anywhere, I mean if you finish them this year great, if not there's always next year or the year after. I set my goal to complete them by the year 2020, so the pressure is off.