| Crestone Needle Ellingwood Ledges (Arete) Trip Report Above: Crestone Needle and Peak (Embosing done in Photoshop) I meet Ben and his friends in the King Soupers parking lot around 4:15 and we bought our food. We drove to the trailhead for 2WD/Low Clearance vehicles and went in about a mule on a relatively rough road. At a switch-back a guy was stuck so we stopped and ended up spending the night at a flat spot at the switch-back. The road above looked pretty rough so Bill didn't want to drive any further in the borrowed car. The next morning we loaded all of the packs into Ben's Tacoma and I road with Ben to the true trailhead. The road is definitely the roughest I've ever been on and required 4WD and high ground clearance. After making it to the true trailhead, we waited 20 minutes until the others arrived. We hiked in only about a mile to the last stands of trees and set up camp. Ben and I gathered our climbing gear and hiked up to a cliff band on Crestone Needle's flank. We did a 2 pitch climb on the loose rock and topped out the rock feature on the Needle's flank. We both rated the climb at about 5.5. After arriving at camp, we fueled up for tomorrow with rice and beans in tortilla shells. Above: THE road isn't as bad as you would think from its reputation but it is definately spicy. ( My 4 runner on a later trip) The next morning saw us getting up at the unfriendly hour of 4:30 and leaving camp at 4:45 following our headlamp beams. We got back onto the main trail and started the approach. Missing a crucial switch-back forcing us into tramping through thick brush until it relented at the lake. The Arete rises out of the west side of the lake in all its glory until it reaches the summit. We didn't think we could hike around the west side of the lake to reach the direct start so went around the north side of the lake, climbing over a rib on the way. It was starting to get light as we scrambled up choss and talus to the first 5th class part. We planned on doing the direct start but did our own direct start, climbing 4 pitches until we reached the true direct start. After a few more pitches of class 5 we arrived at class 3/4 grassy ledges and opted to stay roped, simul-climbing most of it. The grass tufts were slippery and one slip could prove fatal if unroped. We got back onto the conglomerate rock of the arete for some quality rock pitches. I lead a nice long sustaned crack for a pitch to a ledge. We walked over easy terrain for 20' on the ledge and set up a belay. Ben lead an angling crack on a nice long traversing pitch. After he left the belay ledge there was instant exposure with a 1000 foot steep rock gully below him. He brought me up (or rather over) and I took the next lead finishing the traverse and started going up again. I got to a small stance, put in a bomber 5 or 6 hex and felt uncomfortable leading further. I set up a belay and brought Ben up. He took the rack and traversed left 20-30' on a face devoid of cracks and finally made it to a crack system. Instead of placing pro he unselfishly thought about me following the pitch and ran it out more. He climbed up the cracks quite a ways before finally putting in a friend. The pitch was a rope-stretcher and he put me on belay. I went up over the moves I didn't want to lead and ventured onto the face. This face is probably my favorite part of the route as it is very aesthetic. I delicately tiptoed up the plethora of colorful knobs of the conglomerate rock with nothing but 1500' of air between this face and the lake below. I looked out to the east and saw the great grassy valley we had driven through just a few days ago. It ended all to soon when I reached Ben and yet another comfy belay ledge. Above: First light hits Crestone Needle (taken from Humboldt ridge) The next pitch, the crux, was 5.7 crack/chimney directly above the ledge. There was another party on the pitch, which was the first time on this popular route another party affected us. Ben taking the sharp end again choose a second crack to the right of the recommended route. He climbed up to a small roof and underclung the crack under it as he put in pro. This crack worked its way to vertical as it followed the giant flake feature upwards. We rated this pitch at 5.7, the same as the recommended route. This crux was no cakewalk at 14,000 feet with packs on etc. and Ben placed plenty of pro in the finger to hand crack. I seconded the pitch meeting Ben at the end of the technical portion of the climb. From the book's description I was dreading a lengthy 3rd class scramble on the part we couldn't see above. With this thought on my mind, we unroped and scrambled up 3rd class rock with a little scree in a gully. My fears soon quieted themselves as I made a few final moves and saw the summit right in front of me. It was late in the day at 3 PM, but the weather was holding and good so we were all right. After a little bit on the summit we started descending down a 3rd class gully of conglomerate rock that was remarkably solid. I've read accounts of people having trouble with the descent but it was no problem walking with a sure foot and following the cairns. Back to Fourteeners Back to Dan's Basecamp |
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| Above: The small stream crossing ( My 4 runner on a later trip) |