From: ajs@hpfcla.HP.COM (Alan Silverstein)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 86 12:56:21 MDT
Subject: Re: Trip reports: the last six Fourteeners
Newsgroups: hpnc.general

Monday, September 1: Crestone Needle (14197')

It's a fun peak if you're used to exposure. One I wouldn't mind climbing again, to see the view (sigh), if nothing else.

It rained during the night. Morning dawned overcast, strange wintry clouds and the tip of the Needle hidden far above our camp. It was cold, and hard to get going after the last two days of climbing. Chuck and I started through the willows south of Lower South Colony Lake at 0800 on a trace of a trail. (The least fun part of this mountain is getting out of the willows!)

The conglomerate in this area is already a mixture of many rock types, worn in shapes carved by ancient streams, so the talus it forms is, well, messy. We found a good dirt and scree trail up jumbled talus, with a few steep spots and grassy tundra at the top, to the SE saddle of the Needle at 12920', 0910. We must have been moving fast because we made this first 1300' in only 70 minutes. Still, it's further up to the saddle than it looks. Once there you're halfway to the top, sitting astride the crest of the Sangre de Cristo Range with a nice view down west to the San Luis Valley.

Beyond here the climb is a pair of contrasting parts. A well worn trail through grass, sometimes braided, but well cairned, leads around the back (SW) side of the ridge and gradually up to the base of the pinnacle. After a short drop on conglomerate ledges, just to warm you up, you find yourself at a large arrow on the ground, made of loose rocks, pointing at a nasty looking wall of stone.

Prior advice guided us to skip the arrow, and instead drop left about 50' on an obvious but uncairned trail. This took us to a broad, steep gully that was much easier to climb than the "standard" route. The latter apparently enters this gully a couple of hundred feet higher. Pity the poor souls who follow the arrow and then, not knowing any better, return the same way, downclimbing precariously.

Once in the gully the remainder of the route, the second part from the saddle, is always steep. But as advertised, the rock is knobby and firm, making for fun fast climbing. We were into the clouds before long, and almost missed the turn left out of the gully as it turned more clifflike. I spotted a number of cairns across the deep cut in the bottom. Getting across the cut and up the far face, about 50', was the worst part of the climb.

Out of the gully and over a rock rib took us into a second deep cut, more of a couloir (narrower and deeper). Here there were ample cairns to lead us up consistently steep, firm, bumpy conglomerate rock, eventually onto the main SE ridge, then along it for the last 200' or so to the small summit at 1055 (2:55 for 2650'). The clouds were so thick we couldn't see more than 100', an expected disappointment. We spotted a party going down the NE face -- who knows where -- but encountered no one else for the rest of the trip.

Not wanting to downclimb in rain or snow -- a definite possibility -- we didn't stay long. We climbed down the same way, *slowly* and carefully, from 1118 to the saddle at 1305 (1:47 from the top). Here, the peak emerged from clouds, finally. It was a typical pattern, morning overcast burning off incompletely to lead to afternoon showers or storms. We returned to camp at 1355. Compared to the last three days it was dead quiet; almost everyone had left. As did we, after breaking camp in short order.

The trip down the 4WD drive road in the Jeep was uneventful, other than giving some ladies a ride, but slow, rough, and tedious. It took 1:35 to go the 6.0 miles. We had dinner in Westcliffe, and left at 1815.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it home that night because apparently the dropping of the gas tank (see an earlier report) had opened up a tank vent connection enough to allow water to enter the tank during a creek crossing. (That's the best guess, anyway, after we found and reconnected the vent.)

We had to limp into Florence with a Jeep that was very tough to start (pump pump pump!) and wouldn't stay running for long. The problem slowly corrected itself, but we stayed in a motel that night before driving home on Tuesday.