CRESTONE PEAK 8/13/91
CRESTONE PEAK 14,294'
Mountain........Crestone Peak
Elevation.........14,294
Rank...............7th
Range..............Sangre de Cristo
Trail length......1.5 miles (from Cottonwood Lake)
Elevation gain..2100' (from Cottonwood Lake)
Difficulty..........****
Comments........Climbing up a waterfall
TRIP REPORT
8/13/91
After climbing Crestone Needle I spent a long restless night in the tent at Cottonwood Lake rattled by wind, hail and thunder. I got up the next morning at 5:30, had breakfast and started climbing at 6:20. I traversed west to the cirque below the Peak, then went straight up a red gully to the saddle between Crestone's twin summits. The gully was steep, loose, and had a steady stream of water cascading over the ledges. I was forced to climb directly through the water in several places - I was just glad it wasn't frozen, which would have made the climb semi-impossible.
At the saddle I turned left and scrambled up to Crestone Peak's true summit, which I reached at 9:00! (pretty fast for a 40-year-old). At first I was going to just touch the summit and head down because nasty clouds were moving in, but the clouds lifted for a while and I had a long breakfast, then zipped down to the saddle & up to the false summit (just to make sure!), then dropped back down to my tent by 11:30. I packed up and headed out at noon, just ahead of the descending storm.
I ran as much as I could down the 'backpack hell' trail, tossing my pack over the occasional cliff so that I could downclimb. I managed to reach my car at 3:30 after having been caught in just one brief shower.
I drove back into Alamosa and checked into the American Star (an OK motel) where I repacked all my stuff for the trip home. The next day I drove to Denver and visited the Colorado Mountain Club dump on Alameda (they have since moved on to bigger and better things in Golden). Then I drove around and through Rocky Mountain National Park to my friend Mitch's house in Boulder. We had homemade pizza with his wife Melanie. I showed them the movies I had taken on this trip, including spectacular shots from the Crestones with clouds wafting among the peaks. Mel fell asleep.
The next two days I did some little local hikes and climbs and gift shopping for the people back home. Then boarded a flight that was 20 minutes late because the on-board ovens didn't work. The airline graciously provided everyone with free drinks and future flight coupons to compensate, then managed to get the ovens working and served us dinner anyway! Not a bad way to end this year's trip.
Mountain........Crestone Peak
Elevation.........14,294
Rank...............7th
Range..............Sangre de Cristo
Trail length......1.5 miles (from Cottonwood Lake)
Elevation gain..2100' (from Cottonwood Lake)
Difficulty..........****
Comments........Climbing up a waterfall
TRIP REPORT
8/13/91
After climbing Crestone Needle I spent a long restless night in the tent at Cottonwood Lake rattled by wind, hail and thunder. I got up the next morning at 5:30, had breakfast and started climbing at 6:20. I traversed west to the cirque below the Peak, then went straight up a red gully to the saddle between Crestone's twin summits. The gully was steep, loose, and had a steady stream of water cascading over the ledges. I was forced to climb directly through the water in several places - I was just glad it wasn't frozen, which would have made the climb semi-impossible.
At the saddle I turned left and scrambled up to Crestone Peak's true summit, which I reached at 9:00! (pretty fast for a 40-year-old). At first I was going to just touch the summit and head down because nasty clouds were moving in, but the clouds lifted for a while and I had a long breakfast, then zipped down to the saddle & up to the false summit (just to make sure!), then dropped back down to my tent by 11:30. I packed up and headed out at noon, just ahead of the descending storm.
I ran as much as I could down the 'backpack hell' trail, tossing my pack over the occasional cliff so that I could downclimb. I managed to reach my car at 3:30 after having been caught in just one brief shower.
I drove back into Alamosa and checked into the American Star (an OK motel) where I repacked all my stuff for the trip home. The next day I drove to Denver and visited the Colorado Mountain Club dump on Alameda (they have since moved on to bigger and better things in Golden). Then I drove around and through Rocky Mountain National Park to my friend Mitch's house in Boulder. We had homemade pizza with his wife Melanie. I showed them the movies I had taken on this trip, including spectacular shots from the Crestones with clouds wafting among the peaks. Mel fell asleep.
The next two days I did some little local hikes and climbs and gift shopping for the people back home. Then boarded a flight that was 20 minutes late because the on-board ovens didn't work. The airline graciously provided everyone with free drinks and future flight coupons to compensate, then managed to get the ovens working and served us dinner anyway! Not a bad way to end this year's trip.
posted by JansStores at 5:33 AM
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