Crestone Needle

Since we didn't complete all three peaks on the Aug 29 trip, Rick and I returned on Sept 10 with the summits of Crestone Needle and Humboldt Peak as our goal.

Again, we started out plenty early, meeting at IHOP at 3:30AM and starting the hike at 5:50AM. It started to get a bit light in the east around 6:30.



On the last trip, we climbed up Broken Hand Pass in the dark. This time it was light but that just kept reminding us of how much we had left to go. On the way up, Alpenglow on the face of Crestone Needle lit up the whole valley.



We got to the top of the pass and then headed along the back side of the ridge over to a couple of gullies where we made the final ascent. The gullies here were steeper but the rock was generally good and solid.



At the top of the gully, there is a short walk along the rugged summit ridge to the peak itself. This is Rick negotiating the last few hundred feet. Directly above his head is Broken Hand Peak.



We gained the summit at about 9:15AM and were the only ones there.



It was 11:30AM when we completed the descent back to Lower South Colony Lake. Then up the other side of the lake toward Humboldt Peak. Although not as tough a climb as the gully portion of Crestone Needle, a mile of negotiating a path through large boulders took its toll.



We finally gained the summit of Humboldt about 1:30PM. The weather was deteriorating so we didn't spend long up there, just long enough to find the summit log and the geocache. We got sprinkled with snow and rain on the way down, but there was no lightning.



A couple of other interesting sights -- some Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and a nice fossil of a fern rounded out the day.

Crestone Peak

On Aug 29, I went with two friends to the Sangre De Cristo Wilderness to climb Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, and Humboldt Peak. We met at an IHOP parking lot at 1AM and started hiking at 3:30AM. The "standard route" begins on the east side of the Sangre De Cristo mountain range, just south of the town of Westcliffe. The route leads past a couple of glacial lakes and over Broken Hand Pass, down the west side, then finally up the last 3000 feet to the summit through the "Red Gully."



It was dark until we got to the Red Gully; I took this photo of the pass on a different trip. The pass is that low notch in the rugged ridge between Crestone Needle on the right and Broken Hand Peak on the left.

The Red Gully is a slightly softer layer of rock that has formed into a small canyon. Most of the gully is solid rock but there are stretches where every step is on loose rock. It is a challenge to keep from knocking loose any rocks and endangering those below. Everyone we saw was wearing a climbing helmet.



At the top of the Red Gully, you come to a notch between East Crestone Peak on the right and Crestone Peak itself (from where the photo was taken). You can see my climbing partners in the center of this photo just as they reach the saddle. The other side (left) is a sheer 3000-foot cliff.



We finally gained the summit at around 9:15. This photo shows me, Rick, and Mark on the summit with Kit Carson Peak in the background.



By the time we got back down the Red Gully then back up to the top of Broken Hand Pass, weather was moving in so we decided to head back to the car.

Kit Carson summit

At 4:00 the next morning, we left the camp and followed the GPS track up the side of Challenger Point. We were close to the ridgeline at 13,200 feet by the time the sun came up. There was a cloud bank low in the east so the sunrise and alpenglow was not that good.

Soon after sunrise, this is the type of climbing we were doing.



We reached the ridgeline shortly after and the destination was in sight. The pyramidal one on the right is Challenger Point and the rounded one in the background on the left is Kit Carson Peak.



Looking back down the ridgeline from the summit of Challenger, Rick is negotiating the boulders.



We had a pretty good view of the Great Sand Dunes National Park down below. The dunes sure look small from up here.



From the top of Challenger, we got the first good look at "Kit Carson Avenue", a ledge in the middle of a 5000-foot high cliff. That's it there where the snow is. Following this ledge for a half mile around the back of the peak is the easiest way to the top.



It's a 600-foot descent to the saddle between Challenger and Kit Carson, then up the Avenue to a notch and down the Avenue on the back. The scale of things up here can fool you. What looks like a precarious ledge from a half mile away is actually no problem at all.



Around the back, Kit Carson Peak is not as steep, but still plenty rough going. This is a class 3 section which means hands are needed in places. If you're careful, you can avoid knocking loose rocks down on those following behind. Note everyone is wearing helmets.



After a half hour of that, we reached the summit!

I went with 2 friends to the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness to climb two of the 54 Colorado 14'ers (mountain peaks over 14,000 feet elevation), Challenger Point and Kit Carson Peak. It is a 5-mile hike into Willow Lake where we camped for the night.



Near the beginning.


The Colorado state flower was everywhere.


One of dozens of waterfalls as we gained the 2500 feet elevation to Willow Lake.

We arrived at the lake some 3 hours after leaving the parking lot, close to 7 PM. The lake is at one level of a cirque carved by a glacier. You can see one of the many stairsteps at the headwaters of the lake where the waterfall cascades some 200 feet down the cliff. We hiked on up to the top of the waterfall and camped there.



The entire mountain is made of this meta-conglomerate--fused matrix holding large chunks of rock in various colors. Most of these chunks are 2 to 4 inches across, but there were some that were 1 or 2 feet across.



It was getting close to sunset when we got to the top end of the lake.



We got camp set up, ate a sandwich and watched the sun set.



To be continued...

Tonight's menu:

- Marinated boneless porkchops. Peach glaze.
- Fennel baked potatoes. Sliced fresh fennel bulb, potatoes, butter, salt, pepper.
- Vegetable, probably thin whole green beans.
- Homemade bread. We were almost out of flour so I had to improvise. White + wheat + rye + spelt = ?? I formed it into a focaccia-type shape topped with olive oil. On one half, I put shredded Parmiggiano Reggiano and sliced kalamata olives. Other half is unadorned.
- Columbia Crest Merlot.
- Dessert - Lemon-raspberry flan in individual ramekins.



Mom hasn't called so I assume she will be home for dinner. Of course, Imax and Copper have had the phone busy talking about runescape. No calls on my cell yet though.

Update...Mom just called and said they were going out with the karate gang and would not be home for dinner. Oh well, I guess we'll eat it without them. Which is better...the menu above or the Golden Corral ;-). I guess I'll save them some dessert since there's a ramekin with each of their names on it. The rest? We'll see...

Imax (age 10) and I went to the Elephant Rock bike ride This morning. We took the 25-mile fat tire (off-road) route which turned out to be 29.8 miles, as reported by my GPS. We completed the course in a little over 4 hours--7:45 AM to 12:05PM--including breaks at the rest/aid stations. It's a great route through rolling hills and "horse country" east of Castle Rock--very green this year and spattered heavily with wildflowers.

One guy a couple of bikes behind us wiped out by running off the pavement into the gravel shoulder. We heard the crash. I looked back and a couple of people had stopped to help. The cyclist was up and walking around so nothing serious.

Elephant Rock is one of the 10 largest bicycle events in the country. They maxed out at 7000 riders across 5 different courses from 7 miles to 100 miles. Our house is just off the 100 mile course and when we came home there was still a solid line of bikes heading to Castle Rock, with about 30 miles left to go.

Tonight's menu, an old standby. Hungry but not ambitious.

- Meat loaf (family recipe)
- tater tots
- tossed green salad
- homemade yellow cake (made with Copper) to be topped with sliced fresh strawberries and a lemon sauce left over from a dessert last week.

Parmesan-sage pork chops

Tonight's menu:

Parmesan-sage boneless pork chops (adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Pork-Chops-with-Parmesan-Sage-Crust-104711).

Diced potatoes and onions rolled in spices and baked

Broccoli with butter-garlic sauce

A nice vinho verde

fresh strawberries on ice cream