1 m away
Crestone Peak
Climb one of the most beautiful and most challenging of Colorado's 14ers
Extreme Hiking
- Distance
- 17 km
- Ascent
- 1.8 km
- Descent
- 1.8 km
One of the most aesthetic and challenging Colorado 14ers.
Hiking Extreme
Note: this route warrants a "Moderate" Mountaineering difficulty rating.
While Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak are renowned as two of the most beautiful, most formidable, and most technical 14ers in Colorado, if you stick to the standard routes, you can tackle each peak individually with a Class 3 climb. "Among the last of the fourteeners to be scaled. . .this remote and rugged mountain was once thought impossible to climb," writes Matt Lemke on SummitPost.org.
To begin the standard route up the south face, begin by following the gated 4x4 road to the approach trail. After hopping on the singletrack trail, you'll gain a low pass and face your main ascent.
The main objective is to "traverse into a large gully, climb a few hundred feet, cross west over a rib, and ascend a second gully to the summit ridge," according to 14ers.com. If you follow this crossover route, you'll be able to stick to solely Class 3 terrain. Following this route requires very careful route-finding, provided by either astute awareness of the mountains around you, climbing with someone who's completed the route before, or following careful turn-by-turn directions, linked above on 14ers.com. The route mapped here in FATMAP should be very, very close to the intended route, but be sure to remain situationally aware while on the mountain.
One route variation climbs straight up the east gully to the summit, instead of switching over to the west gully. While it's a more direct climb than the crossover route, this variation is more difficult and more technical, resulting in Class 4 scrambling. This would effectively bump the FATMAP rating up from "moderate" to "difficult."
Sources: https://www.summitpost.org/crestone-peak/150435 https://www.summitpost.org/crestone-needle/150434 https://www.14ers.com/route.php?route=cnee1&peak=The+Crestones+and+Humboldt+Peak
Extreme
Scrambling up mountains and along technical trails with moderate fall exposure. Handholds are necessary to navigate the trail in its entirety, although they are not necessary at all times. Some obstacles can be very large and difficult to navigate, and the grades can often be near-vertical. The challenge of the trail and the steepness of the grade results in very strenuous hiking. Hikes of this difficulty blur the lines between "hiking" and "climbing".
1 m away
Climb one of the most beautiful and most challenging of Colorado's 14ers
Extreme Hiking
6.3 km away
Standard route up the Challenger Point and Kit Carson 14ers outside of Crestone, CO.
Extreme Hiking