8/20/04 – "Crestolita" – North Couloir

August 20 – backpack up Cottonwood Creek & "Crestolita" – 6.55 miles, 4855'
August 21 – Crestone Peak, "East Crestone" & Broken Hand Peak – 4.8, 4590'
August 22 – backpack out – 3.35 miles, 0'
TOTAL – 14.7 miles, 9445'


A year ago, the last time Traber Campbell came out to Colorado to visit us, we took him to the San Juans to climb a couple of 14ers. While he was pleased with the trip, he expressed a desire to see the Sangre de Cristo Range again. Immediately, I thought of a great idea for his trip in 2004. A backpack up Cottonwood Creek with possible climbs of Crestone Peak, "East Crestone" (the Custer County highpoint), Crestone Needle, Broken Hand Peak, and "Crestolita." A year later, we followed through on those plans. Traber had spent much of the week in Denver. We had climbed Boulder's Green Mountain on Wednesday, the day the skies opened up over Denver. We were dismayed by the forecasts for the Sangres on Thursday, which called for highs in the upper 30s. Even though our only goal for Thursday was to backpack in, it'd be quite cold at our campsite. Besides, I didn't think to have Traber bring along cold weather gear, it's late August! We postponed our trip one day to accomodate the weather, and this ended up working out nicely.

We left Denver at around 4:30 Friday morning, and Erin made the drive out to the Cottonwood Creek Trailhead. In South Park, we could see that Wednesday's storm had left a dusting of snow on the peaks from Mount Silverheels on north. We stopped in Johnson Village at the Gunsmoke Truckstop for some decent breakfast along the way. We were dazzled by nature's display that morning in the San Luis Valley. Maybe this kind of thing happens often there, but dense clouds were stacked against the Sangres range crest. However, they were only reaching into the valley about as far west as the highway, so you had the clear blue skies on one side and the clouds on the other. The key to the display was the sunlight pouring through each and every break in the clouds, making for a grand procession of the sun's rays. It was amazing!

We donned our packs at the trailhead and started hiking up Cottonwood Creek. The trail seemed much easier to follow this year than it did in 2002, but perhaps this is experience talking. The first three miles went quickly all the way to Cottonwood Falls, where we took a break near the cool mist. Traber did great making the arduous climb up the boilerplate slabs, but he was pretty wiped by the time we got to the flatter forest area above. Erin and I didn't recall any good camping options once you leave Cottonwood Creek for Cottonwood Lake (as it turns out, there are a few, but they wouldn't have gotten us much further). I prefer not to camp above treeline, meaning the lake itself wasn't an option either. It started raining while we rested, so we decided to set up camp right there and then at a nice spot a few minutes away from the turnoff for Cottonwood Lake. It was a race to pitch our tents before the rain got our gear too wet.

After eating some wraps for lunch, Erin told me that she was itching for a peak. The weather had cleared completely, and I realized that we could indeed work in an afternoon climb if we hurried. Even if we failed, we'd have good beta on the tricky route up to Cottonwood Lake. We set out at around 3:30, and we told Traber we'd be back before 8:00. After turning north for Cottonwood Lake, we caught some nice views of the peaks that line Cottonwood Creek to its south: UR 12,751, UN 13,020, and Pico Asilado. Next, we bumped into a group of four at a camp spot with a nice view of the drainage. They said they had attempted the Peak that morning, but turned back due to the weather. They were frustrated that the skies had cleared as soon as they got back down to the basin, and they planned to try again the next day.

Erin and I pressed on, and near another camp spot and a waterfall, I saw a cairn leading up and away from the beaten path. I felt confident that this was the beginning of the high route that we found inadvertently in the dark two years ago. The advantage of the high route is that it keeps you above the difficult slabs and willows that choke the two low meadows leading to the lake. We also got a nice perspective on Crestolita and its western cliffs. We continued to follow our cairned route across a side-hilling section, up a small gully, and through a boulderfield. We were pleased to have found the high route once again, and we entered the Cottonwood Lake basin at its west end, where we enjoyed a view of Crestolita and Broken Hand Peak, our two 13er goals for the trip. Then we trucked it over to and around Cottonwood Lake and Crestolita's northern cliffs, which directly abut the lake.

We mulled over the possibilities. We still hadn't decided which peak to climb, but ultimately, it came down to the fact that we'd have to climb up to Broken Hand Pass twice if we chose Broken Hand Peak today. This is because our itinerary included leading Traber up Crestone Needle. So our attention shifted to Crestolita. I had absolutely no beta on this peak aside from a photo in Jason Moore's Sangre de Cristo book. From the topo, we didn't have a lot of ideas either. One route from the Broken Hand Peak/Crestolita saddle looked possible, but contour lines indicated there could be cliffs guarding this part of the peak. Sure enough, as we came around to the peak's north side, we saw these cliffs in person. In fact, Crestolita appears to be almost completely surrounded by cliffs. The peak has a couloir on the north face, however, that runs between its two summits. This couloir appeared to be the only viable, non-technical route to our eyes, and we went for it.

The couloir was junky, and Erin and I stuck close together to minimize the substantial rockfall danger. Rocks of all sizes were ready to roll in there; clearly this is not a well-traveled route! Because Crestolita is a full 1000' shorter than the Crestones, however, this couloir was only about 5-600' tall. Near the top, the couloir split, and we took the right fork leading toward the summit. The last 100 vertical feet or so were on stable grass and rocks and required some light scrambling. The difficulty of the climbing both in the couloir and near the summit topped out at third-class. I left a register on the summit (with the wrong summit elevation, doh!), but we didn't stay long. We could see the weather would be changing again soon, so we started the trip back down.

The descent went very well with only a few sprinkles on the way down. We stopped to visit again with the group that had backed off Crestone Peak and told them about the high route to the basin. They were appreciative because earlier, they had mentioned not liking the willows in the meadows very much. A little after 7:00, we were back at camp, where Traber was taking a nap. We woke him for freeze-dried dinner, which was interrupted by intermittent hail and rain. After some camp chatter, we retired for the evening, set to rise early for our climb of Crestone Peak.