8/21/04 – Crestone Peak, "East Crestone" & Broken Hand Peak – South Face, West Slopes

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'


Our camp was near enough for churning Cottonwood Creek to lull us to sleep, and my repose was heavenly. We all got a late start Saturday morning for our climb of Crestone Peak. No matter, we thought; the morning skies were blue and clear. We ate breakfast and attended to our chores, and then we started the hike. Familiarity with the high route to Cottonwood Basin was helpful from Erin's and my climb of Crestolita the day before, but it wasn't foolproof. We ended up traversing too high and through some willows, much to my chagrin. As we climbed higher, we could see the Crestones enveloped in wispy clouds, but the weather dissipated almost as soon as it appeared. When we entered the basin, we took a break on a large boulder with a nice view of Crestone Peak and its red couloir, and I spent some time helping Traber identify our route. We started the stiff hike to the base of the couloir.

After climbing steep slabs and entering the couloir, conditions started to change. It was as if all the humidity from the weather earlier in the week was finally leaving the basins and drainages around the Crestones and funneling up through the couloir and to the skies. It was windy and damp with little visibility to speak of. When you could see through a break, however, it was an amazing thing to watch all the clouds rising around us. Erin remarked at how different the couloir was from our first visit in 2002. This time there was running water down the middle posing as an obstacle. Thinking back to two years ago, we're sure that we often climbed straight up the now-slick center of the couloir. Traber was a real trouper, but the steep 2000' climb was taking its toll on him. He was totally exhausted once we reached the notch, so we let him take a breather while Erin and I dashed off for the east summit of Crestone, which is also the highpoint of Custer County. We were quite vexed that we didn't make this lark of a climb two years ago. Preoccupied with talking to our climbing partners that day, we simply forgot about East Crestone, which had been on our agenda. We were on its summit in a matter of minutes, and we signed a register with a few names we recognized including Layne Bracey's.

At the notch, Traber was recuperating quickly, and we caught some intermittent views of Kit Carson Mountain a mile and a quarter away. We started up to the summit of Crestone. Erin had been curious about a move that spooked her two years ago on this section, but the cairned route must have been improved upon since then because we didn't encounter anything like it this time. Atop the Peak, we were going to take a long break, but just then, flurries began to fall, and we heard a thunderclap (little did we know it'd be the only thunder we'd hear that day!). That was our cue to leave, and we started the long climb back down. Along the way, the weather cleared enough for us to get some views of Crestolita and Broken Hand Peak. Once off the slabs we took a long breather before heading to Cottonwood Lake to eat our lunch. During the hike over, we saw a marmot with a huge mouthful of grass. He was a total ham, keeping his load in place while posing and checking us out.

We hiked to the east end of the lake and sat down while the weather deteriorated once again. We kept warm and enjoyed the sights while it drizzled on us. Traber explained that after seeing how much the Peak kicked his ass that there was no way he'd be able to climb the Needle on Sunday. Because we had to backpack out and make the drive back to Denver Sunday evening, Erin and I agreed. For Erin and I, it would be a shame to turn our backs on Broken Hand Peak, but with the weather we didn't see any alternatives. We were already discussing how we'd go about summitting this peak on some later date, while we scoped out a small herd of female bighorns with a few of their young in tow. But once we finished our meals, the weather had cleared entirely. Traber didn't mind waiting, so Erin and I threw on our packs and flew up the trail toward Broken Hand Peak, which stood 1200' above us.

The Rocky Mountain Field Institute's work on the trail to Broken Hand Pass is exceptional, and we made fantastic time toward the pass. I kept looking to the right until I saw a cairn that told us to leave the trail and start climbing toward Broken Hand Peak. The climb up Broken Hand is up mostly tundra, but there are a number of rock outcrops that get in the way. The view of Crestone Needle was already impressive; we had a feeling this would be a special summit. We picked a good route on the way up, and after a short, easy scramble below the summit, we were atop Broken Hand only fifty minutes after we left Traber. The 360-degree views from Broken Hand are outstanding: Crestolita, the Crestones, South Colony Lakes, Marble Mountain, Milwaukee Peak, and Pico Asilado. We didn't dally long since Traber was waiting for us, so we started the quick climb back to Cottonwood Lake. Our routefinding wasn't as good on the way down, and we had to do some scrambling to get back to the trail. Here's one more shot of Crestolita and me that Erin took as we descended.

We picked up Traber back at the lake just 80 minutes after we left. The three of us started the descent back to camp, where we settled into the evening routine. The next morning, we backpacked out in a couple of hours, and Erin drove us back to Denver, with a stop at Coyote Cantina along the way. This was another great camping trip, and once again Traber proved once again that he can climb a 14er coming from sea level. Way to go, Traber!