Crestones - One Down, One to Go

Last weekend we started our run of the final fourteeners on our list with a backpack into South Colony Lakes and an attempt at the Crestones. 

The Peak was a great climb, with the exception of a large group above us who sent a near-continuous (and totally unnecessary) volley of rockfall down on all the climbers below them. Here's a view of the route from part-way up the Red Gully:

By the time we re-climbed Broken Hand Pass it was too late to attempt the Needle. We were also out of water and beat. We'll be back in September to take care of that unfinished business.

Skipping the Needle left us with enough energy to rise at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday and shoot up Humboldt in the dark, arriving on the summit just before sunrise:

We were back at the tent around 7:00, on the trail before 8:00, and enjoying a couple IPAs at the car by 10:30. 

Missing the Needle shouldn't derail our plans of finishing this year, but we don't have much room for error. Our remaining peak list / itinerary looks like this: 

• Snowmass (this weekend)
  
• Pyramid
  
• Culebra 
• Blanca / Ellingwood
• Little Bear
  
• Maroon Peak
• El Diente
  
• Sunlight / Windom / Eolus
  
• Wilson Peak / Mt. Wilson
  
• Capitol
• North Maroon
  
• Crestone Needle
  
• Sneffels

No place for a nervous person. 

The only peak that truly concerns me is Little Bear. Having no personal control over rocks shooting down at my head is a frightening prospect. The others I think I can handle, but it will be a true test of physical and psychological fortitude. 

Here's a parting shot of the Needle... see you in September: