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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: September 5,
2010
- Miles Hiked: 11.0
- Elevation Gain: 4,400'
- Hiking Partner(s): Brian Kooienga &
Kevin Smith
- Description:
- Brian and Kevin invited me along for a trip down to the Sangre de
Cristo Mountains on Labor Day weekend. It had been five years since
I had been to the Crestones, and our objective on this trip was the
Ellingwood Arete. We left Highlands Ranch (CO) shortly before 8:00
pm on Saturday night and drove to the upper four-wheel drive trailhead.
We found a good parking spot and simply laid our sleeping pads on the
road next to the vehicle for the night. We overslept and didn't
start hiking up the trail to South Colony Lakes until 6:30 am. I
was nursing a cold and had just had a 19 hour day in the mountains on
Friday, so I was moving a bit slow. It was moderately windy, but
we made the base of the direct start of the route in about 2.5 hours.
- Brian made quick work of pitch 1 (5.4) of the direct start and got
us about half way up the large open book dihedral. I took the next
pitch (5.6) which was a bit stiffer and slightly run out in areas.
Brian then led us out of the dihedral on class 4 rock to an open area
on the arete well below the red tower. We coiled the rope and
scrambled up the class 3 and 4 terrain to the arete proper just above
the red tower. We briefly roped up again, and I led an easy pitch
of low class 5 climbing directly on the arete. Brian then took the lead
as we did another fairly long section of class 3 and 4 scrambling
to a mini-headwall below the main headwall. We opted to climb this
directly rather than bypass to the climbers right. I thought this
was another fun pitch of low class five climbing; however, the rope drag
at the near the top got rather annoying for me.
- Brian took the sharp end of the rope for the first of two headwall
pitches that would take us to the summit. Brian did a good job
leading the crack to the right (5.5) and then brought Kevin and I up.
After watching a party in front of us climb, I led the final 5.7 crux
crack to easier terrain above. We scrambled to the summit and
quickly started our descent down the standard south route on Crestone
Needle. For the second time in three days, I ended up hiking back
to the trailhead in the dark. We stopped for some food in Pueblo
(CO) before finishing the drive and getting home around 12:30 pm.
- Maps:
- Click here
to view a
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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