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Pennsylenvy
Gym climber
Fannie's Crack, AZ
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 3, 2008 - 07:20am PT
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So September 16th a friend, Mike calls and asks if I want to go up to Crestone Needle CO in his small plane. The week before him and the Doctor flew out to Toulmne, landing in Lee Vining. The Facelift was knocking on my door, I was supposed to leave that Saturday but what the hey.....O.K. Mike lets go. I had a good deal, my cost would be to provide the food for the trip, and Mike likes mac and cheese.So we were off
We flew out of Flagstaff airport on a beautiful morning
The captain by law must show you how to use your seatbelts and inform you what to do in case of a unexpected landing, sound familiar?
en route we peeped at Canyon de Chelley
Landing at Crestville airstrip(I think that's the name) I informed the captain we had a little company on the runway
Mike had arrange for a local to pick us up and be jeeped up the pretty darn heinous road where we would base. Night one
political smolitical, when I'm in Colorado I drink Coors, Idaho Budweiser, Mexico Pacifico/Corona All other times something good
Our route up the skyline
Some of the easy fifth class. Right about here I heard someone below whisper "can you here me up there?" Thinking it was some touron I decided not to answer. A couple minutes later the gun went off, apparently dispatching a big horn sheep ewe we had seen earlier. Hikers later told us the guy was trying to warn us he was going to fire so we wouldn't fall off the rock. Go figure
The climbing consisted of mostly easy fifth and fourth class with a couple of steps and two pitches on the summit block. We were surprised at the amount of snow nearing the summit block. The 5.5-5.7 climbing felt a lot harder with little gear and snow and ice for hands and feet. You had to clear snow off holds and grind your feet around to paste to the rock. One particular pitch I led consisted of going up an unprotected snowy/icy block 15-20 feet out from the belay (one good nut, one so-so cam)to a snowy ramp. I had to chip hand holds in the hard snow and paste my feet on the slopey top of the block. Next kick steps, find some marginal gear and pull awkward snow, climbing moves up chimney. We weren't expecting this. Mike's leads were no bargain either!.....anyways a thunderstorm really threatened as we neared the summit, but good fortune prevailed
we were amply rewarded with beauty..
We got knocked down a bit by the storm, it snowed on us for a bit but we picked our way down .
A day and a half later I was on Moby Dick
And... helping teach Lynne the finer points of poker at the face lift
Thanks Mike
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Outstanding TR to start the day. What with a single-engine approach, beer in the creek,
hunters, and late-season conditions on the mountain.
I've been thinking for awhile that ST needed a Crestones/Blanca area thread. There must be
a few other rocky mountaineers out there with slides and stories to share.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Tim
Great stuff! Isn't it a fun route? Looks like you hadn't
good weather for the most part. Thanks for the report!
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drljefe
climber
Calizona
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Wow. And here I thought being able to drive to 11,500 was cush, but the plane approach?!I guess membership has its privileges. Cobbles and anti cobbles. Early snow. We had wine instead of Coors, but with Humboldt nearby...
What a beautiful place. Thanks for bringing back some memories.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Pretty cool.
And Coors ain't so bad.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Very cool! Thanks for posting the photos and TR. These are the best!
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cowpoke
climber
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very cool! I need a friend with a plane.
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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Man, I really need to give my vet friend/ex-roommate Mike a call...
:-)
Nice TR, Tim. I got the pictures from The Doctors trip on my computer, just waiting for him to come over and write a TR.
MrE
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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"And Coors ain't so bad".
As what?
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Kelty pack, ensolite and goldine -- Crestone Needle in 1968.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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The Canyon de Chelley is really cool. As are alot of the shots.
Nice TR, thanks for posting up!
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Denver, Colorado
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"Coors ain't so bad"
What do Coors and sex in a canoe have in common?
They're both f*&king close to water.
I went to Golden High School, I know of what I speak.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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how far is the hike in then? TR made it sound like a walk from the jeep.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Nice report PE! Airplane approach... very cool. Nearly got to go up and do Lizard Head that way a few years back, but it fell through.
Really enjoyed going in to do the Needle.
Drew this after climbing it in '98:
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drljefe
climber
Calizona
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Nice topo! In the 50 Classics isn't the route called Ellingwood Arete?
The hike in varies depending on the clearance of your vehicle, we drove way up in a beater 2wd truck to 11.5. which left an easy approach.
After searching this region online recently I understand access is changing...
I love the Sangres!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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On the day of that Kelty-pack photo, we made a 7-mile hike to the lake.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Thought you had me there drjefe... but no dice. Listed as Ellingwood Ledges in 50 CCoNA. Whew! Thought I blew it there.
I think maybe the modern name for the route has become Ellingwood Arete because there's another "Ellingwood Ledges" route on another peak somewhere in Colorado.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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There's an Ellingwood Ridge on La Plata, which I haven't done but it looks like Tarbuster-
style fun. Maybe the Ellingwood Ledges name is meant to avoid confusion with that?
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