14,197 Foot Crestone Needle

Departed the South Colony Trailhead at 4:10 AM and hiked up the trail to the switchbacks that lead to the South Colony Lakes. Once at the lakes, we took the easily distinguishable steep trail up toward Broken Hand Pass. Once on the pass, the trail meanders around on a grassy relief between toward the Needle. Once past this area the serious climbing begins and is relentless. The couloir was easy to find and the climb up the knobby - grippy surface was a blast. When the couloir gets extremely steep and appears to dead-end, traverse to the couloir on your left and follow it to the summit. We arrived at Crestone Needle's summit at 6:58 AM (2 hours, 48 minutes). This climb is fun and exciting!