Crestones
Encyclopedia
Sangre de Cristo Range
The Sangre de Cristo Range, called the East Range locally in the San Luis Valley, is a narrow mountain range of the Rocky Mountains running north and south along the east side of the Rio Grande Rift in southern Colorado in the United States...
above Crestone, Colorado
Crestone, Colorado
Crestone is a statutory town in Saguache County in Southwestern Colorado, United States. The population was 73 at the 2000 census. It is a small village at the foot of the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range, in the northern part of the San Luis Valley. Crestone was a small mining town, but...
, comprising:
- Crestone PeakCrestone PeakCrestone Peak is the seventh highest peak in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is the second highest peak in the Sangre de Cristo Range after Blanca Peak. It rises in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness above the east side of the San Luis Valley along the boundary between Saguache and Custer counties,...
(14,294 ft, 4,357 m) - Crestone NeedleCrestone NeedleCrestone Needle is one of the fourteeners of Colorado, in the heart of the Sangre de Cristo Range. It is part of a group of four fourteeners known as "the Crestones", headed by Crestone Peak and also including Kit Carson Mountain and Humboldt Peak.While not as high as Crestone Peak, and connected...
(14,197 ft, 4,327 m) - Kit Carson Mountain (14,165 ft, 4,317 m)
- Humboldt PeakHumboldt Peak (Colorado)Humboldt Peak is a high peak in the Sangre de Cristo Range in southern Colorado. It is the least challenging climb of the Crestone group of fourteeners, which include Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, and Kit Carson Peak...
(14,064 ft, 4,287 m)
(Sometimes Humboldt is not included in the term "The Crestones.")
Crestone Peak and Needle are rock scramble
Scramble
Scramble may refer to:* Scramble , a 1981 arcade game* Scramble , an enemy of the Marvel Comics Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight* Scramble , a 1970 British drama film...
s (Class 3) with some exposure; Crestone Peak has significant rockfall
Rockfall
Rockfall or rock-fall refers to quantities of rock falling freely from a cliff face. A rockfall is a fragment of rock detached by sliding, toppling, or falling, that falls along a vertical or sub-vertical cliff, proceeds down slope by bouncing and flying along ballistic trajectories or by rolling...
danger. Kit Carson Mountain is a walk-up (Class 2), but only if the correct route is carefully followed; it has claimed more lives than Crestone Peak or Crestone Needle. Humboldt Peak is the easiest of the four, with a straightforward walk-up route.
Snow is usually mostly melted by early July. Climbers can expect afternoon rain, hail, and lightning from the seasonal monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
in late July and August.
For climbing details, see the individual peak pages and the references therein.
Note that Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle are somewhat more technical climbs than many Colorado fourteeners; caution is advised. About one person per year is killed on the Crestones; occasionally, they are skilled mountaineers.
Mount Adams
Mount Adams (Colorado)
At in altitude, Mount Adams is ranked as the 66th highest mountain in the state of Colorado. It lies in the Sangre de Cristo Range north of Kit Carson Mountain, about five miles east of the town of Crestone, Colorado.-Climbing:...
(13,931 ft, 4246 m) is a notable peak just to the north of the Crestones, and is quite rugged. Broken Hand Peak, 13573 ft (4,137.1 m), southeast of Crestone Needle, is included within the official name "Crestone Peaks".