Defeat on the Crestone Needle

Jamie skins below Broken Hand Pass


On 3/20/08 I drove down to the Sangre De Cristo range with friends and fellow rippers Jamie and Craig. Our primary objective was the South Couloir on the Crestone Needle. This we found out could either be a nice, steep, continuous line from the summit, or a 55 degree chunky frozen ice slopes interspred by a cliff infested nightmare.
Driving out to the trailhead was cool, snowdrifts along the road down in the valley were over 10 feet tall in places! It was apparent these southern mountains were having a rediculous snow year.We left the trailhead at 5 pm, and arrived at our base camp at about 11 pm, skinning under a full moon.
We got up and out fairly early, by not nearly early enough the next morning. By the time we had skinned and bootpacked up the steep and deep slopes of Broken Hand Pass, the dry wind was pounding us, and clouds had filled the sky. Heading up Broken Hand Pass We decided to continue along the 3rd and 4th class ridge just to get a look up at it if anything. This is precisely what we did. I used a kiwi coil and led some short rope pitches with excellent friction belays. Looked up inside the beast with a strong steady wind blowing down it, and hard ice grains stung us as a warning to not enter this beasts throat today. We climbed to where the arrow is then turned around. Skiing down Broken Hand Pass was fun, and we returned to camp at sunset tired, dried out, and hungry. A sunset low cloud extravaganza followed.