Humboldt Peak - 14,064 ft
Date: 4-16-06
Climbers: George Barnes, Joey L., Ryan M.
Route: East Ridge, via S. Colony Road, Class 2
RT distance: ~9.0 miles
RT time: 10 hours
Ascent: 6 hours
Time on summit: 45 minutes
Descent: 3 hours 15 minutes
Elevation gain: 4,300 feet
Coordinates of TH (4WD): 37.98441° N, 105.49722° W
Coordinates to leave road: 37.97209° N, 105.51564° W
Coordinates at treeline: 37.97724° N, 105.52518° W
Coordinates at snowshoe cache: 37.97808° N, 105.52854° W
Coordinates of summit: 37.97619° N, 105.55515° W
USGS Quadrangle: Crestone Peak
Trip Report:
Humboldt Peak had been on my winter/spring climb list for some time. After grilling fellow 14erWorld members Kirk, Teresa, Kurt, and MarkDB for beta (thanks guys!), I felt confident about attempting this non-standard route up the peak. The 1500 vertical feet of bushwhacking didn't sound appealing, but we were hoping to follow Mark's tracks from last weekend.
Humboldt has a unique view of the Crestones, so Joey, Ryan, and I agreed that sunrise from the summit would be exceptional. We figured leaving shortly after midnight would put us on the summit in time for sunrise, but not so early that we'd be frozen solid when the sun came up. In our favor was a nearly full moon and a clear (but windy) forecast.
Everyone we talked to suggested that we park at the 2WD trailhead and avoid the 4WD road. The first 1.5 miles of this road runs across private property (no parking, stopping, camping, pictures, looking, etc), so you either need to make it to the national forest boundary or return to the 2WD TH. Joey and I arrived at the 2WD trailhead with over 2 hours of daylight to burn, so we hesitated only long enough to get my Jeep into 4-low. With some amount of relief we reached the boundary as snow began to cover most of the road. At 1.8 miles in (9750 ft) we found a good pull off and decided we'd not further test our luck on the road. We'd later learn that the road was probably drivable for another .25-.50 mile, but after that it became completely covered with deep snow. Ryan was due to arrive later that evening, and Joey suggested he'd have no problems reaching our site in his Tacoma.
At 12:30 AM we hit the road with snowshoes strapped on our packs. For the most part the snow on the road had frozen solid and would support our weight. I routinely checked my GPS to ensure that we didn't hike past the point we'd chosen to leave the road. We noticed Mark's descent tracks exiting the trees and continued past hoping to find his ascent path. Unable to find his ascent path in the dark we blazed our own trail through the trees. Snow cover was intermittent, and our snow shoes came on and off as we made our way up. The bushwhack was without doubt miserable, but not unbearable. "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun." I've included waypoints for the start and end of this section above, anybody inclined to repeat our adventure should be able to follow our tracks. I also stomped a big line across the snow on the road at the point we turned into the trees.
Tree line provided a relief from the bushwhacking, but also made us more exposed to the wind. We stopped to refuel and don shell jackets and balaclavas. We'd taken our time up to this point, thinking that we were going to summit too early, hence the relatively long ascent time. It now looked like we were on track to summit at sunrise, so we resumed a quicker pace with fewer breaks.
The snowfield from tree line to the ridge proved most enjoyable - hard enough to support body weight on snowshoes, but soft enough to allow our crampons purchase. We made short work of the snow and soon cached our snowshoes, knowing that the rest of the route was free of snow from Mark's recent TR and pictures.
As we worked our way up the tundra I couldn't help but appreciate how stable the terrain was on the east ridge. I guess I've become accustomed to the endearing qualities of choss and loose scree, because this stretch was about as much fun as you can have while walking uphill.
As the eastern skies began to lighten it became apparent that we were cutting our sunrise timing a little close for comfort. I had to find high gear for the final 300 feet, but I made the summit just as the sun became visible over the horizon. As I caught my breath I marveled at the Crestones from this vantage and readied my camera. In addition to being perfectly lit, the shear rock on the summit of Crestone Peak was covered with rime ice, presumably the only positive thing about the evening's strong winds.
After 45 minutes we decided we'd met our cold finger quota for the day and we best get to the descent. We made good time to tree line with the aid of a couple glissades on low angle snowfields. The bushwhack down to the road seemed even worse than the ascent, perhaps because we could see what we were walking through. After a good rest on the snow covered road we strapped on snowshoes and reached our vehicles at 10:30 AM.
Overall I'd highly recommend this route for someone looking to climb Humboldt before the standard route becomes feasible. The bushwhack is miserable but passes quickly.
