We Do Stuff: 2025

Broken Hand Peak, Crestolita 13,270' and Crestone Needle

Broken Hand Peak 13,575', Crestolita Pt. 13,270', Crestone Needle 14,196'
August 3, 2025

Last season Laura and I spent quite a few days in the Crestones area climbing on the excellent and stable conglomerate rock that the Sangre de Cristo range offers up. Since we had not had the opportunity to get to the area yet this year, I presented a plan to climb a few lower peaks that I thought would have some engaging scrambling. After having dinner with Hazel and my mom in Manitou, we set off Saturday night toward the 4wd trailhead below South Colony Lakes. While driving up the rough 4wd road, I asked Laura if she thought there would be a Subaru at the trailhead. She answered confidently, “yes”. No further discussion required. Sure enough, upon reaching the trailhead, there was a Subaru…along with about 20 Toyotas. Anyways, we noticed that the spot we parked in last time we were there was open, so I backed in and leveled the Jeep. We were sleeping by 9pm with a 3:30 am wake up alarm set.

Under starry skies, we set off hiking up the road to South Colony Lakes at 3:45 am but after 10 minutes of hiking I realized I had dropped my phone somewhere. I hurried back to the car and found it under my pillow, and once again started up the road – it was now a few minutes past 4 am.

Hiking up the road by light of headlamps

Sunrise from near the old mine site

Our first objective was to climb the east ridge of Broken Hand Peak. We hiked at a reasonable pace up to a bend in the road and cut off to the old mine site which is marked on the topo map. From near the mine the terrain looked like solid cliff bands but after conversing about a route through, we scrambled up to a ramp and angled left to grassy ledges.

Cliff bands with passable grassy ledges on the right

We were able to reach a rock filled gulley from the grass filled ledges and soon came to a short, low 5^th class chimney. We continued to climb and scramble thru rock fields and broken terrain along base of Broken Hand Peak, climbing the mixed terrain until we reached the saddle at roughly 12,900'.

Chockstone in one of the chimneys

Typical class 3 climbing to reach the ridge

A bit of low class 5 for added fun

Climbing around a chockstone before reaching the ridge

After searching around for easier ground, we gained the ridge by climbing about 100 feet of low 5^th class rock, and once on the ridgeline proper, followed over a couple of gendarmes. Several times, we dropped off to the east along grassy ledges as well as a few on the west side further up the ridge until eventually scrambling along the ridge directly to the summit.

Climbing to reach the ridge proper

Low 5th class to reach the ridge proper

Ridge was exposed in a few areas

Bypassing a gendarme

We rested here and took in the amazing views that surrounded us. Milwaukee, Pico Aislado, Crestolita, The Crestones to name a few.

Soon we began our descent along steep grass covered slopes from Broken Hand Peak, aiming for the general area of Crestolita, Point 13,270’. We descended for about about 1,000 feet and were able to pick out the gully that we wanted to climb to reach the saddle as well as a ridge that appeared to lead to the summit. We ended up choosing grassy ramps and scrambling over a few rock ribs to reach our chosen exit point. Upon reaching the saddle, we realized there was broken ground ahead of us, rather than the ridge we thought would lead directly to the summit. We picked our way through several gullies and eventually scrambled our way to the to the top of Point 12,270' at 9:45 am.

Descent off of Broken Hand Peak

We chose to climb to the small grassy area in the center

Leaving the summit, we consulted the pictures we had taken from our descent of Broken Hand. We chose what we thought would be our best downclimbing option and made our way down broken cliff bands, grassy areas and eventually a very loose rock filled gulley that lead directly to the trail that leads up broken hand pass.

Crestolita descent

Crestolita descent gulley

Climbing the pass, we decided that we had enough time to climb Crestone Needle and still make it home in time to pick up Hazel for dinner, so at the top of the pass, we cut left along trail leading to the needle. From the base of the south face, Laura and I were able to negotiate the 4^th class terrain fairly quickly and reach the summit in just one hour. At the top, we chatted with a few groups who had climbed Ellingwood Ledges, a route we climbed nearly 10 years ago, and one I’d like to climb again. The descent was the standard slog from the summit of Crestone Needle. To the car took us right at 3 hours. We finished the day with 13.5 miles and 6,500' of elevation gain.

The Crestones area is beautiful and always enjoyable and we were happy to have a wonderful time here once again. The scrambling is (mostly) solid and there are many lesser known routes to explore if you just look for them off the beaten path of the crowded 14ers.

Fun scrambling on Crestone Needle

How you know you've reached the top

Descending Broken Hand Pass

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park

Summer 2025

Starting a new job in June, I was skeptical about being able to take any time off all summer long. This was disappointing since I knew Hazel would be starting full day kindergarten in the fall and it would be much harder to spend time with her. Fortunately, I had been able to put in a few training days before I started officially and they offered to let me take those as vacation in lieu of pay. We discussed options and landed on a road trip to Wyoming. Grandma and Bob would come along and camp with us in the Tetons, which would give us the opportunity to spend time with Hazel as well as climb harder stuff a couple days.

Friday morning we headed out bright and early and drove through to Grand Teton National Park. We made one stop along the way at the Lincoln summit just to stretch our legs and get out of the car for a few minutes.

Laura and Hazel at the Lincoln summit

Laura and Hazel at the Lincoln monument along I-80

We arrived to the Jenny Lake Campground mid-afternoon and set up our tent. We had an enjoyable evening and attended a ranger led program about some of the animals and the hardships they face with such harsh winters in the Tetons. Some of them hibernate, while others migrate and some of them somehow endure the heavy snows while remaining in the Tetons.

Hazel was impressed by the size of this moose antler replica

The weather forecast for the week was not spectacular. One of our main objectives was to climb Granite Peak, the Montana state high point. After numerous discussions and changes of plans, we decided we had better get it done as the weather deteriorated the further into the week we looked. So Justin and I took off the following morning and had a successful trip to Granite Peak.

Justin and Laura on the summit of Granite Peak, MT

Upon returning to Jenny Lake Campground, Hazel was anxious to do her own hike and work on her Junior Ranger Program. We set out on the Cascade Canyon trail around the south side of Jenny Lake. Hazel brought her Junior Ranger book and a map and pointed out interesting things along the way.

Hazel leading the way with her book and map

We rescued several caterpillars from the middle of the trail so they didn't get stepped on.

We stopped to smell the flowers.

We watched ants march in lines across the trail

We visited Hidden Falls on the far side of Jenny Lake

We took the ferry back across Jenny Lake

It is difficult to get campsites in Grand Teton National Park on short notice, so I was only able to get 3 nights at Jenny Lake. The rest of the nights would be at Colter Bay campground up by Jackson Lake. We packed up our camp and moved to the new campground and found new things to explore up there.

Hazel loved helping around camp. Here she is taking the trash to the dumpster and the recycling (in the box) to the recycle bins.

We set up the new campsite and got out Hazel's bug kit. She really enjoyed collecting bugs and butterflies, looking at them and then letting them go. We also played an extensive amount of hide and seek with the plastic bugs that came with the kit. Sometimes Hazel would hide them and Grandma or Mom would find them and sometimes it was the other way around.

Hazel with her new bug explorer kit

Hazel checking stuff out with her binoculars

We relaxed and spent time down by the lakeshore. We swam in Jackson lake, cooked s'mores and played in the hammock. Hazel and Grandma read books and colored pictures. Justin cooked creative camp dinners and Laura took pictures.

Hazel at Jackson Lake in her wetsuit.

Hazel and Justin swimming in Jackson Lake

Hazel playing in the hammock

Hazel and Dad putting a moth in the house

A tent made by the caterpillars

So many wildflowers

Hazel eating her s'more

Hazel got her Junior Ranger Badge

One day, we took a drive up to Yellowstone National Park to see the geysers.

Hazel was intrigued by the colorful pools

We got lucky and saw several geysers in the few hours we were there.

Beehive geyser

Laura, Hazel and Justin in Yellowstone

Hazel at Castle geyser

Hazel checking out the runoff from Daisy geyser

Laura, Hazel and Justin at Castle geyser

There was only a day or two left of our trip and Justin and I were hoping to get another mountain in. The weather forecast was terrible. We figured we might have half a day at best before getting rained on. We settled on a technical route on the east ridge of Disappointment Peak.

We made it to the summit of Disappointment Peak with only light rain to contend with

We hiked the lakeshore trail in the rain, attended another ranger led program about the history of the park and the pioneers that made it possible and petted furs of animals found in the park. In just a short week, we were able to relax and reconnect. It was fun to see how ambitious Hazel is when she's trying to accomplish something and she is far more capable of hiking than most of the people we passed on the trails. The mountains were amazing and it was good to test Justin's hand climbing again.