Route Climbed: Outward Bound Couloir Date Climbed: July 2, 2005
Climbed with brother (ahansen54, see below). Late start but snow was good in the couloir. It was easy to sidestep the small cornice at the top. Summitted Kit Carson and headed over to Challenger Pt. via Kit Carson Avenue. Still a few patches of snow on the avenue. Storms held off as we hiked the west ridge back down to Willow Lake. I enjoyed the ascent much more than surfing down all the scree on the main route. Pretty area, but a little crowded due to the fact it was the 4th of July weekend.
Route Climbed: Outward Bound Couloir Date Climbed: July 2, 2005
Climbed with jhansen007 via the Outward Bound Couloir (tops out at the saddle between Kat Carson and Kit Carson) and then continued up the last portion of the standard route. Descended via the West Ridge and hit Challenger Point on the way out. Great weather despite getting a late start.
Hiked in to Colony Lakes in the morning and continued on to Kit Carson. I didn't know it was going to be such a long route, but it was so fun. I decided to climb Humboldt on the way back to complete the day.
Route Climbed: North Ridge Challenger / West Ridge Kit Carson Date Climbed: August 2004
Interesting solo trip. Two summits at once and the closest that I've ever come to getting dead from a dumbass mistake. Nevertheless, an awesome hike and beautiful scenery. This is why I go to the mountains. My trip report will follow.
Route Climbed: Challenger Face, Kirk Couloir Date Climbed: Multiple climbs
As I grew up in nearby Saguache, this is one of my favorite peaks to climb. I have summited three or four times, but I try not to keep count. The Kirk Couloir route is a classic--preferably climbed at sunrise wth a pair of skis on the pack.
Route Climbed: East Ridge from Colony Lakes Date Climbed: August 11, 1985
Finally had the chance to ride up the nasty Colony Lakes road w/ my BMS group from the CMC. This was to be our "High Peak Climb" for graduating Basic Mountaineering School. We camped at the upper lake, and rather than heading to the Humboldt saddle we scambled up one of the loose couloirs leading directly to the Bears Playground. When we arrived there, it was totally fogged in (only 20 foot visablity). Well, that was a good chance to practice our map and compass skills. I was elected to take the lead and successfully put us right at the base of the eastern sub peak (then unnamed, but so was the western summit; hopefully there will be no need for future summits to be named after disasters in space exploration). After scrambling up tundra and solid rock to the 13,980 summits of the subpeak, we descended south on solid rock to traverse over a small ridge and then climb back up a few feet to the saddle. The climb to the true summit was back in the fog and the view was non-existent. the descent was uneventful and everyone was tired but satisfied.
Route Climbed: The Prow Date Climbed: August 1,2004
Hiked up Spanish Creek and camped in the beautiful valley between Kit Carson and the Crestones. Solo free climbed the prow. Solid rock all the way up and great views from every direction.
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: July 24, 2004
I ascended the north ridge with ATTM and descended via Challenger Point with Alan Ellis. A great time with great company! It's always a pleasure to spend time with fellow SPers.
Route Climbed: North Face of Challenger Date Climbed: July 24, 2004
Woo Hoo!!! 1,000' of class 3+ scrambling. Thanks to my sweetie, Alan, who forged ahead and provided great beta. Thanks to Ellen for checking in on the radio to see if I had been clobbered by the all the falling rocks. And special thanks to Aaron for climbing down and meeting me 50' below the ridge and giving me much needed incentive to finish (hey...no way was I down climbing that route). This one was for you Grandpa.
Route Climbed: North Face of Challenger Date Climbed: July 24, 2004
Did a great class 3+ route up the north face of Challenger, then on to the foggy summit of Kit Carson. The weather looked iffy, but I'm glad I finished it. Many thanks to Andy for waiting for me on the summit and for Aaron and Ellen for giving me beta on the radio. Congrats to Jackie for doing the north face and summiting Challenger, and to Barry and Andy for doing the north ridge. What a great trip!
Route Climbed: West Ridge via Challenger Point Date Climbed: May 29, 2004
Kit Carson avenue was loaded with snow and made for a freakish route. We were able to kick steps and use our ice axes to get across the first section of the avenue with all the exposure loaming below. I accidently exited the avenue too soon and this resulted in at least a 4th class climb to the summit. We then decended the North Ridge route and made it back to camp just after dark.
Route Climbed: West Ridge via Challenger Point Date Climbed: July 16, 2002
This was Erin's and my first trip to the Crestone area 14ers. We had an interesting encounter with a bighorn at the base of Challenger, and we faced a dramatic downpour as we neared the trailhead during our return. A trip report is available here.
Route Climbed: from Willow Lake (see route comment in additions-corrections) Date Climbed: 23 June 2002
I climbed Challenger Pk with my son Peter, then 15, from Willow Lake and we continued on to climb Kit Carson. Challenger Pk was Peter's first 14,000 ft peak. I had first climbed Kit Carson back on 9 August 1971.
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: August 2002
Made it on 3rd try - had weather problems twice before. The face of Challenger is steep - watch for rockfall ... a mountain goat sent some boulders flying towards us.
Route Climbed: West Ridge via Challenger Point Date Climbed: July 2003
The night before we summited, my brother and I helped out a guy who had taken a fall on the snowfield on the east side of Challenger. The next morning we had a great hike and beat the rush of people.
This is one of the prettiest hikes up a 14er willow lake is amazing. and the ramp that takes you from challenger ridge to a walkable route up Kit Carson Peak is unnatural. all in all a great hike/scramble.
Route Climbed: Willow Lake Date Climbed: Sept. 1, 2003
Excellent backpack trip, although I felt sluggish on the second day, to the most spectacular lake that I've been to this date. Colonelpyat(Jim) is an excellent hiker/climber and anyone who hike's with him will soon come to realize the many years of experience behind him.
The only downer on the weekend was that I dropped my camera and it tumbled down the mountain for about two-hundred feet. It came to rest in what looked like an old melted out crevasse (inside joke). Needless to say the camera is finished, it was a very somber moment, but like my wife says at least it wasn't me tumbling down the mountain.
A little TIP for those who attempt this mountain in the future, screw the guidebook, and head for the prominent notch just to the right of Challenger Point's summit (class 2+, loose scree). you will be able to see it from the back side of the lake and holds snow throughout the year. By doing this you will dodge the extreme exposure from the standard route. I will add an image to this page and call out this notch.
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: August 31, 2003
Crowded, Labor Day weekend. We left from the lake about 6:30 a.m. and encountered at least three parties en route on the ridge who were turning back, due to the fog. Our native Alamosan had no particular concerns about this turning electrical, though, so we pressed onward. Challenger took about five hours; the ridge is indeed an intense ascent, but there are small steps seemingly dug into the side of the tundra. If you can find these, which requires occasionally traversing small boulder fields, the ascent is much more tolerable.
KC Ave entails one route of ascent, turning sharp left and descending two times. At the bottom of the second descent, we spotted the two gullies mentioned in the EXCELLENT trip report by Aaron Johnson posted herein. (Certainly richer in detail than Roach's.) We made a slight shortcut, however, instead of ascending directly from the avenue. This proved helpful on the way up, but impossible to retrace on the way down, causing 3 out of the 4 members of our party to mistakenly descend below the Avenue on the way down.
At the very bottom, we were facing Crestone. One of our party traversed tons of class 4/5 to get back to the avenue; we other two found a class 3 route. Where we came up was the second leg of the Ave, rather than the final 3rd from whence we had begun our ascent. Bottom line: pick a route that you KNOW you can retrace without any difficulty, even if it's longer.
Coming back, we heard there was a class 2 couloir that offered a faster descent than the far ridge back down to the lake. Being too exhausted to ascend back to Challenger's ridge, however, we contented ourselves with traversing diagonally down the east face, which is slow class 3 requiring much focus. Also, you don't want to descend too quickly, because there is a roughly 200 ft cliff at the base of Challenger's southern face.
I will post a full-blown photo essay/trip report at my own site soon:
jhansen007 - Jul 18, 2005 5:05 pm
Route Climbed: Outward Bound Couloir Date Climbed: July 2, 2005Climbed with brother (ahansen54, see below). Late start but snow was good in the couloir. It was easy to sidestep the small cornice at the top. Summitted Kit Carson and headed over to Challenger Pt. via Kit Carson Avenue. Still a few patches of snow on the avenue. Storms held off as we hiked the west ridge back down to Willow Lake. I enjoyed the ascent much more than surfing down all the scree on the main route. Pretty area, but a little crowded due to the fact it was the 4th of July weekend.
doumall - Jul 13, 2005 3:01 pm
Route Climbed: North Slopes / West Ridge Date Climbed: July, 31 200428th and 29th 14ers!
ahansen54 - Jul 6, 2005 11:27 am
Route Climbed: Outward Bound Couloir Date Climbed: July 2, 2005Climbed with jhansen007 via the Outward Bound Couloir (tops out at the saddle between Kat Carson and Kit Carson) and then continued up the last portion of the standard route. Descended via the West Ridge and hit Challenger Point on the way out. Great weather despite getting a late start.
f360driver - Jul 5, 2005 8:56 pm
Route Climbed: Colony lakes Date Climbed: 7/3/05Hiked in to Colony Lakes in the morning and continued on to Kit Carson. I didn't know it was going to be such a long route, but it was so fun. I decided to climb Humboldt on the way back to complete the day.
Old Ickabod - May 7, 2005 10:51 pm
Route Climbed: North Ridge Challenger / West Ridge Kit Carson Date Climbed: August 2004Interesting solo trip. Two summits at once and the closest that I've ever come to getting dead from a dumbass mistake. Nevertheless, an awesome hike and beautiful scenery. This is why I go to the mountains. My trip report will follow.
DharmaBum1984 - May 7, 2005 2:04 am
Route Climbed: Challenger Face, Kirk Couloir Date Climbed: Multiple climbsAs I grew up in nearby Saguache, this is one of my favorite peaks to climb. I have summited three or four times, but I try not to keep count. The Kirk Couloir route is a classic--preferably climbed at sunrise wth a pair of skis on the pack.
ColoradoScott - Feb 3, 2005 1:11 pm
Route Climbed: East Ridge from Colony Lakes Date Climbed: August 11, 1985Finally had the chance to ride up the nasty Colony Lakes road w/ my BMS group from the CMC. This was to be our "High Peak Climb" for graduating Basic Mountaineering School. We camped at the upper lake, and rather than heading to the Humboldt saddle we scambled up one of the loose couloirs leading directly to the Bears Playground. When we arrived there, it was totally fogged in (only 20 foot visablity). Well, that was a good chance to practice our map and compass skills. I was elected to take the lead and successfully put us right at the base of the eastern sub peak (then unnamed, but so was the western summit; hopefully there will be no need for future summits to be named after disasters in space exploration). After scrambling up tundra and solid rock to the 13,980 summits of the subpeak, we descended south on solid rock to traverse over a small ridge and then climb back up a few feet to the saddle. The climb to the true summit was back in the fog and the view was non-existent. the descent was uneventful and everyone was tired but satisfied.
travisgoings - Aug 15, 2004 12:52 am
Route Climbed: The Prow Date Climbed: August 1,2004Hiked up Spanish Creek and camped in the beautiful valley between Kit Carson and the Crestones. Solo free climbed the prow. Solid rock all the way up and great views from every direction.
Andy - Jul 26, 2004 4:11 pm
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: July 24, 2004I ascended the north ridge with ATTM and descended via Challenger Point with Alan Ellis. A great time with great company! It's always a pleasure to spend time with fellow SPers.
cruzit - Jul 26, 2004 1:14 pm
Route Climbed: North Face of Challenger Date Climbed: July 24, 2004Woo Hoo!!! 1,000' of class 3+ scrambling. Thanks to my sweetie, Alan, who forged ahead and provided great beta. Thanks to Ellen for checking in on the radio to see if I had been clobbered by the all the falling rocks. And special thanks to Aaron for climbing down and meeting me 50' below the ridge and giving me much needed incentive to finish (hey...no way was I down climbing that route). This one was for you Grandpa.
Alan Ellis - Jul 26, 2004 12:09 am
Route Climbed: North Face of Challenger Date Climbed: July 24, 2004Did a great class 3+ route up the north face of Challenger, then on to the foggy summit of Kit Carson. The weather looked iffy, but I'm glad I finished it. Many thanks to Andy for waiting for me on the summit and for Aaron and Ellen for giving me beta on the radio. Congrats to Jackie for doing the north face and summiting Challenger, and to Barry and Andy for doing the north ridge. What a great trip!
xskier77 - Jun 1, 2004 1:36 am
Route Climbed: West Ridge via Challenger Point Date Climbed: May 29, 2004Kit Carson avenue was loaded with snow and made for a freakish route. We were able to kick steps and use our ice axes to get across the first section of the avenue with all the exposure loaming below. I accidently exited the avenue too soon and this resulted in at least a 4th class climb to the summit. We then decended the North Ridge route and made it back to camp just after dark.
DaveC - May 20, 2004 9:57 pm
Route Climbed: e ridge Date Climbed: july 00did Kit and Kat but not Challenger (yet!). Long hard day, with Kat in the way. But fun cilmbiing in the notch.
RyanS - Apr 12, 2004 11:47 am
Route Climbed: West Ridge via Challenger Point Date Climbed: July 16, 2002This was Erin's and my first trip to the Crestone area 14ers. We had an interesting encounter with a bighorn at the base of Challenger, and we faced a dramatic downpour as we neared the trailhead during our return. A trip report is available here.
jstanley - Apr 7, 2004 5:37 pm
Route Climbed: from Willow Lake (see route comment in additions-corrections) Date Climbed: 23 June 2002I climbed Challenger Pk with my son Peter, then 15, from Willow Lake and we continued on to climb Kit Carson. Challenger Pk was Peter's first 14,000 ft peak. I had first climbed Kit Carson back on 9 August 1971.
hhsilleck - Jan 10, 2004 7:06 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: August 2002Made it on 3rd try - had weather problems twice before. The face of Challenger is steep - watch for rockfall ... a mountain goat sent some boulders flying towards us.
jdjordan45 - Dec 5, 2003 9:53 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge via Challenger Point Date Climbed: July 2003The night before we summited, my brother and I helped out a guy who had taken a fall on the snowfield on the east side of Challenger. The next morning we had a great hike and beat the rush of people.
Andesite - Dec 1, 2003 10:23 pm
Route Climbed: Willow creekThis is one of the prettiest hikes up a 14er willow lake is amazing. and the ramp that takes you from challenger ridge to a walkable route up Kit Carson Peak is unnatural. all in all a great hike/scramble.
Grant - Sep 24, 2003 8:17 pm
Route Climbed: Willow Lake Date Climbed: Sept. 1, 2003Excellent backpack trip, although I felt sluggish on the second day, to the most spectacular lake that I've been to this date. Colonelpyat(Jim) is an excellent hiker/climber and anyone who hike's with him will soon come to realize the many years of experience behind him.
The only downer on the weekend was that I dropped my camera and it tumbled down the mountain for about two-hundred feet. It came to rest in what looked like an old melted out crevasse (inside joke). Needless to say the camera is finished, it was a very somber moment, but like my wife says at least it wasn't me tumbling down the mountain.
A little TIP for those who attempt this mountain in the future, screw the guidebook, and head for the prominent notch just to the right of Challenger Point's summit (class 2+, loose scree). you will be able to see it from the back side of the lake and holds snow throughout the year. By doing this you will dodge the extreme exposure from the standard route. I will add an image to this page and call out this notch.
defurr - Sep 7, 2003 3:40 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: August 31, 2003Crowded, Labor Day weekend. We left from the lake about 6:30 a.m. and encountered at least three parties en route on the ridge who were turning back, due to the fog. Our native Alamosan had no particular concerns about this turning electrical, though, so we pressed onward. Challenger took about five hours; the ridge is indeed an intense ascent, but there are small steps seemingly dug into the side of the tundra. If you can find these, which requires occasionally traversing small boulder fields, the ascent is much more tolerable.
KC Ave entails one route of ascent, turning sharp left and descending two times. At the bottom of the second descent, we spotted the two gullies mentioned in the EXCELLENT trip report by Aaron Johnson posted herein. (Certainly richer in detail than Roach's.) We made a slight shortcut, however, instead of ascending directly from the avenue. This proved helpful on the way up, but impossible to retrace on the way down, causing 3 out of the 4 members of our party to mistakenly descend below the Avenue on the way down.
At the very bottom, we were facing Crestone. One of our party traversed tons of class 4/5 to get back to the avenue; we other two found a class 3 route. Where we came up was the second leg of the Ave, rather than the final 3rd from whence we had begun our ascent. Bottom line: pick a route that you KNOW you can retrace without any difficulty, even if it's longer.
Coming back, we heard there was a class 2 couloir that offered a faster descent than the far ridge back down to the lake. Being too exhausted to ascend back to Challenger's ridge, however, we contented ourselves with traversing diagonally down the east face, which is slow class 3 requiring much focus. Also, you don't want to descend too quickly, because there is a roughly 200 ft cliff at the base of Challenger's southern face.
I will post a full-blown photo essay/trip report at my own site soon:
http://www.lonelyhighway.com/pictorial.htm