LOCALadk Magazine

High above Upper South Colony Lake, Will fol- lows an easy pitch partway up the Ellingwood Ledges route. Photo Credit: Phil Brown LOCALadk 23 Probably few people in the Adirondacks are familiar with Del Norte, a small quirky town with about 1,500 residents on the edge of the vast San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. It's where I lived last summer. I was attracted to Del Norte for its variety of outdoor activities but especially its proximity to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which loom above the valley in the east. Stretching 250 miles from Colorado into northern New Mexico, the Sangre de Cristos lay claim to nine peaks above 14,000 feet. Blanca Peak, at 14,345 feet, is the highest summit in the range and the fourth highest in the state. During my three-month stay in Del Norte, I made sev- eral forays into the Sangre de Cristos, both overnight and day trips. All told, I spent 14 days in these rugged and spectacular mountains. This article focuses on three epic adventures on 14,000 -footers: Ellingwood Ledges on Crestone Nee- dle, the traverse from Little Bear Peak to Blanca Peak, and the traverse from Crestone Peak to Crestone Nee- dle. All involved fourth-class and occasional fifth-class climbing and vertiginous exposure. Ellingwood Ledges Crestone Needle was the last of Colorado's 54 Fourteeners to be climbed. Albert Ellingwood, a pi- oneering mountaineer, made the first ascent in 1916 with Eleanor Davis via a traverse from Crestone Peak. The outing gave Ellingwood a chance to inspect the Needle's east face, which rises 2,000 feet above the South Colony Lakes. In 1925, Ellingwood and Davis, joined by two other companions, returned to climb the face. Steve Roper and Allen Steck thought enough of this route to in- clude it in their celebrated guide- book 50 Classic Climbs of North America. The crux is rated 5.7 in the Yosemite Decimal System (meaning it's of moderate difficulty). The red conglomerate abounds with knobby protrusions. "Climbing on this unique rock is a pleasure that few climbers ever forget, and many return for additional doses of knob climbing in an alpine setting," Roper and Steck wrote. I made plans to do the route in mid-July with Will Roth, an Adirondack rock-climbing guide. Having sar- coidosis, a lung ailment, I worried about my stamina at high elevations. To prepare, I took long gravel-bike rides on dirt roads at 12,000 feet and went on acclima- tization hikes, including one to the base of the climb. This helped, but my lungs never fully adjusted to the thinner air. Will flew to Albuquerque on July 16. We then drove together to Del Norte and spent two days climbing in Penitente Canyon, located on federal land north of town. It's named for a sect of Hispanic Catholics who used to gather there in secret and who painted an im- age of Our Lady of Guadeloupe on one of the cliffs. The canyon now boasts roughly 180 rock climbs (most of them bolted). One of our favorites was How the West Was Won, a short 5.9 route with deep huecos for holds. On Will's third day, we drove to the east side of the Sangre de Cristos and trekked to Upper South Colony Lake where we set up camp at 12,000 feet. Staring up at the Needle's immense east face, Will picked out the crack near the top (the crux) that would lead us to the summit. That night I tossed and turned in my little solo tent. When I heard Will stir in his tent before dawn, I got up and out, determined not to let my lack of sleep inter- fere with our adventure. We hung the food bags to keep them out of the claws of hungry marmots and then ascended a talus field to the start of the climb. It's unlikely that we followed in El- lingwood's footholds. The east face is so broad and the climbing varia- tions so many that a party basically chooses its own adventure. We be- gan by ascending a low-angle wide crack to a grassy ledge and then headed up and right toward the Red Knob, a small tower on the arête. The climb to the Red Knob was technically easy, though the heady exposure kept us alert. Mostly, it was scrambling using hands and feet, with a rare fifth-class move. No doubt many parties climb this section unroped to save time. As a professional guide, though, Will did not want to take chances with a partner in tow. Perhaps the biggest challenge was finding a safe route through a labyrinth of ledges, cracks, and chimneys, and Will did an admirable job. We also had to beware of loose rock, often a hazard in the alpine. "Nothing is good; every- thing is suspect," Will warned. After five pitches, we reached the Red Knob, where Will draped a sling over a solid horn for an anchor. What a belay perch! Sitting with my back against the tower, I could look straight down hundreds of feet to the talus or straight up toward Crestone Needle's summit, still a thousand feet away. Above the Red Knob, the rock quality improved, though we still encountered chossy sections. We en- joyed a mix of scrambling and easy fifth-class climbing, and Will let me lead a few pitches. After the 11th pitch, with the hardest climbing still ahead, Will switched from approach shoes to rock-climb-

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