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Feeling confident from my recent successes on several peaks of late, I thought I was ready to take on something more challenging, so I headed down to the South Colony Lakes Road at 4:00 a.m. from Arvada. On the drive up, I picked up two groups of climbers hitch-hiking. I didn't envy them in the back of my truck the way I drive this road. Arriving at the parking lot at 8:30, I set out for my first objective - Broken Hand Pass. The wind was really strong on the way up, which had me a little concerned about the possibility of turning back at some point higher up the route. In very little time, I arrived under Broken Hand Pass (photo on right). It was time to put on the gaiters and crampons, and whip out the ice axe. The pitch was steep and took some time to complete, as this was my first moderate snow climb of the season.
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At the top of the snow, the final 150 or so feet to the pass was completely dry and a nice reprieve from the use of crampons. After taking in a brief view of the Needle, I headed down towards Cottonwood Lake. This was straightforward and didn't take long at all. The next objective was to locate the South Couloir of Crestone Peak. The trail was weak in places, and I wondered how far of it might be. Then it appeared above at 10:30 a.m. (photo on left). Dawson's guide has a really nice shot of the couloir which I memorized to spot the correct entry point. A short snowfield led up to the base of the route, and the fun began. The couloir actually head somewhat North at first, but about 200' up, a traverse to the Southeast leads into the main couloir. I only noticed that I should turn out of the first couloir because it started to get narrow, which wasn't consistent with photos I'd seen of the route.
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After traversing over, the route was obvious, as well as ominous. The final 1,000' of the couloir was completely covered with snow. After some initi |