Kit Carson

Lindsey to Kit Carson-

After we made the long slog to Lindsey and back to the Camper, we decided to drive towards Crestone where we would recover for a day and then go for an attempt of Kit Carson Peak. The two and a half hour drive around the southern Sangres was quite taxing after our long tour. Listening to the sounds and stories of NPR we drove past Spanish speaks and let the moonlight guide our way down highway 160. The beauty of the scene seemed to give us the energy to keep driving until we reached Lake Como road. Its moments like these when everything is still, when you are completely taxed physically, and reeling in the accomplishment of summiting a peak that the colors seem more vibrant. It was the feeling that we were exactly where we should be in this moment in time.

Relishing in our past experiences going up Lake Como to summit Little Bear, Blanca and Ellingwood, we put the camper down and made our final trip down highway 150 to Crestone. Our first stop was Joyful Journey Hot Springs. If you ever get a chance to sit in these pools you must. We sat in the pools and recovered while taking in the scenery, and eyed up the distance we still had to cover to get to Kit Carson Peak. We left the pools feeling rejuvenated and headed to the Willow Lake trailhead for Kit Carson. We were blessed with yet another breathtaking Sangres sunset. This time accompanied by a full moon rise above the Sangres. The magic of this place of Colorado is breathtaking.

These mountains, nuzzled up next to Sand Dunes National Park, have their own powerful spirit. They put on their famous alpine glow sunset show and reminded us of how the Spanish gave them their name. Although the name the Spanish gave these mountains stuck, the Utes and other tribes felt the spirit of this place and considered it home thousands of years before the Spanish arrived. Some Ute even considered the San Luis Valley to be the origins of the Earth. We parked and crawled into our beds.

Kit Carson

The alarm clocks started ringing at 3 am. Our friend Jackson had made it to the trailhead late that night, but we were all able to get out of bed and start our journey around 4 am. Reminded by how nice and cool hiking in the early morning light was, we made great time to Willow Lake. Along the way we were lucky enough to get front row seats to the moonset over the San Luis Valley. Setting in the same graceful way that we watched her rise on the previous night. Everything comes full circle.

We continued hiking past Willow Lake and around to the bottom of the Outward Bound Couloir. Ever since we set eyes on a picture in Lou’s book of someone hiking up the couloir in perfect powder, we were set on riding it. The powder that we were hoping for turned out to be a mix of grapple powder and wind affected crust. We kept walking. We wrapped around the backside and got our first view of the beautiful summit that sits on top of the South Prow. Seeming to fall off in every direction except for the small snowfield we could see, we snow climbed our way to the Summit. This small section of Snow faces directly East, and we could feel it. We were starting to get hot, and the snow was too. We needed to get back down to the saddle.

Jacksons toe strap just broke off earlier in the day so once he secured his back foot using a ski strap we made our calculated turns above the exposure and back down to the saddle where the OB couloir waited for us.

Once at the top of the OB a collective sigh of relief passed over the group. Safe from exposure, bad snow and costly mistakes, we now had the pleasure of riding this great couloir back down to the alpine basin.

We traded off making fun fast arching  turns and filming and taking photos of each other, hooting and hollering down the line. Once back in the alpine we were able to make it back down to Willow Lake before switching over to ski mode to navigate the drainage down to snow line.

The long hike back to the trailhead was filled with thoughts of Crestone Brewery Burgers and beers. We finally made it back to the car just before 4pm making it a proper 12hour day. One of those days we will never forget.

And also the burgers were awesome and we went back to the hotsprings that night.

Watching the moon set over the San Luis valley.

Willow Lake has some nice ice if your into that sort of thing. We stayed lookers right around the lake.

Above Willow Lake and into the alpine basin.

Kit Carson The Ob coulior around the corner.

Entering the Ob.

looking down the boot pack of the OB

Coming close to the saddle up the OB

Out of the OB and onto the east face .

Our first look at the East face summit.

Jackson starting the boot up to the summit.

hiking thru some exposure.

Nicky and Jackson making their way up the South face.

Nicky hiking.

Nearing the summit.