Colorado, Sangre de Cristo Range, Cresone Needle

Publication Year: 1955.

Colorado, Sangre de Cristo Range, Crestone Needle—Cleve McCarty, Tony Mueller (20), Rodney McWhinney and Robert Kulstad (27), Rip Collins (31) and Dick Wink set up a base camp at the foot of Crestone Needle (14,191 ft.) on August 23, 1954. Only two of the six members of the party were experienced, Mueller and McCarty. McWhinney was along for the fishing. Collins and Kulstad had had some training but lacked practical experience and Wink had none at all.

On the third day of the outing, August 25, 1954, after having practiced techniques and a few conditioning climbs the first two days, they attempted the Ellingwood ridge of the Crestone Needle. The party left camp at about 5:30 a.m. leaving McWhinney to go fishing. At about 6:30 a.m. the party arrived at the base of the ridge. A slight variation to the usual approach to the arete was taken instead of the usual zig-zag on grassy shelves. The variation consisted of heading straight up the ridge as it meets

South Colony Lake. At about 12:30 p.m. and only one-third of the way up the party split, and McCarty took Wink on down due to Wink’s apparent fatigue and the late hour. The other three with Mueller in the lead continued up the airy ridge until they were forced to take shelter due to sleet and rain from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. After the rain cleared the party commenced to climb with a series of long leads around a nose on the ridge to a point about 200 ft. from the summit. Access to the summit at this particular point seems impossible unless one is patient enough to find a crack which leads to it. Instead the tired party saw a more obvious but much harder route up a series of overhangs and into a wide chimney. Collins took the lead from Mueller at this point and started up. He negligently left his piton hammer with the tired Mueller. The first overhang was negotiated and the second was started after snapping into an old piton without testing it. As he began to climb he slipped and yelled his predicament to the two below who were out of view and to his left. He caught himself and Mueller reacted by fortifying the belay with a rock nubbin. Without resting, Collins proceeded, lost his hold and (6:15 p.m.) fell about 100 ft. sliding and bouncing to a ledge where the rope arrested his fall. The two above brought him to a ledge where they immobilized his broken arm, tied him in due to his delirium and used the rope also as an insulation against the rock.

A flare, previously arranged to be set off at 7:00 p.m. was used instead for heating tea and the three signaled a distress signal with a flashlight in some other form other than the usual three dash which the party below took to mean that they were going to spend the night and were all right.

At ten the next morning, the apprehensive party below heard a high- pitched yell in a sequence of three which set McCarty and McWhinney down the seven-mile trail for help at the town of Westcliff leaving Wink to try and spot them through binoculars. A Fort Carson rescue group arrived at Westcliff about 4:30 p.m. They spent the night near South Colony Lake, left for summit the next day by an easy route, reached the climbers by 10:00 a.m. and had them on the summit by 12:00 noon. The rescue party did not reach the base camp till 8:30 that evening and the litter reached Westcliff by jeep at 3:30 a.m.

The three came out lucky after having been exposed at 13,900 ft. for three days and two nights. Collins suffered fatigue, a badly broken arm, and numerous aches, pains and bruises.

Source: Account of Cleveland McCarty from Robert Steel, Colorado Mountaineering Club; newspaper report; Roy and Alice Holubar.

Analysis: The group was inexperienced for a climb of this severity. They all probably should have turned back with Wink and McCarty. Previously used pitons must be tested before reuse. How much fatigue contributed to this accident is difficult to assess.