Ellingwood Ledges

Ellingwood Arete
Ellingwood Route or Ellingwood Arete
Crestone Needle, with the lower South Colony lake in the foreground. The Ellingwood Ledges climb the prominent arete.
LocationCrestone Needle, Colorado, USA
Coordinates37°57′53″N 105°34′34″W / 37.96470°N 105.5761°W / 37.96470; -105.5761
Climbing areaSangre de Cristo Range, Rocky Mountains
Route typeTrad/Alpine
Rating5.7
GradeIII
First ascentAlbert R. Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis August 1925.[1]

The Ellingwood Arete (also known as Ellingwood Route or Ellingwood Ledges or some combination thereof) is a popular technical climbing route on Crestone Needle in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Range. The Ellingwood Ledges Route is recognized in the historic climbing text Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.[2][3] An "arete" is "a sharp narrow ridge found in rugged mountains".[4]

Albert R. Ellingwood was a pioneering member of the Colorado Mountain Club and the first to climb the Crestones[5] On these climbs including the 1925 ascent of the arete,Ellingwood was partnered with the long lived Eleanor Davis.

The route is technically difficult, and the site of multiple climbing fatalities.[6]

References

  1. ^ Fifty Classic Climbs of North America - Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Fifty_Classic_Climbs_
  2. ^ Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN 0-87156-292-8.
  3. ^ Louis W. Dawson II, Dawson's Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners, Volume 2, Blue Clover Press, 1999, ISBN 0-9628867-2-6, Route 2.1.4.
  4. ^ definition WordNet Search - 3.0
  5. ^ "Information Entries for Blanca Peak" note based on reliable sources by "14erFred" on 14ers.com
  6. ^ "Plano mountaineers fall to their deaths in Colorado" article by Matthew Haag in The Dallas Morning News August 3, 2010, accessed September 24, 2010