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]

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]

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 edit

  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

External links edit