BETA PHOTO: Low Horn #5 in center, as viewed from the Pi...
Description
The Low Horns form the final northern section of "The Needles" section of the Organ Mountains, ending at Big Windy Canyon on the north, and the higher needles beginning with The Spire to the south. Gertch is essentially the west buttress of Low Horn #1, even though Gertch's west facing wall is much more impressive than the smallish tooth like summit of Low Horn 1. From the West, the Low Horns lean uniformly to the south, and climbing them from the north appears to be easier than the south. The east faces are also much steeper than the west faces.
Getting There
Several approaches are possible. Big windy canyon from the Topp Hut is one albeit brushy alternative. Ingraham's guide describes an approach from the bowl between Gertch and Gertch's half brother among others. As with most organ mountain climbs, expect long approach times 2-3 hours and bushwhacking. With some more use, climbers trails will form quickly, but old cairns appear to date from Ingraham's day, and bits of trail, if you find them, seldom amount to much.
East approaches work well also. One option is to start on the pine tree trail, leave the trail into the gully that appears to come down from between LH4 and 5. When you get into slabby terrain higher up, you can head into the saddle between 2 and 3, or traverse right into the saddle between 1 and 2, or all the way around to 1. We descended the gully between 5 and 6, that would go as well, It doesn't appear to practical to ascend between 4 and 5, although with some raps, you could descend that way.
I'm going to call these the "Slow Horns". If you rope up, it will be very slow to cross the horns. My suggestion if going N to S: Scramble 1, Rope for 2, Scramble 3 if you're bold (rope for me), scramble 4, rope for a short pitch on 5...then scramble (although you might want to rope for a short pitch on 5c too. As for 6, well...the horns are slow, we ran out of time.
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