The Needle  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  3,037. Good page?    Administrators:  Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Nate Christiansen on Feb 5, 2003 Make this area a Favorite What's New   Print a Mini-Guide with routes Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event  Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon 63° | 43° 72° | 45° 72° | 45° 72° | 43° 70° | 41°

Trent Watkins TRs the Uphill Slab, the Needle.

Description 

The Thumb and Needle are 2 crags on top of Prospect Mountain. The routes on The Needle vary from 5.0 to 5.13b. Some routes on the Needle have bolts and some have rings to rap off of. The Needle is short (2 pitches at the very most) but offers excellent exposure to the town of Estes Park.

The original description for The Thumb & The Needle was split for clarity.

Getting There 

The Thumb and the Needle lie on top of Prospect Mountain and the eaisest way to get there is to drive either from CO Highway 7, leaving town until you reach Peak View drive. Take PVD until you see a gold sign on your right that says "Prospect Highlands". This is Curry. Take that sharp right turn. Continue up this short road that will eventually turn into gravel and park at the cropping just short of the gate. Please do not attempt to park in the way of the landowners. The trail starts just up the gully and goes for an enjoyable yet steep 5 min. approach. The first rock you will see is the Needle. Less than 100 yards further uphill is The Thumb. The Thimble is a sliver of rock lying just E of The Thumb.

Descents 

To descend the Needle, you can rappel from the anchors on the sport climbs or there are two 2 bolt anchor with chains on the N face. If you are ambitious, you can descend no-hands, a la John Gill....

The Classics

Featured Route For The Needle

Momentary Lapse of Ethics 5.11a  CO : Estes Park Valley : ... : The Needle

This is another classic route on the needle that can be lead or top roped. The TR is the same approach as all the top ropes (up the 5th class ramp). Rap off those anchors below Damage Done, throw it toward lake estes side. Again, rappelling to the next anchors can create rope drag when trying to pull it, so be carefull not to get stuck. The actual bottom part of the climb is seems like hard 10 moves. You pull over a bulge on some crimpy holds, the climb lets up for about 10 feet...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO

Photos of The Needle Slideshow

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Somewhere near the Descent route.

Blake Collins rapping off the top of The Needle.