Climbing at the Needles for the first time
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My wife and I are going out to the Needles for the first time this weekend. Leaving after work and probably arriving around 1am Friday night. We are both solid 5.11 trad climbers but I’ve heard it can be hard to get around out there so we aren’t expecting to do a lot of climbing on our first trip. We figured we’d probably be looking around a lot on Saturday getting the lay of the land. It’s supposed to be 80 degrees this weekend which is a little toasty for my taste. We have Kristian Solems guide book but I’m looking for any beta that frequenters of the area could give us to make our first trip more enjoyable. |
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80 degrees is pretty hot but its easy to chase shade and climb a west facing wall in the morning and east in the afternoon. |
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Thank you! Someone just got their gear stolen this last weekend from stashing it so I won’t be doing that. The world is changing. Maybe we’ll stick to single pitch to keep in the shade all day. Offset brassies....check! Anyone else? |
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1. No. It can still be chilly in the shade. |
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Hey Jon, |
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Thanks guys! I’ve been wanting to get out there for years but kept putting it off. I felt like it had a “spooky vibe” from all the pictures I’ve seen. Looking forward to finally find out for myself. |
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Even when it's warm, you'll oftentimes find yourself chilly up high, in the shade and the wind. The geographic layout of the area makes finding shade super easy. On the approach, when descending from Magician, you're looking for a notch in a mini rocky rib. After punching through this, opt for the high trail (couple of cairns) which take you to the Magician/Djin notch and an easy to follow trail all the way to Sorcerer/Witch notch. Lots of pure crack climbing as well as face climbs and discontinuous cracks connected via face climbing. Entity or Spook Book are great introductions and you won't have to wait in any lines. Enjoy some wide? South Face and S Crack (also no lines). Camping situation is too awesome to sleep at the notch. In my experience, leaving gear out there has always been chill. If you've heard of a different experience I'd love to hear about it. Atlantis and Don Juan should be on the shortlist..wailing banshees if there's a line for Don Juan. |
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Jon you will be fine. If you drive and get their at 1am.... I suggest you camp at Dome rock. Drive down the dirt road and at the big dirt lot go left... look for little pine trees on the right- camp their. You can sleep and hang in the shade, sleep late and climb at Dome Rock. It starts getting good around 3-4 pm. Go way over by Tobins Dihedral. I recommend you climb “Saucer full of secrets“ 5.10 lots of good stuff on that side. No need to go to the top- it’s hot and long. Get a early start- way early way early(be hiking by 6) and go climb “Igor unchanged” Or if people are already starting that see if you can get on “Airy Interlude” after that you will see what is up with the place and you might not leave. Weekend trips are hard, the hike must be factored into your planning. I like to go Friday early and do some climbing at Dome till dark- then get up and hike out to the big stuff, climb all day and hike out at 9pm with headlamps, sleep late, maybe pancakes at the Pondrosa then go to Trilogy Rock. A few climbs worth doing.... Slot Machine 11 is a fabulous climb- you can get lowered from the top and TR it. The sun will chase you out about 1pm. Have a blast. |
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Guy Keesee wrote: then get up and hike out to the big stuff, climb all day and hike out at 9pm with headlamps... Glad to know I'm not the only who is hiking out in the dark...good advice for the OP: bring a headlamp and check the batteries. Last time we needed them they died after about 10 minutes, so we had to use our phones, which also died after about 10 minutes. It all turned out good but we got back to the car REAL late. At least we had some cold beers waiting for us. |
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Thank you everyone for responding! |
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Thanks everyone! We walked in about 11:30 on Saturday. We approached Thin Ice and were the first one on it just as it got covered in shade by 1pm. We did the climb in 2 pitches, rapped into the Charlatan notch and then climbed Spooky in 1 pitch to the top and walked off. We were both so exhausted and I couldn’t figure out why the hiking and climbing felt so strenuous until I realized that we were at 8000 feet elevation. Lol. Forgot about that. Super beautiful place. Can’t wait to go back. Thank you for the advice everyone! |
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Thin Ice with Spooky victory lap was one of the finest climbing days I ever had. Just so steep and good. Yes something magical about the place. |
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Happy you enjoyed the place! |