Avg: 2.6 from 11
votes
The East Ridge of Dorado Needle is a pleasurable climb up a unique spire in a wild location. A bit more challenging and lengthy than the NW Ridge of Dorado needle but easier than the SW Buttress.
Any way you slice it, make your way towards the col between Pt. 8386 and Dorado Needle (~7,600'). The route can be started directly on the East Ridge at this col. This will add roughly 400' of mid-to-low 5th class climbing to where Beckey indicated the start of the route.
Right off the col there are some steep, fun and exposed mid-5th class moves. Continue for another 300' or so over varying terrain to a point where one can step off back onto the Mcallister Glacier.
Once you've stepped back onto the glacier, climb a pitch of moderately steep snow to two quartz bands. Gain the rock again at these two horizontal quartz bands and continue up low-5th class terrain to a sub-summit.
From the sub-summit make two rappels into a notch. This should be fairly obvious to negotiate.
Out of the notch, climb a few really, really good pitches of 5.7 crack climbing. After the angle and difficulty eases, continue over low-5th class terrain to the summit of Dorado Needle.
To descend down climb and/or rappel sections of the NW Ridge. It could be possible, in particular conditions, to shorten this descent by rappelling north onto the Mcallister Glacier once gaining an anchor below the summit of Dorado Needle. Be cautious of the conditions of the moat before taking this short cut. None the less, continue rappelling/down climbing to the obvious col on the NW Ridge to gain the Mcallister Glacier.
Start at the Col between Pt. 8386 and Dorado Needle. Follow the East Ridge more or less to the summit of Dorado Needle. Make a few rappels along the way.
Single Rack to 3" & Single 60m. Axe and crampons for approach.
Continue with onX Maps
Sign in with Facebook
Seattle, WA
P1 (5.5): Start at the notch just above a little bivvy site. Tend climber's right. Some loose rock, but more gear plugs in than has been suggested, if you're careful about your placements. There will be a small ledge at about 100ft to build anchor.
P2 (5.4): For an option that gets you out of the bad rock quicker and offers a nice rest by the cannonball hole, keep tending climber's right with about the same gear potential as P1 to a large ledge. Run out over easy terrain to the cannonball hole, which will appear on your left.
Simul (4th/Low 5th): From the cannonball hole, gain the ridge tending climber's right through whatever terrain feels the least choss. Generally, the best route is the one that avoids the dark colored rock. Once on the ridge, keep going through some easy downclimbing to the glacier. You don't want to stay on rock vs glacier because the gendarme between you and the two horizontal quartz bands ahead is sheer on the other side and would probably require a rappel to get off of. It's much easier to kick it on the glacier, although you'll want to be very vigilant for hazards, as always. We used the glacier to gain the rock between the two quartz bands, which offers a nice starting off point for what will be your longest continuous stretch of easy climbing.
Simul (4th-Low 5th): Continue from the quartz bands tending climber's right, but again choose your own adventure based on rock quality.
P3 (5.5): If you end up where we did, you'll reach a section where angle increases to near vertical. Gain the ridge from here, being careful to extend placements to avoid rope drag as much as possible for what's ahead. The route will lead you to a blocky ridge. From this ridge you'll see a thin gendarme ahead through a short notch. Do some easy downclimbing into the notch, and head up the gendarme to a piece of tat. DO NOT second guess the gendarme. If you instead descend from the notch onto the ledgy terrain below, you'll find abominable rock quality and great difficulty in getting around (climber's left) to the rappel to the summit pyramid. Rig an awkward and airy rappel (we mounted the tower like a bronco), and try to stay climber's left to some horns and blocks where you should see your next rap (it was marked by red tat at time of this writing). This next rappel gets you down to the start of the summit block.
P4 (5.7) I initially led left to a slightly overhanging crack section, clearly very cruxy and a bit beyond 5.7, before my partner shouted for me to consider going right instead. A little downclimbing to the right brought me to much more straightforward climbing. The cracks are good, albeit discontinuous. Rock is still a little loose, so keep cautious. At about the half-rope point (30m), you'll find a long ledge with ample anchor rigging opportunities. I rigged pretty far right of the ledge after exploring left and finding that again to be less ideal if you're trying to keep with 5.7 for the next pitch.
P5 (5.7): Start climber's right of the ledge, but make your way climber's left through a short, less than vertical dihedral-looking formation, and at the top of the little dihedral continue up the fall line. At about the half-rope point, you should reach Easy class terrain to the summit, with maybe 10-20ft of rope to spare. You should see some tat slung on a horn at the summit, with probably not the most comfy belay stance.
Descent: Whoa, pay attention. SKIP the tat on the E side of the summit, and instead scramble across the summit blocks to the first tat you see leading down the NW ridge. Some say you can rap from this NW spot in a SW direction a hundred feet to easy ledges that allow you to scramble back around (climber's left) to the NW ridge where it will be only one more rap down to the notch (see 3rd rap beta below) and (conditions-permitting) moatless glacier crosspoint. I think there is a good possibility of this working, after having looked right from the 3rd rap . We made more of an adventure for ourselves by rapping 100' SW from the E Ridge tat, and had to single-pitch our way out of a chossy-AF gully back to the NW ridge. I'd think the least risky option is to just rap the NW Ridge tat at the summit to the next NW Ridge tat you see, which will be after a fun sharkfin-like formation (we got to traverse this when we were desperately trying to correct our initial mistake off the summit). From this second rap spot, you should trust there is tat (or a good place to rig, if gone) at about 100ft down toward the notch, still on the NW ridge. The tat will be to climber's right of a giant horn, and just above a big ledge. Ignore the other tat along the way, unless you're worried about pulling your rope, which we almost stuck. The 3rd rap is straighforward down the NW ridge, again toward the notch. Worried about sticking our rope above, we chose to stop about 20-30ft above the notch and re-rig, but you can probably skip this 4th rap, and instead finish in the notch. Rig for glacier travel in the notch and gain the glacier. In mid-late July there was no moat to cross, but of course be careful. The descent down the glacier was pretty fun, and not as bad as it looked from the base. The crevasses were enormous and easy to avoid without much circuitousness. I think we were down at the start of the East ridge to grab stashed gear in less than an hour. Overall, this is definitely an "adventure climb" worth doing. I'd suggest a double rack of #0.3-1, singles of #2-3, and stoppers. Extra tat and rings. Jul 23, 2019