Organ Needle climb

A trio of us climbed the Organ Needle on saturday, which was truly an epic adventure; one for the books. Tyler, Tim and I ascended a very steep, rugged trail about 4000' to the summit (the Needle, 8997') over about 2.5 miles! So, that's a little under 2000'/mile and a total of about 8000' elevation change for the day! The views were amazing and the weather absolutely gorgeous...no wind, but cold temps. We arrived on the summit after about 3 hours of steady climbing and had spectacular views of White Sands, Sierra Blanca, the Guadalupe Mountains (in TX), the Little Hatchet Mountains (AZ) and several ranges in northern Sonora (Mexico). With summit temps around 34, we basked in the sun for a bit, ate lunch and then headed back down. This was one for the books, truly a classic climb in the southwest.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Climbing

[innovationsurvival]

Totally cool. A friend and I want to do this climb when he moves out there. I had a chance to do it in 1967 or so but passed on the opportunity and regretted it all my life.

I sure would like to know the path up to where you got....

Is it a well known route?

[alandon]

No way!! That's too awesome!! I have to do that some day!! 8D

[citarasa]

No words to describe this exhilarating, heart-stopping & breathtakingly Beautiful Video! That, truly is Intense (;

[nstar770]

Looks like a beautiful day on top of southern New Mexico! I was up there a few years ago and regret not taking a video camera. Thanks for posting it. The Little Hatchet Mountains are in the bootheel of New Mexico...right where the mud would get stuck.