The Mystery of the Gray Needle and Some Secrets Revealed, 1953

[gore galore]

Boggy,
Thanks for replying on this and your take on the details of the climbing report from your experience.

The maps of the time were based on the Needle Mountains quadrangle which was a 15M or maybe even a 30M map. Thus the "two circular contour lines" would probably indicate what is Noname Needle with the most prominence as one circle and the rest of the ridge as the other circle.

I was intrigued by your trip report of last year as I had known of the first ascent of the Grey Needle for many years but didn't realize there was differing opinions over time as to its location. It seems there is a modern day Gray Needle that might be different from the original 1953 Gray Needle. But the actual climbers in the area as yourself can sort that one out as I have contributed as much research that I am aware of.

It is fascinating to think that a climb of the 1953 Gray Needle might even be lost to history until the bolts are possibly found by chance if they even remain as I doubt anyone will invest the time and effort for that reason alone.

[Boggy B]

I think Caltopo has the old USGS quad. At any rate it seems to have the two closed contours you've described. A crop of this is below, left. The newer (1970's?) USGS quad is on the right.

Red notations are mine. Is the circled point on the left the one labeled "Grey Needle"?

The older map got the layout of the west ridge of Jagged quite wrong, possibly transposing Noname Needle onto another, higher tower which is to the northeast of it and which appears prominent from Jagged Pass and the tarn to the west. That they are two very distinct features isn't obvious from many vantage points.

I'm keenly interested in finding the bolts. It's no wonder they've not been located yet if it takes several hundred feet of scrappy climbing to reach them.

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[gore galore]

Both the maps accompanying the 1947 and 1953 Noname outings have your circled red point on the left labeled "Grey Needle" with the G beginning at the top of the circle and the rest of the lettering running to the right above the elevation figure of 13829 for Jagged. I note on the 1953 map that there is a X mark for the Grey Needle at your red circled point as there is for other peak summits on the map.

The SJM "Climbers Guide" has the lettering "Grey Needle" in diagonal fashion below Jagged with an arrow pointing to the ridge. But even with a magnifying glass it is hard to determine which of the two circles the arrow is pointing at on the ridge.

All three maps do not have the name Noname Needle as that name came later in time probably on the 1960 outing as "Noname Ridge." But there is no location for that ridge just a notation that it was climbed in the outing report.

[Boggy B]

Thanks. "Noname Ridge" is a good piece of historical naming that should be used to describe this ridge, both to indicate the position of Noname Needle at its top, and also to disambiguate from the west ridge of Peak 10 and the upper west ridge of Jagged.

Now to find the bolts. As Tom said, if they were removed on the descent that'll be tricky, but from the report it sounds like they rappelled directly off the summit instead of retracing their shenanigans down the ridge, so perhaps the original hardware remains.

I'm liking the circled area here for the 1953 Gray Needle:

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[rijaca]

I'm just posting this pic to give context to this area from Noname Creek....

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[Monster5]

Super interesting; thanks for the inputs!

[gore galore]

Ever so fascinating that somewhere or thereabouts in rijaca's photo lies the 1953 Grey Needle, a map named summit whose original location absent a known photo of the time is still in doubt today as to what was climbed 68 years ago. It is quite possible that it may not even had a second ascent. But the bolts will tell when they are found. A rare occurrence in modern Colorado mountaineering.

[Boggy B]

Last weekend (9/24) I spent some time on the west ridge of Jagged with Amy/blazintoes and Jonny Zaugg. We climbed the needle circled in blue above (the highest summit above 13600' west of the summit ridge proper) from the south, then descended its NW ridge to what we believe is the false summit described in the 1953 report. I fully expected to peek over the downside and see some old bolts, but after 30 minutes of Jonny exploring on rappel, they did not avail themselves.

Though there are minor discrepancies between the FA report and the layout of this needle to cast some doubt (and, majorly, no bolts), having now climbed between the 3 in our party every major tower west of the Jagged summit, our consensus is still a climb up its N/NW face would be the best fit. I believe the bolts are still up there, somewhere, unless the boulder they were in departed the mountain. It's disappointing to have not found them and put the mystery to rest, but we achieved our primary goal in good company.

Here's a great photo by Amy showing the north side (we climbed via the south).

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[Anima]

Thanks for the update Boggy. Sorry you didn't find the bolts.

I'm curious: what did the "1953 Gray Needle" go at from the South?

I've looked at that needle for many years on 3D lidar maps and speculated it was the 1953 Gray Needle. Does the false summit you have labeled and the actual summit have the 50ft drop in between them as described in the trip report? Also, could it be possible for what you have labeled "1953 Gray Needle" to actually be the false summit? I've always thought that may be a good fit, as the ridge from the point labeled "1953 false summit" to the "1953 Gray Needle" may fit the "sharp summit ridge" description, which would put the bolts on the 1953 Gray Needle, and thus the actual summit to be some tower to the east of that. (Though all of that is speculation as I've never been up there.) Any more info / descriptions would be fascinating.

[Boggy B]

It's surprisingly straightforward to access from the south.

Class 2 grass/gravel slopes lead to a small saddle at the top of a deep west-facing gully, just below the ridge, then it's easy 3rd to the ridge and the climbing. There are some options. Amy led the obvious 60' OW, then Jonny up a 30' second pitch in a crap dihedral around the corner (to right/east). Awkward 5.4 - 5.6 with ok pro (.75, 2, 3, 4). Then we tunneled (left) under the summit boulder to access the top with a 5.0 move.

Alternatively, at the bench above the first pitch you can circle around the ledge to the left/west to a fun-looking elevator shaft (5.7?) to access the climbable side of the summit boulder. Or keep going to the NW side, but you might want to protect it. Finally, there may have been an easier P1 from a ledge around the corner to the right/east that would lead to our P2.

We downclimbed the NW side (fun 5.0 tunneling) and traversed to the "false summit" by some pretty exposed corners. There is not a 50' drop from there to the summit (it's almost level), but narrow grassy ledges descend about that much on the SW side and might appear to be the only viable route from there. Based on the 1953 report the bolts should be on a blank 20' wall just below the false summit. Jonny conducted a thorough search off the west-through-north aspects.

I think it's unlikely our "1953 Gray Needle" is the false summit. From our "false summit," the climb goes entirely at 5.0. The summit block is itself a blank wall from this approach, but the tunnel to scooch under it is easy to spot. Then without modern rock shoes it might be tough to stick the nub required to move onto the block; at any rate a court echelle would be faster.

The next higher points to the east are arguably subsummits of Jagged and go at 4th class from the connecting ridge after a rappel. (We slung the pinch under the summit block and rapped ~80' east to the aforementioned alternate P1 ledge.) Earlier in our climb Jonny tagged two of those towers including the one at the apex of the ridge from Jagged Pass, which Amy also had climbed previously.

[Skimo95]

Very impressive work Boggy and team. The Gray Needle is something else the first time you see it, almost makes Jagged look bad. I don’t think I’ll ever have the knowledge/ability to climb this, so I appreciate you posting such great information. What is the word on the cabin remnants from Jagged Pass to Noname? I think this picture shows a portion of it, I have terrible memory.

[blazintoes]

D20231004192423_32831.gpx

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A Gray Needle GPX file (some cookie crumbs deleted) is attached and titled, "The Real Gray Needle"

https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/gpxlib_locator.php