OTHER Trip Report 10/07/2016

Peak(s):	Curecanti Needle - 7856
Date Posted:	10/07/2016
Date Climbed:	10/01/2016
Author:	dhgold

The Needle, Aye
Curecanti Needle is a unique summit for Colorado, a fifth class pinnacle that rises out of the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon. Curecanti Needle from Pioneer Point The Needle is a "getting there is half the fun" peak that can be approached from the four points of the compass. An approach from the east of the west would require a major boat journey up or downstream so those options are less practical. Coming from the south would be the most expeditious but requires crossing a large swathe of open private property with a house in the middle of it. An approach from the north sounds good as an NPS trail gets one to within 200 meters of the base of the Needle but the rub is that the Gunnison (or more precisely the impoundment of the Morrow Point Dam) is between the end of trail and the Needle. Most parties seem to use the northern approach and since a short boat journey sounded like a fun bit of novelty, that seemed to me like the way to go. The peak had attracted some attention on mountainproject but very little in the peak bagging world. The only14ers.com thread relating to it was started by Tom Pierce wondering if anyone had a raft he could borrow. Listsofjohn had one logged ascent, Tom's; his ensuing TR trip report described an all-phases epic (late start, forgotten gear, terrible route, injury, benighting, cut rope and so forth) that few would want to repeat. Folks on mountainproject had favorable things to say about the Needle and fifth class peaks, of which there are not many, are my favorite so, Tom's daunting precedent aside, I was eager to get after it. This year there had been much talk of climbing it, all of which fizzled out. In May, Dougald and I made the five-hour drive from Boulder to the Pioneer Point trailhead only to find that the Needle was closed for raptors. In July ABT and I had a firm date set but had to punt when we were unable to procure a boat to cross the river. So a boat was procured, more plans were made and unmade, but finally, Ali Conrad and I found ourselves at Pioneer Point at 0830 on October 1st. Curecanti Creek inlet from Pioneer Point The available info had made the hike down to the Gunnison on the Curecanti Creek Trail seem a bothersome trudge of no passing interest. Quite to the contrary, we found it to be quite the gem, an unlikely and well-engineered passage down an impressive cleft; Ali remarked that she could see coming back just for the hike. Part way down the trail, I was seized with a spasm of paranoia and stopped to unpack my pack and make sure I'd packed everything that I'd needed to: harness, climbing shoes, gear, runners etc; it was all there (foreshadowing). After a quick 1.7 miles and 800' of descent, we reached the put-in. We'd been concerned that we might soak our boots launching the raft but the put-in at the low water level we encountered was well set up for staying dry with a conveniently situated rock/pier to cast off and jump into the boat from. Inflating the raft Ali still has to squeeze in One of the several fortunate conveniences of this outing is the still backwater of the conflux of Currecanti Creek and the Gunnison, an unintimidating stretch of water that allowed us to practice our boat handling before committing to the more serious main river. With two large packs, things were pretty tight in the boat with the crew being forced to take whatever unergonomic space was left; this combined with the poor tracking of the keelless raft lead to some bodgety ship handling and continual major course corrections being required to keep from spinning around in circles. The total paddle was 300 yards give or take and despite our rusty seamanship took only a few minutes. Our route, The Northwest Arete, was at the downstream end of the Needle where there is a talus field which makes landing the boat a lot easier than it would be anywhere on the Needle's north face where cliffs go straight into the water. After landing the raft, we deflated it to reduce the risk of a random puncture while we were climbing. We then had to decide which variant of the route to climb with one option being to treadmill up the talus gully 300 feet to its top and traverse into the arete from there and the other being to start climbing the arete right at the river, adding a couple of easier pitches; the former seemed more expeditious while the latter would avoid ascending the much complained about gully and make for a cleaner line. After some back and forth we decided to climb the full arete but this decision was quickly reversed when Ali discovered that she had left her harness in the car. Having come this far we weren't about to be stymied and agreed that we'd figure out something to replace the harness; however, we decided that, under the circumstances, starting from the top of the gully and reducing the roped climbing made sense. On Mountainproject the talus chute is dubbed "Ghangeous Kahn Gully" and evokes a lot of complaints. San Juan veterans are likely familiar with its ilk, angle of repose talus where it's a bad idea to be below someone else; at least it's not very long, 300' vertical but this is offset somewhat by the vegetation it contains. At the top of the gully, we dropped our packs and set to work improvising a harness out of Ali's 7mm cordalette. Once this was rigged she did a test hang and determined that while it was far from comfortable, it was at least safe and wouldn't asphyxiate her or crush her organs. From the saddle, we traversed left/north about one hundred yards to the very end of a class two ledge where we roped up. The roped climbing went as follows (pitch lengths approximate): P1: 5.6/5.7 100'. A series of 20' steps trending left, towards the arete. We belayed at an excellent ledge about 30' below a fixed pin. Though this pitch was enjoyable, it was the scrappiest of the route with some lichen. As was the case throughout the climb, the rock was solid by the standard of fifth class peaks. The view from the start of pitch 2. Pitch 2 in the foreground. Pitches 3 & 4 ascend the obvious headwall cracks P2. 5.6/5.7. 100' Trends up and left towards the obvious headwall and crack. In the interest of keeping a close belay and minimizing fall potential for Ali in her makeshift harness, I belayed at the start of a 40' wide ledge though under normal circumstances it would have made more sense to continue to the start of the crack. Once Ali had climbed pitch 2, we moved the belay to the start of pitch 3. P3. 5.9 80'. Fantastic. Square cut splitter cracks supplemented by crimper flakes. A candidate for the best 5.9 crack in Colorado, what Center Route on Cynical Pinnacle should be. Again I stopped where I could keep a close eye on Ali at a stance that was OK for one but which would have been a pain for more than that. Other parties would probably be better off continuing another 15' to a better stance. Ali finishing the crux pitch P4. 5.8 50'. Another excellent pitch. The crux is one move of offwidth at the end. Ali following our fourth pitch The view downstream from high on the route P5. 180'. One move of 5.7 the way we went. Mountainproject called this a scramble but we were glad to be roped up. Happy summiter (note skimpy leg loop of improvised harness) Recommended gear: One set of nuts from #1 to #7 Rock size. Double cams from .3 to #3 Camalot. 1 #4 Camalot. Runners. We also had and used Tri Cams from .5 to 2.5 but we sewed it up. Most of the harder climbing occurs around #3 and #4 Camalot sized cracks. Descent: We found the descent to the saddle to be more involved than we'd expected. The first rap anchors (two bolts) are about 30' below and 50' west of the summit -- you'll likely spot them while doing the last pitch. Rap 1 is ~150' and ends at a large ledge with three bolts. Rap 2 is 200' and ends about 40' above the final anchors. From here, make a loose class three traverse north about 30', and then switch back south to get to the 3rd set of anchors. Rap three is about 70' and takes you to the ground. Pulling the rope on the second rap is somewhat nerve wracking as the rope runs between two trees, one of which is in prime position for snagging. Our pulls went smoothly but still. We both found descending the gully to be less nerve-wracking than going up it. Relieved to be back to the boat The return paddle required fewer course corrections, perhaps because we were now experienced river hands. All that remains is the walk out The walk up the Curecanti Creek Trail seemed to take twice as long as descending it in the morning had but we still made it back to the car well before dark. Curecanti Creek trail infrastructure We both found this to be a very enjoyable outing with all phases of the triathlon quality. The only junky part was ascending the gully. This will probably go down as my favorite technical summit in Colorado. Get after it. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

The Needle, Aye

Curecanti Needle is a unique summit for Colorado, a fifth class pinnacle that rises out of the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon.

The Needle is a "getting there is half the fun" peak that can be approached from the four points of the compass. An approach from the east of the west would require a major boat journey up or downstream so those options are less practical. Coming from the south would be the most expeditious but requires crossing a large swathe of open private property with a house in the middle of it. An approach from the north sounds good as an NPS trail gets one to within 200 meters of the base of the Needle but the rub is that the Gunnison (or more precisely the impoundment of the Morrow Point Dam) is between the end of trail and the Needle. Most parties seem to use the northern approach and since a short boat journey sounded like a fun bit of novelty, that seemed to me like the way to go.

The peak had attracted some attention on mountainproject but very little in the peak bagging world. The only14ers.com thread relating to it was started by Tom Pierce wondering if anyone had a raft he could borrow. Listsofjohn had one logged ascent, Tom's; his ensuing TR trip report described an all-phases epic (late start, forgotten gear, terrible route, injury, benighting, cut rope and so forth) that few would want to repeat.

Folks on mountainproject had favorable things to say about the Needle and fifth class peaks, of which there are not many, are my favorite so, Tom's daunting precedent aside, I was eager to get after it. This year there had been much talk of climbing it, all of which fizzled out. In May, Dougald and I made the five-hour drive from Boulder to the Pioneer Point trailhead only to find that the Needle was closed for raptors. In July ABT and I had a firm date set but had to punt when we were unable to procure a boat to cross the river.

So a boat was procured, more plans were made and unmade, but finally, Ali Conrad and I found ourselves at Pioneer Point at 0830 on October 1st.

Curecanti Creek inlet from Pioneer Point

The available info had made the hike down to the Gunnison on the Curecanti Creek Trail seem a bothersome trudge of no passing interest. Quite to the contrary, we found it to be quite the gem, an unlikely and well-engineered passage down an impressive cleft; Ali remarked that she could see coming back just for the hike. Part way down the trail, I was seized with a spasm of paranoia and stopped to unpack my pack and make sure I'd packed everything that I'd needed to: harness, climbing shoes, gear, runners etc; it was all there (foreshadowing). After a quick 1.7 miles and 800' of descent, we reached the put-in. We'd been concerned that we might soak our boots launching the raft but the put-in at the low water level we encountered was well set up for staying dry with a conveniently situated rock/pier to cast off and jump into the boat from.

One of the several fortunate conveniences of this outing is the still backwater of the conflux of Currecanti Creek and the Gunnison, an unintimidating stretch of water that allowed us to practice our boat handling before committing to the more serious main river. With two large packs, things were pretty tight in the boat with the crew being forced to take whatever unergonomic space was left; this combined with the poor tracking of the keelless raft lead to some bodgety ship handling and continual major course corrections being required to keep from spinning around in circles. The total paddle was 300 yards give or take and despite our rusty seamanship took only a few minutes. Our route, The Northwest Arete, was at the downstream end of the Needle where there is a talus field which makes landing the boat a lot easier than it would be anywhere on the Needle's north face where cliffs go straight into the water. After landing the raft, we deflated it to reduce the risk of a random puncture while we were climbing.

We then had to decide which variant of the route to climb with one option being to treadmill up the talus gully 300 feet to its top and traverse into the arete from there and the other being to start climbing the arete right at the river, adding a couple of easier pitches; the former seemed more expeditious while the latter would avoid ascending the much complained about gully and make for a cleaner line. After some back and forth we decided to climb the full arete but this decision was quickly reversed when Ali discovered that she had left her harness in the car. Having come this far we weren't about to be stymied and agreed that we'd figure out something to replace the harness; however, we decided that, under the circumstances, starting from the top of the gully and reducing the roped climbing made sense.

On Mountainproject the talus chute is dubbed "Ghangeous Kahn Gully" and evokes a lot of complaints. San Juan veterans are likely familiar with its ilk, angle of repose talus where it's a bad idea to be below someone else; at least it's not very long, 300' vertical but this is offset somewhat by the vegetation it contains. At the top of the gully, we dropped our packs and set to work improvising a harness out of Ali's 7mm cordalette. Once this was rigged she did a test hang and determined that while it was far from comfortable, it was at least safe and wouldn't asphyxiate her or crush her organs.

From the saddle, we traversed left/north about one hundred yards to the very end of a class two ledge where we roped up. The roped climbing went as follows (pitch lengths approximate):

P1: 5.6/5.7 100'. A series of 20' steps trending left, towards the arete. We belayed at an excellent ledge about 30' below a fixed pin. Though this pitch was enjoyable, it was the scrappiest of the route with some lichen. As was the case throughout the climb, the rock was solid by the standard of fifth class peaks.

The view from the start of pitch 2.

Pitch 2 in the foreground. Pitches 3 & 4 ascend the obvious headwall cracks

P2. 5.6/5.7. 100' Trends up and left towards the obvious headwall and crack. In the interest of keeping a close belay and minimizing fall potential for Ali in her makeshift harness, I belayed at the start of a 40' wide ledge though under normal circumstances it would have made more sense to continue to the start of the crack. Once Ali had climbed pitch 2, we moved the belay to the start of pitch 3.

P3. 5.9 80'. Fantastic. Square cut splitter cracks supplemented by crimper flakes. A candidate for the best 5.9 crack in Colorado, what Center Route on Cynical Pinnacle should be. Again I stopped where I could keep a close eye on Ali at a stance that was OK for one but which would have been a pain for more than that. Other parties would probably be better off continuing another 15' to a better stance.

P4. 5.8 50'. Another excellent pitch. The crux is one move of offwidth at the end.

The view downstream from high on the route

P5. 180'. One move of 5.7 the way we went. Mountainproject called this a scramble but we were glad to be roped up.

Happy summiter (note skimpy leg loop of improvised harness)

Recommended gear: One set of nuts from #1 to #7 Rock size. Double cams from .3 to #3 Camalot. 1 #4 Camalot. Runners. We also had and used Tri Cams from .5 to 2.5 but we sewed it up.
Most of the harder climbing occurs around #3 and #4 Camalot sized cracks.

Descent:
We found the descent to the saddle to be more involved than we'd expected.
The first rap anchors (two bolts) are about 30' below and 50' west of the summit -- you'll likely spot them while doing the last pitch.

Rap 1 is ~150' and ends at a large ledge with three bolts.
Rap 2 is 200' and ends about 40' above the final anchors. From here, make a loose class three traverse north about 30', and then switch back south to get to the 3rd set of anchors.
Rap three is about 70' and takes you to the ground.

Pulling the rope on the second rap is somewhat nerve wracking as the rope runs between two trees, one of which is in prime position for snagging. Our pulls went smoothly but still.

We both found descending the gully to be less nerve-wracking than going up it.

The return paddle required fewer course corrections, perhaps because we were now experienced river hands.

The walk up the Curecanti Creek Trail seemed to take twice as long as descending it in the morning had but we still made it back to the car well before dark.

We both found this to be a very enjoyable outing with all phases of the triathlon quality. The only junky part was ascending the gully. This will probably go down as my favorite technical summit in Colorado. Get after it.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Monster5	Wow 10/7/2016 11:12pm Great beta and sounds like a unique trip. I can envision the gear sprawl making sure you have everything before committing to the boat. I've been wanting to do this for awhile. I bet fireonthemountain wishes he had done this with me before he broke his leg. Because now I'm going to do it without him. And he's gonna be super jealous.
Aramis	Gunnison, you say? 10/8/2016 2:00am Sounds like a great excuse for Black Canyon.
TomPierce	Ah, fond memories... 10/8/2016 11:12am ...not! Actually I enjoyed the climb, for the most part. A sporty epic for the memory books. Our route was on the exact opposite end of the tower, way less sustained than the route you describe, Dave. A single short 5.thrashy section (20'?), but I strongly suspect the whole thing might go at 4th class with more time to explore our side, very ledgy/brushy. And generally a scramble, I did the whole thing in approach boots. But our route was not a scenic, high quality outing. The final section was OK but the descent was miserable. As you mentioned, I sustained an injury from a funky, twisting move (not a fall) and it turned out I'd severed both bicep tendons (upper/lower) on my dominant right arm. A surgery and three years later I now have a section of permanent numbness in my right forearm down to the thumb, and can no longer torque my arm...no overhangs or power moves for me at the risk of being permanently crippled; seriously, I've been warned. Oh well, just makes climbing a bit more challenging and it's made me look hard for the easiest line up a 5th class peak. I've become quite the route finding wimp! Anyway, well done, congrats! -Tom
Aramis	Few 5th class peaks? 10/8/2016 8:31pm I'm still pretty new to hiking and didn't quite follow something. What do you consider a 5th class peak, that there aren't many of them? How are they different from, say, clipping bolts to the top of Mt Royal?
dhgold	Definition of "5th Class" peak 10/9/2016 5:55am A peak whose easiest known route is 5th class. The class 5 route up Mt Royal has a class 2 descent. Peaks which don't have at least one easy route to the top are pretty rare in Colorado but are more common in Utah with all its sandstone spires. Here is a map of all the peaks in Colorado currently considered 5th class by peakbaggers; several of them would not be considered 5th class by rock climbers.
Brian C	Great! 10/13/2016 6:37am You're really closing in on that list! Keep me in the loop when the day comes to check out 5700!
blazintoes	Really? 10/13/2016 9:35am Better than Cyn Pin? Hmmm, looks like I missed out...next time!

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