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

[gore galore]

THE MYSTERY OF THE GRAY NEEDLE AND SOME SECRETS REVEALED, 1953
by gore galore

“Gray Needle is a peak surrounded by mystery” begins the Boggy B trip report, “The Real Gray Needle . . .” dated 9/18/20. He places the Gray Needle as the middle of five towers at the western ridge end of Jagged Mountain.

An earlier trip report by Dancesatmoonrise, “Secrets of Gray Needle and Other Stories . . .” dated 8/26/12 locates the Gray Needle as the lowest tower at the end of the ridge line believing it the one named by early miners as it is the one seen
prominently from the basin below.

Jim DiNapoli and Steve Gladbach did not climb their Gray Needle but made a recon on the southwest side. DiNapoli questions exactly what tower on the ridge the first climbers did climb in 1953 as their Gray Needle.

Boggy B and partner Grant climb the south face and east ridge of their Gray Needle. They believe their location is the correct one.

Another climber, Peter Stabolepszy is quoted in the Boggy B trip report as to his Gray Needle location. The “Gray Needle was a challenge . . . but more of a challenge figuring out which needle it was. It took us two days of climbing to climb all the points to ensure success.” But which point is that of Stabolepszy's Gray Needle is not determined.

Matthias Holladay posts a photo 5/26/12 on Mountain Project captioned “Sunlight Basin w/Gray Needle, I think, looks particularly inviting in the background.” But is it the Gray Needle?

So without a photograph of the Gray Needle as climbed in 1953 the mystery probably continues. But here is the climbing report of the first ascent of the Gray Needle during the Colorado Mountain Club and American Alpine Club joint summer outing to No-Name Creek of the Needle Mountains, July 19 - August 9, 1953.

The climbers were Barry Bishop then of Cincinnati, Ohio; Bob Ulmer of St. Louis, Missouri; and David Bidwell of Arlington Heights, Illinois who wrote the climbing report. The date of the climb during the outing is unknown.

NEEDLES OUTING OF THE AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB, 1953
“The camp was situated about 10,800 feet in a grassy meadow where a number of small streams join to form the main branch of No-Name Creek. Monitor and Sceptre peaks rose above us to 13,700 feet, and we were surrounded on all sides by peaks of 12,500 – 14,100 feet. Certainly a good week's climbing here.”

“That night around the campfire, I heard the name 'Gray Needle' whispered about,- - 'Barry Bishop wants to try the Gray Needle again.' Turned back on this unclimbed peak several days before, Barry was anxious to tackle this tough one again and Bob and I decided to go along. Told that anything would be easy after this one, we decided that it would make a fine conditioner.”

“Off at seven the next morning, 3 hours of hard climbing over boulders and grassy meadows brought us to the base of the Needle and from there we saved time following some easy ledges that Barry had discovered on his descent several days before. By 10:30 we were about 400 feet below the summit and at this point, we roped up, donned rubber soled shoes, and left our packs. Little did we suspect it would be another 8 hours to the summit.”

“The first couple of hundred feet was slow going over crumbly rock, and we spent an hour working our way around the Needle to the point where Barry had previously turned back. From here on we had to fight for every foot. Barry led off on a 60 foot lead, tension climbing almost all the way, using the one small crack that was the key to an otherwise smooth, near vertical face. Unable to belay securely from above, we proceeded with extreme caution and about 2 hours were consumed on this face and in the rotten chimney above. At this point, the 3 of us wedged ourselves between two giant blocks on the sharp summit ridge and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. The rest looked easy. I led on out and much to my disappointment, after turning a corner, came face to face with a 20 foot vertical wall, the only possible route to the summit. Not a crack or a blemish showed itself on the wall. We debated for some time whether to turn back but finally decided that by using 4 expansion bolts and stirrups we might make it.”

“A long 4 hour ordeal, alternating in the stirrups, unable to drill fast due to the exceptionally hard rock and difficult balance, more than once we almost gave up. A broken drill on the second hole dashed our hopes completely. A spare, carried by Bob, revived them again equally quickly. Again we almost gave up when we couldn't get the piece of broken drill out and had to begin the 2nd hole all over again. The new drill dulled fast and we babied it along, praying it would last. Finally, with the last bolt in, I was able to go over the top by standing on the bolt- -the only foothold in sight. The thrill of success was cooled slightly by the fact that we were on a false summit. A fixed rope got the others up the wall and together we moved on to the summit. Dropping down 50 feet, a courte echelle put Barry within striking distance and at exactly 6:30 we reached the top. For a first day's climb, We couldn't have enjoyed ourselves more and we shouted across the valley to companions descending Peak 10 saying we'd be down into camp after dark. We stayed only a moment to enjoy the view and then rapelled off in 3 long 120 foot rappels to the ledges below and our packs. From there we literally ran back to camp until darkness overtook us and forced a slowdown. The thought of a rest the next day kept me going as we stumbled along through the woods and windfall in the darkness.”

NONAME CREEK OUTINGS, 1947 AND 1960
In addition to the 1953 climbing report there is record of the Gray Needle from the reports of the Colorado Mountain Club's summer outing to Noname Creek in 1947. Along with a “Climbers Guide to Noname” prepared for the outing is an accompanying map of the Needle Mountains quadrangle with the U.S.G.S. printed names of peaks. Among these peaks are hand written names of various other peaks. The hand written “Grey” Needle as it was then spelled is shown as the westernmost of two circular contour lines of the lower west ridge of Jagged Mountain.

The map accompanying the 1947 Climbers Guide is the same found in The San Juan Mountaineers' “Climbers Guide to Southwestern Colorado,” 1933 with a description of the unclimbed summit. The “Grey Needle is a beautiful, steep-sided aiguille on the west arete of Jagged Mountain. Its very roughness will probably be the key to the problem of its climb for, if its sides were polished, ordinary climbing technique would be of little avail.”

A “Climber's Guide from Noname Creek” prepared after the outing indicates that the Grey Needle may have been attempted then. The author of the guide Henry Buchtel writes that he was yet to “find out from them (Chicago Mountain Club) the proper route up Grey Needle and the North face of Animas.” Both of these routes would be first climbed on the 1953 outing. And of note is that Barry Bishop of the 1953 outing was also on the 1947 outing.

In 1960 the Colorado Mountain Club held another outing to Noname Creek. Noname Ridge is listed as climbed by 15 persons without any route specifics. The nontechnical “Revised Climbers' Guide from Noname Creek” prepared from the outing omits technical climbs mentioning the Gray Needle and others.

MAPS AND GUIDEBOOKS
A single sheet map made by G. Kehmeier, “Map of San Juan Needles – Noname,” 1953 apparently from the same Needle Mountains quadrangle shows stamped names of various peaks in addition to U.S.G.S printed names. The Grey Needle is shown in the same location as the 1947 map as the westernmost of two circular contour lines of the lower west ridge of Jagged Mountain.

In 1978 Robert Ormes published his “Silverton South Atlas.” The Gray Needle with an elevation figure of 13,430 below it is located west of Jagged Mountain. The 200 foot contour interval doesn't indicate a specific point. A portion of this same Atlas is reprinted in the Ormes, “Guide To The Colorado Mountains,” seventh edition revised, 1979.

A route description of the Gray Needle is in the first edition of Robert Rosebrough's “The San Juan Mountains, A Climbing and Hiking Guide,” 1986. Jon Lawyer reports of a climb of “an eighty-foot pitch of 5.5 climbing (that) was encountered just below the shallow col between the twin summits of the Gray Needle.” Lawyer did not see any sign of the expansion bolts placed by the first ascent party.

But in the second edition, 1988 and third edition, 1999 of Rosebrough's book this same climb of “an 80-foot pitch of 5.6 climbing . . . leads to a col between the twin summits” is listed for a climb of Noname Needle.

Rosebrough wrote of the 1986 first edition climb in a 1988 magazine article where members of a Colorado Mountain Club group (Lawyer?) climbed Noname Needle west of Jagged Mountain, thinking they had climbed Gray Needle. “It's easy to understand the mistake; there are at least five or six granite pinnacles in the immediate area.”

Perhaps the climbing report of the 1953 first ascent will help solve the mystery of the location of the Gray Needle. But until the 4 expansion bolts are found on the “20 foot vertical wall” the mystery of the Gray Needle seems only to deepen as to what was exactly climbed on the 1953 first ascent. There is also a small difference in the brief outing report in the 1954 AAJ by Henry McClintock from the original climbing report in that “expansion bolts were used on one 30-foot stretch of the climb.”

And as Jim DiNapoli subtitled in his trip report, “WILL THE REAL GRAY NEEDLE PLEASE STAND UP?”

[rperth]

Ok.

[d_baker]

Ok. Great climbing history!

Perth has a dearth of mountaineering appreciation, so I took upon myself to fix his quote.

Thanks Gore Galore. I think Boggy will be all over this thread!

[rijaca]

Ok.

A$$hole comment.

[cottonmountaineering]

thanks for sharing! cool history

[Jorts]

The “Gray Needle was a challenge . . . but more of a challenge figuring out which needle it was. It took us two days of climbing to climb all the points to ensure success.” But which point is that of Stabolepszy's Gray Needle is not determined.

Sounds a little like my experience figuring out the Gore Thumb. But with more difficult climbing over a longer time frame. Thanks for the history lesson Joe.

[yaktoleft13]

Since reading Steve's trip report a long time ago, I've been fascinated with the idea there's a named peak so close to a commonly visited area that people can't agree on what it is! Boggy's report was illuminating, but very interesting to see that there's still debate on what Grey Needle actually is! Thanks gore, favorite piece of yours thus far!

[TomPierce]

Gore,

I agree with you that the only way to conclusively solve the mystery is to find those 4 expansion bolts. One technical issue to add to the mystery is that in 1953 I'm not sure what sort of expansion bolts they were using. Climbers could be looking for bolts with hangers (Rawl bolts or Star Dryvins (sp?)), those were fir sure used in the 60's but I'm not 100% sure those were in use back in the early 50's. Could be they were using screw-in bolts (sheath with bolt), which might (?) have been removed on the descent. If so, all that would remain is a bolt sheath which would be very difficult to see from a distance. All speculation on my part.

Fwiw, we were in that area last year looking for the 1933 first ascent route up Jagged. I think (?) we located it but it looked pretty wet & ugly, we bailed off that effort. Nothing to add on Gray Needle, but it was on the scouting menu. Just ran short of time.

-Tom

[rperth]

Ok.

A$$hole comment.

Touché, my fellow a**hole.

[rperth]

Ok. Great climbing history!

Perth has a dearth of mountaineering appreciation, so I took upon myself to fix his quote.

Thanks Gore Galore. I think Boggy will be all over this thread!

Thanks d_bag. That’s what I meant to say

[Skimo95]

Cool post! I found GN very fascinating as it obstructs Jagged for most of the approach from Pigeon.

[Boggy B]

Gore,

Thanks for this. Great research and nice find with the old climbing report!

I'll reiterate that I don't think we climbed the 1953 Gray Needle, but that we did climb the Gray Needle that is officially designated.

Some thoughts:

- It's not immediately clear which of the five towers would correspond to the "westernmost of two circular contour lines of the lower west ridge of Jagged Mountain," as to the naked eye (because this is a hand-drawn map) the only point on this ridge with any prominence is Noname Needle on the east end. A visual would be illuminating.

- The peak in Matthias Holladay's photo is Noname Needle viewed from the east. Kylie and I climbed to within 100' of its summit from this side at one point, but the route we eventually topped is the same as described by Jim DiNapoli, on the west side. That route does involve an 80-foot pitch of what might have been 5.5 or 5.6 in earlier days, to a shallow col between twin summits.

- None of the five towers requires 400' of climbing. The ledge that traverses around the west end of the ridge (nearest the Bishop) is only 200' shy of the lower two towers, and a few 4th class moves should bring one within 100' of their tops on the north side. The upper three towers are most easily accessed via the southwest-facing gully that leads to Noname Needle, and the summits are all less than 200' above it. Of course it's possible that they didn't take the path of least resistance. But if they did just sally up the west face of the ridge, they'd have encountered no false summits before reaching the Bishop. Not to mention that ascending west-to-east, every tower would seem to be a false summit until reaching Noname Needle, and that endeavor would be rather more difficult than what is described.

- Since they were within shouting distance of Peak 10 then we're at least in the vicinity. Of course nowadays the standard approach for Peak 10 is from the east, but they were probably using the saddle with Noname Needle to access it then, from which, incidentally, they'd have discovered easily the aforementioned ledge and gully that leads to within 200' of the other towers.

- "Exceptionally hard rock" doesn't describe anything I've encountered on the lower west ridge of Jagged except on the north side.

I think the real Gray Needle is either the point at the northern apex of the Noname-Jagged ridge, or one of the points along the west ridge of Peak 10, one of which is featured in John Kirk's photo of Gray Needle (though the LoJ marker is on the official Gray Needle one ridge to the north).