Three Needles

Route: Three Needles to Telluride Peak
Posted On: 5/3/2025, By: yaktoleft13
Info: Ran the ridge from three needles to telluride peak with Marshall today. Started at 4am from the bottom of black bear pass. Still snow covering most of the road. Climbed the slopes/couloir to the base of three needles summit block, easy snow, 40 degrees max. Summit block is basically class 2. Cool peak with snow! Dropped to about saddle level between 3N and T10, then climbed easy snowfields to the S summit of T10. Traversed to N summit just below the ridge on the east side. Dropped off the ne ridge toward Trico on snow. Went on the n side, should have gone on the s side. Trico was uneventful up to the summit, mix of snow and dry ground. Descended Trico's n ridge toward 13509. This was the crux of the day, a 50 ft steep snowfield, probably 55 degrees. Luckily, we timed it perfectly and the snow was prime for kicking steps. Once down, gentle slopes and snow led to 509. A quick half circle along the ridge led to telluride peak. We descended back into the basin east of 509 and Trico. We angled toward the e ridge of Trico, and Marshall engineered on the fly a guy descent off Trico's east ridge that took us pretty much straight back to the car. Snowshoes helpful, crampons mandatory, leave the microspikes at home. 10.3 miles, 4750 gain, 8:40 car to car. Sorry no pictures, lost my phone somewhere within 10 minutes of the car. RIP 

Route: Porphyry basin
Posted On: 7/4/2024, By: Dobsons
Info: Snuck in a climb of three needles on a quick detour heading to silverton with the fam. No snow gear needed. There is a patch of snow high up in the access gully before the third class final summit block which made it a bit more difficult but I was able to sneak by it on the left side and not use any snow gear. Access gully was loose as expected but nothing worse than expected. Summit pyramid has less third class than I expected but it was a really enjoyable scramble between some beautiful lakes. Happy 4th to all! Porphyry basin is a special spot with green and waterfalls everywhere 

Route: From Porphyry Lake
Posted On: 10/22/2023, By: cloudkicker
Info: Dry to summit. We parked at the top of the Porphyry road (12,300ish) and hiked past Bullion King to Porphyry Lake. From there we took the dog leg gully shown in WildWanderers report (roughly 350ft of vert). From the top it was an easy scramble on loose rock to the summit. The road is totally subaruable when dry, just very Shelfy with no space or pull offs to let oncoming traffic pass. The gully is that awful loose scralus found on T10 just north. I found this mountain way easier than T10 though. Not quite as steep and I didnt feel my life was in mortal peril like I did on T10. The route from the top of the gully to the summit has several options for climbing, mostly in the class 3 realm. Hard to choose a bad line up, they all seem to go. No summit register at the top sadly. A whopping 3mi and 1100ft of vert today. 2hr45min car to car with roughly 30min on the summit. 

Route: Porphry Basin
Posted On: 9/1/2022, By: Bombay2Boulder
Info: TravellingMatt has a good visual of the gully under the condition report. I followed this gully, it's the usual San Juan loose crap. This report is mainly for the road to Porphry Basin- Rd 822 is totally subaruable. I took my crosstrek to the top. A few things, you will not really hit any obstacles that will test the clearance of the car on this road, however this road is NARROW at the top. Once you get going, especially above the black bear pass road cutoff, it's gonna be a send fest with very little spots to turn back. I will not recommend doing this in a Subaru if you have highway tires with worn out tread. Reversing on the way down in the narrow sections will be extremely nerve wrecking if you get incoming traffic during your descent in the upper parts. I did have 2 Jeeps come by and I was glad to have A/T tires to back way up to get to a pull out. There's a couple of spots where the trail was extremely narrow, maybe a foot drop off after the track. That being said, this road will be a good mountain/gravel bike, consistent grade with no real bumps. Will not recommend driving this road on a weekend. Also, personally and I know this is very subjective but I will not be comfortable in a 4runner sized car on the upper portions of this trail, especially if narrow exposed roads give you the jeebies. 

Route: East Gully and South Ridge
Posted On: 7/27/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: From basically all angles Three Needles looks super intimidating, but it's far easier than it looks. Steep and super loose, but not technical like it would appear. I began from "T 10"'s southern summit, and took "T 10"'s southwest ridge which is steep Class 2 dinner plates. I contoured over towards Three Needles on steep, extremely loose terrain. Be careful not to yank a rock onto your feet or legs. I slowly made an upward traverse towards the first huge gully below Three Needle's impressive summit block.This one is quite wide, doesn't appear technical, and is just south of the summit block. Claw your way up the thing (swearing profusely really helps, I promise) to a small dirt saddle between a couple huge porphyry blocks. Head north and hug the side of the northern block, there's a faint social trail through the dinner plates. Before you reach another dirt saddle between the main summit block and a shorter western block, scramble up one of several different Class 3 options. The exposure is minimal and the scrambling short (I went up and down different sections, each about 10 feet high) but the rock is rotten and prone to ripping little chunks out. Test your holds. Once past this short scramble it's a Class 2 walkup loose rock covered ledges and ramps to the summit. I reversed my route down, taking a slightly different down scramble, then scree skied into Porphyry Basin and to FS 822, which I followed to an unmarked road that connects to Black Bear Road. This connector road isn't on maps but is visible on satellite photos. 

Route: Via black bear pass
Posted On: 6/7/2021, By: Sbenfield
Info: Hiked along with Trico & T10. After the double summit of T10, I descended right below Three Needles. The main gully up has snow but can be avoided if you climb on the side. It's pretty lose and I'd recommend a helmet. I descended into the Porphyry Basin after and back to red Mtn pass 

Route: East Face / South Ridge
Posted On: 7/19/2020, By: Clint the climber
Info: The road up Porphyry basin (FS 822) is in good condition. It's steep and narrow, but any 4 wheel drive vehicle should be able to get up it. There are very few places to pass people on the last 3/4 mile of the road. The mountain itself is almost completely dry. Only a few small snow patches remain that can be avoided. On the way up I took the east face and gained the ridge through the northernmost prominent notch. It's loose but goes easily. The route up the ridge to the summit is loose. No summit register. On the way down I took the south ridge all the way to just above the grassy slope on the southern end of the east face. This also goes but there are some cliffs that must be skirted around to the west. Stick to the ridge as much as possible and use a series of notches, ledges, and ramps to bypass the towers. Climbing up the east face to the northernmost notch is by far the more pleasant way. 

Route: East Slopes/South Ridge
Posted On: 9/29/2018, By: TravelingMatt
Info: From Porphyry Lake, go up the right (north) gully, or the middle gully if you're counting the gully coming down from the summit. The left/south gully offers no way of getting onto the ridge. Approaching the gully, stay left (south) on larger boulders for best footing. Once in the gully the left (south) side has a fair amount of support. Turn right (north) at the ridge and stay under towers to the left (west). Do not go all the way to the obvious gap between two of the Needles, but instead look for a chute about 2/3 of the way there. Ascend this loose class 3 chute for some 15 feet, then walk up to summit on loose class 2 rock. (If combining with T10, start down to Black Bear Pass from T10 but at around 13000' tack southeast under the summit massif and stay level. A cairned trail should develop on T10's SE shoulder to take you into Porphyry Basin.)