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Sandia Mountains > The Needle (Sandia Mountains) > Comments
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| Bubba Suess | Glad you are back! | |
Voted 10/10 | Good to see you posting stuff again! You really need to do a Sandia Mountains page... | |
| Posted Jun 16, 2008 11:51 am | ||
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| hans.schenk | Re: Glad you are back! | |
Hasn't voted | Thanks! I just hadn't had anything to post in a long time! It's been a really busy semester...I haven't had much free time. I'm still thinking about a Sandias page...maybe after I collect some more photos to get a good 'picture' of the range...:) | |
| Posted Jun 16, 2008 4:48 pm | ||
| Dan the Jones | rating adjustment - | |
Voted 10/10 | In my honest opinion the east saddle ridge is sandbagged and should be rated in the lower fifth class rating i.e. 5.2 to 5.4. Be prepared for this when you attempt to access the needle, harder then the 4th class rating given to it in the early 70's. | |
| Posted Dec 12, 2008 8:17 pm | ||
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| hans.schenk | Re: rating adjustment - | |
Hasn't voted | Thanks for your opinion on this! I completely agree (my friend and I attempted it). For the main page I had decided to go with the traditional rating since that is what has been published. My plan was to go back and finish the route, post a page for the route, and describe what I think is the better rating there rather than on the main page. But maybe I'll make a note about it on the main page. Thanks! | |
| Posted Dec 15, 2008 5:35 pm | ||
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| davebobk47 | Re: rating adjustment - | |
Voted 10/10 | What kind of pro would I need for this route? I'd rather not free climb this route and I'd definitely want to rap back down. Any info would help. Thanks. | |
| Posted May 19, 2009 12:06 pm | ||
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| hans.schenk | Re: rating adjustment - | |
Hasn't voted | I think a regular rack would suffice - a set of cams, a set of nuts, and maybe a few tri-cams and hexes. The route is winding, so bring plenty of shoulder length slings. The climbing is not difficult, but it is fairly exposed at various junctures. There is a lot of mix between rock, and rock mixed with pine needles. The pine needle sections can be loose. We tried rapping the route, but it is really awkward with the way the mountain slopes...so we wound up down-climbing most of it and rapping the last pitch which you can do by finding a ledge with a tree and rappel sling just south of the top of the first pitch. Again, we did not do the last pitch because we ran out of time, but it was a ridge with loose blocks and we didn't know how secure the pro would be. | |
| Posted May 26, 2009 8:06 am | ||
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