1. Organ Needle

The Needle is the high point of the Organ Range, a trifle over 9000 feet high, and marks the southern terminus of the climbing rock. Seen from the west it is (in spite of the name) a broad, blunt tower, bracketed by what appear to be two subsidiary towers, like ears.

From the east, it forms one end of an impressive rampart of gray rock over a mile long and well over 1000 feet high - the great East Faces. It was climbed already in "ancient" times; there is the record of an ascent in 1903 by two students from the then A. and M. College but no one knows whether it was not climbed earlier. The Needle is one of the very few Organ peaks climbed earlier than about 20 years ago, first because it is one of the few major peaks provided with a walk-up route and second, because the Organs have always had the reputation of being "inaccessible", as a talk with any of the local townspeople will reveal.

1a. Normal Route
Class: 3	3½ - 4 hours
First ascent: ?

Starting from the Cuevas, pursue the Wedge approach (see Route 4a) as far as the point 30 yards beyond the gate in the old fence, where the Wedge approach turns north. Continue along the right bank of Fillmore Canyon for 1/2 mile, then strike uphill to a prominent outcropping of white-orange rocks (the Yellow Rocks). Mount the arroyo to the right for 300 yards, then bushwhack up the slope to the south, following a dry watercourse full of smoothed boulders, to the base of the Grey Eminence, a large rhyolite shoulder projecting out of the lower part of the west side of the Needle. Follow a good trail, which hugs the base of this rock, all the way to the saddle above it, which is graced with several large junipers. Then continue straight up the west side, keeping to the boulder-filled dry watercourse, which is relatively free of brush, and to deer trails above this. (Always take a deer trail, where possible, in the Organs, which is what is meant by the Organ maxim, "Think like a deer!") A small rock wall just above the juniper saddle is turned on the right. About 50 yards from the base of the summit tower of the Needle turn right into a narrow canyon (Dark Canyon), which runs between the summit tower and a curving, narrow wall several hundred feet high (the Retaining Wall). (Caution: if the right turn is made too soon, into a similar canyon lower down, the Retaining Wall bars access to the summit.) Continue up Dark Canyon to a narrow saddle on the Organ Ridge. Take to the rocks on your left and climb up an easy 3rd Class gully, somewhat exposed, on the south side of the summit tower to the summit. Or, drop over the saddle into a brushy gully and essentially walk up an easier route on the southeast side. (The latter was probably the route of the "pre-historic" ascents.)

Return by retracing the approach route.

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1b. SW Wall
Class: 5	4½ - 5 hours
First ascent: 31 March 1963; R. Ingraham G. Goedecke, R. Thomas, P. Bennett

Approach as in Route 1a. In Dark Canyon, several hundred yards short of the saddle, there is a concave bay in the southwest wall of the Needle's summit tower. Start toward the left aide of the bay and traverse diagonally upward over steep and somewhat loose rock to a spacious ledge. Go up an easier pitch at the rear of this ledge to a narrow catwalk above which a great chimney cleaves the face. Head left on the catwalk, then climb the upper lip of a short overhanging section with great exposure to an inclined ledge beyond, which leads to the summit.

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1c. The Retaining Wall
Class: 3	3¼ - 4 hours
First ascent: ?

This high, narrow, curving wall, forming the western and southern sides of Dark Canyon, can be climbed most easily from a point in Dark Canyon near the beginning of the SW Wall climb (Route 1b). Once upon its narrow spine, you can traverse it for a certain distance in either direction.

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1d. NW Ridge
Class: medium 5	4½ - 5 hours
First ascent: P. Rogowski, and others

Follow the approach for Route 1a, but instead of veering right into Dark Canyon continue up the west aide all the way to the Needle - Little Squaretop Massif Saddle. The NW Ridge of the Needle climb begins here. It is steep, narrow, rather holdless, unprovided with piton cracks, and not altogether solid in its first half.

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1e. NE Face, Marathon Route
Class: medium 4	6½ - 7 hours
First ascent: 3 April 1960; P. Wohlt and R. Ingraham

From the Cuevas, pursue the normal Wedge approach (see Route 4a) as far as the Ballroom. Then head in the general direction of Squaretop, at first over bare rock, then through some brush to a point on the Organ Ridge just south of the nameless eminence halfway between the Wedge and Squaretop. Scramble southward along the Ridge (easy 3rd Class) until you drop into a pretty, narrow pass (which shall henceforth be called the E Faces Pass). Cross onto the East Side here and traverse southward through groves of hardwoods, staying as high as possible without getting into climbing. Pass along the base of the entire East Wall this way until you finally drop into the large gully descending from the Needle - Little Squaretop Massif Saddle. The approach ends here.

As seen best from due east, say, the Missile Range Base, the E Face of the Needle is divided into two parts: the southern part is indented, impressively vertical, and sports a great black spot about halfway up; the northern half is really northeast facing and forms a great sweeping ramp whose angle ever increases as it rises. The line of demarcation of these two halves is thus a long, curving pseudo-ridge. The route goes more or less up this "ridge". After about 500 feet of elevation a point is reached from which you can look out onto the true E Face at the level of the Black Spot. (Although the E Face has been assaulted several times, it has not been climbed to date and remains one of the "three last problems" of the Organs.) Continue up the "ridge" until the two faces merge into one; there is a tower here and a blade of rock continuing upward. Keep to the right of this blade (to the left is just a walk up a very brushy gully) and climb some slabs and small open chimneys. You eventually emerge through a narrow gap onto the summit plateau of the Needle with Buzzard Peak, a subsidiary summit, immediately on your right. Walk to the western, proper summit.

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1f. SE Side
Class: 3	4½ - 5 hours
First ascent: Spring 1964; R. Ingraham and E. Redford

For aficionados of bushwhacking this route is unbeatable. Proceed as in Route 1a, but instead of striking uphill to the Yellow Rocks continue on the trail up Fillmore Canyon through a forested area, past a ruined miner's shack, then turn into the second subsidiary canyon which intersects it from the east. Follow this canyon through the Narrows, a strait formed by high crumbling walls which lean together over the trail, into a spacious basin which contains the largest junipers in the Organs. Head northeast and climb out of the basin onto the low southern continuation of the main Organ Ridge, at which point Sugarloaf and the whole Tularosa Basin come into view. Turn left and beat up the southeast side of the Needle through brush which is thick even by Organ standards. Eventually, you reach a gap in the Retaining Wall, which rings the summit tower of the Needle about. A point can be found from which a 75 foot rappel lands you in the gully below; from here scramble up easy rock on the southeast side to the summit.

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1g. Minerva's Temple
Class: medium 5	5½ - 6 hours
First ascent: Date unknown; Yale Mountaineering Club

This subsidiary summit of the Needle, to its east, may be climbed from the gap in the southern portion of the Retaining Wall. (See Route 1f for the approach.) The route follows more or less its SW Ridge.

This material is from "A Climbing Guide to the Organ Mountains", Copyright by R.L.Ingraham, Privately published, 1960's.

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