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This beautiful, chisel-shaped needle, rising just north of the long, graceful spiral staircase of Razorback's W Ridge, is the northernmost of the High Horns (the peaks from the Spire to Dlngleberry). Seen from Topp Hut, the Spire marks a prominent step, some 400 feet high, in the Organ Ridge above the serried ranks of the Low Horns to the north. The Spire has many routes and is often climbed.

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10a. Normal Route
Class: high 4	4 - 5 hours
First ascent: 1956(?); D. Schluter, ?

From Topp Hut bear east across the desert (directly toward the Spire) until a relatively prominent trail, running northwest-southeast, is crossed near a small cairn after about 15 minutes of walking. Follow this trail southward into the draw which terminates the welt which comes down from Gerch's Folly and mount the welt just to the south. Follow this welt up to where it broadens and becomes brushier, then bear upwards and right, following a faint trail, until you drop into the great arroyo to the south. At the proper point to do this, the trail becomes very clear and leads down into a thick bower of scrub oak, where the ground is perpetually coated with a carpet of dead leaves (the "Deer's Trysting Place"). Climb onto the welt to the south, a broad meadow of high grass concealing tumbled boulders, and slog upward, passing to the right of the first large rock shoulder encountered. At the elevation of this shoulder, a fairly clear trail, vastly improved by the massive rescue operation on the Spire in 1963, should become evident. Follow this trail upward, bearing always to the right to avoid rock obstructions over a series of little saddles. Finding yourself engaged in 3rd Class climbing indicates that you are too far left. Eventually you arrive at the rock slabs directly below Low Horn #6. Proceed to the Low Horn #6 - Spire Saddle hugging the rock of Low Horn #6 on your left as closely as possible. Then drop down a few feet into a little bowl lying on the W Side of the Spire. This ends the approach.

Climb out of the bowl at a point well to the right and traverse left on a ledge. Climb another easy pitch to a small, sheltered platform at the foot of the Spike on the Spire, a sharp 60 foot gendarme visible from afar. The route goes up the rock directly behind the Spike to a level place below a large cave-like crack between a great block on the left and sloping friction pitches on the right. Go up a short friction and small holds pitch on the right side of this crack, which leads to a perch above the great block from which the NW Face comes into view. Traverse onto the Face along easy ledges to a prominent vertical fault which more or less bisects the Face. Climb a short chimney, walk a hundred feet, then climb the left aide of a second chimney and traverse left some 30 feet to a small comfortable ledge. The next pitch is a the hardest on the route: a 12 foot wall with inadequate handholds at the top. You gain another ample ledge, the Rappel Point, provided with fixed pitons. (This is where G. Goedecke and A. Hunt spent a miserable night after having been struck by falling rock in the fall of 1963.) Above this ledge the fault widens into an ample gully, full of loose rock, leading to the summit 200 feet above.

On the descent take the gully down to the Rappel Point, whence one 150 foot rappel lands you at the foot of the bottom chimney. Then climb back down the ascent route to the Sdddle, and retrace the approach to Topp Hat.

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Tippytoes Traverse Variation
Class: high 4	4.5 - 5 hours
First ascent: 1959(?); P. Wohlt, R. Ingraham.

From the "great block" of Route 10a climb up the W side of the NW Face, than head out onto the Face via an easy ledge about 100 feet above that of the Normal Route. The ledge ends in a section of smooth wall about 40 feet from the "prominent vertical fault." Traverse this on small but adequate hand and footholds to the base of the "second chimney," and continue as in Route 10a.

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10b. W Side
Class: low 5	4.5 - 5 hours
First ascent: 1959(?); H. Davis, ?

Approach and climb as far as the "great block" as in Route 10a, Then head up the W Side of the peak, choosing any of a variety of routes involving friction work on slabs at first and large blocks above. This leads to the southwest end of the short summit ridge.

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10c. NW Face Direct
Class: medium 5	5 - 5.5 hours
First ascent: 1964(?); R. Ingraham, G. Goedecke.

Approach as in Route 10a, then drop down on the East Side from the Spire-Low Horn #6 Saddle to a point at the bottom of the NW Face directly in line with the prominent vertical fault which bisects the Upper Face. The first pitch is a short athletic, small holds one, which puts you onto easy ground. From here climb up to the left over steep but easy rock, plentifully provided with holds, to the top of a large shoulder. Then scramble straight up over easy rock to the foot of a more vertical section. Climb a steep gully or the wall to the right on good holds for 50 feet, which puts you on the comfortable ledge at the foot of the "12 foot wall" of Route 10a. Above this, work out onto the N Side of the NW Face (left of the Summit Gully) on very small holds and friction. From a welcome large slab (behind which a wide angle piton may be placed) traverse left below steep bulging slabs on a good ledge, which partially excuses the lamentable sparseness of handholds. Eventually it is best to drop into a semi-hand traverse position with the fingers on the ledge which has become impracticable for the feet. At some 40 feet from the NE Ridge one can surmount the bulge above with the aid of handholds in a rotten diagonal crack. Above this a short easy pitch leads to the palatial summit block at the northeast end of the summit ridge.

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10d. NE Ridge
Class: low 4	4.5 - 5 hours
First ascent: 1959(?); R. Ingraham, P. Wohlt.

Approach as in Route 10a, then drop down the East Side to a huge pine at the bottom of the NW Face a few hundred feet from the NE Ridge from which a shallow easy gully mounts the Face. Climb up this for several hundred feet through a succession of 3rd Class problems: chimneys, friction slabs, awkward corners. Then bear left until almost on the Ridge, and climb parallel to it until just under the summit block.(The exposure on the SE Side of the Ridge, where it slightly overhangs the steep gully descending from the Spire-Razorback Col, is inspiring.) Turn this on the left and gain the SE Face by a long step. A few feet of easy rock leads to the summit ridge. (Incidentally, this SE Face, although easy in its upper portions, has never been climbed to date. The bottom part, rising from the Spire-Razorback Col, forms a short vertical step lacking in holds or good piton cracks.)

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10e. Spike
Class: medium 5 and 6	5 - 6 hours
First ascent: 1956(?); W. LaFleur.

Approach and climb as far as the "sheltered platform" at the foot of the Spike as in Route 10a. Start the climb of the Spike on its SW Side. Traverse upward and around, to its NE Side using 6th Class slings pitoned into a good crack. Then climb a few more feet to its narrow summit.

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

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