Needle Mountains

Included search variations: Needle Mountains, Needles, Needle

The Needles, together with their northern counterparts, the Grenadiers, are the heart of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and are arguably the most impressive mountain range in North America. They are a mountaineering paradise and an area with seemingly limitless climbing opportunities. The most frequently climbed peaks are the Chicago Basin 14ers, and although Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom are by no means the most difficult 14ers in Colorado, they tend to be underestimated. While the Chicago Basin area can be overcrowded at certain times of the year, other areas in the Needles are generally sparsely traveled. Pigeon Peak and Jagged Mountain are among Colorado’s toughest Centennial peaks, requiring excellent route-finding skills and presenting a challenge to even experienced mountaineers. A wealth of other high thirteeners, including Animas Mountains, Monitor Peak, Glacier Point, Jupiter Mountain, Turret Peak, and Peaks Fifteen and Thirteen, provide a wide variety of climbing opportunities and challenges. Technical climbers have been lured into the area by pinnacles such as The Index, Gray Needle, Sunlight Spire, Little Finger (Peak Seventeen) and large faces such as Monitor’s east face and the north face of North Eolus.


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