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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 28, 2009 - 07:42pm PT
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I recently climbed at the Needles with my friend Jon Hanlon and his fiance. We climbed for a day at Demon Dome together, then Jon and I bagged "White Punks On Dope". There was nobody else there! We expected a line in June. We saw one party on pitch 5 when we were got back to the car. After Needles, and Pizza Barn, I then proceeded to head to the desert and bouldered at Wagon Wheel. Here are a few pics if you're interested.
This pic below is from day one at Demon Dome, one of the most user friendly of the Needles. Fairly well protected routes and only a 30 minute hike. This is probably one of the top 10 single pitch routes I've ever done. It's called Devil Worshiper 5.8 and it just blew Jon and I away it was so rad. On your right is a 50' drop off, then the face is all knobs and scoops. Bitchin'. Bring some extra cams to back up the bolts (4 bolts, not 3 as it is in the guide). Rated 5.9 in the Vernon guidebook, but we were thinking 5.8.
P1- This is a shot below of pitch one on White Punks. 5.7 and very good. What a way to start! Mostly 2-3" hand crack. Good feet for some rests. Belay below the roof if you have a 60m, and you'll end up with a more comfortable belay.
P2- This (below) is sort of a combinationn of pitch 2 and 3. After I lead the "roof" I just kept going. It's one burst of 5.8+ energy, then it's over. The only pitch we didn't get a shot on was Pitch 3, the chimney, which turned out to be 20' of 5.7. But Jon and I tip-toed through the bowels and managed not to knock anything off. The roof pitch is really a one move wonder (bold, but short!) and Pitch 3 was also tame with only 20' of real climbing.
P4- This is the business (below), the 5.9 dihedral, most all the pro was finger sized, and it was very sustained. The dihedral just heaved over you like a wave. Totally wicked. I belayed below the roof and was able to get some really good pictures of Jon coming up, otherwise you'll miss this! From here, you do a 5.6 undercling and then lieback easy 5th to the true belay, where you start the face pitch.
P5- This pitch was also the business, with 20'-40' runouts between bolts (4 on a 190' pitch!), 5.8 with lots of thought provoking 5.6 meandering between dishes and small knobs. Go Jon! Not totally hard, but the first bolt looks waaaay up there.
P6- This is the last pitch, and one of several options. It was easy, 5.5 liebacking, but turned out to be very high quality, fun, and a great way to finish the route. The 5.8 finger crack also looked good, but short.
This is me (below) at Wagon Wheel at sunset. Jon and Marni headed home from Needles and I trekked over to Ridgecrest to boulder a bit. Vast. Kind of like a Cat Box filled with kitty litter with huge stone cat turds sticking up out of it all. Then sprinkle in some crazy OHV nuts whizzing about, and there you go. After this shot, the desert winds picked up my large crash pad and deposited it 80' (no joke) away in some bushes. That was it, I was done, time to head home.
All in all, we enjoyed White Punks (I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars) and liked the variety, a good adventure, and we totally nailed the approach and descent after reading horror stories about it online. Car to car in about 7+/- hours. The breakdown: a 75 minute approach, 4.5 hours to do the route, and an 80 minute descent. We were in no rush, and stopped plenty to take it all in. Marni was over on the Magician watching us from the lookout through binocs and a telescope! Very fun. Of course we ended it all with a pizza feast at Pizza Barn. And if you haven't been to Demon Dome, go. Wagon Wheel... only if you're forced to go to Ridgecrest for some strange reason.
Hope you enjoyed the TR, pics are also on slatervision.com if they didn't come through for some reason :)
Post a pic!
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ec
climber
ca
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Jun 28, 2009 - 08:28pm PT
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Nice TR! thx...
 ec
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Jun 28, 2009 - 09:30pm PT
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Really nice TR.... TO bad this place is complete inaccessible!
Glad you made it out alive, and it looks like there was some fun and good climbing...
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Jun 28, 2009 - 11:16pm PT
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Right on, Tom!
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the Fet
Supercaliyosemistic climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Jun 28, 2009 - 11:47pm PT
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***1/2 star TR.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
way, WAY out there....(OMG)
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Jun 29, 2009 - 12:11am PT
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Good stuff, BroMan. Nice pics. etc.
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Jun 29, 2009 - 12:16am PT
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Nic TR,
Thanks for posting. I've never seen a bad Needles TR yet.
Zander
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F10
Trad climber
e350
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Jun 29, 2009 - 12:20am PT
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Cool TR,
Wagonwheel kicks butt
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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 29, 2009 - 12:25am PT
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Scott Loomis told me that the boulder problem I'm on at Wagon Wheel is "Stonge's Lieback", just an FYI. WW is a pretty cool place, I think I just hit it on a super windy day. Getting off the deck and then having your pad blow off into the desert and having to down climb or jump and then go chasing after it wasn't my idea of fun.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jun 29, 2009 - 11:29am PT
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Wow, the rock out there is beautiful.
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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 29, 2009 - 06:29pm PT
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I almost drove to Trona (Searless ... same thing??) Pinnacles but couldn't see them (past sunset) and wasn't sure how far the drive was out to them. Anyone know?
I'll probably head back over and hit up Fossil Falls, Heller Rocks, and Fossil Falls.
Hey, maybe I'll even hit Bills Butte or Easter Wall. Any opinions on those?
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Jun 29, 2009 - 06:38pm PT
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Nice TR. Looks like the classic it is reputed to be.
Hey Ghost!!! When are we going? Lets get that baby down on the calendar!!
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Prod
Trad climber
A place w/o Avitars apparently
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Jun 29, 2009 - 06:49pm PT
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Cool tr.
Thanks,
Prod.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jun 29, 2009 - 06:57pm PT
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great shot of devil worshipper. looks killer--- features vaguely like mechanic's route
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drljefe
climber
Old Pueblo, AZ
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Jun 29, 2009 - 11:03pm PT
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Saaaw weeeeeeeet!!!!
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Jun 30, 2009 - 12:26am PT
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Thanks for the TR and fun pics! The corner pitch looks super good. I've yet to get down to Demon Dome on a Needles trip - have to make it happen next time! :-)
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taylor
Social climber
the local crag
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Jun 30, 2009 - 04:56am PT
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great report, needles look awesome
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jun 30, 2009 - 05:42am PT
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hey there say, slater... these are some really sharp well done pictures here... and a nice write-up too...
i never heard of needles trip, yet....
but then i only been here a few going on 3? years.. hmmm, not even sure now....
well---very neat stuff ... thanks for the share...
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