Kassia Lawrence is an advanced rock climber - I am not. So when she invited me to climb the Curecanti Needle in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, I was a bit hesitant.

For those who are not familiar with the Black Canyon, it hosts the tallest wall in Colorado (third tallest in the country behind El Capitan and Notch Peak) - The Painted Wall - it has the oldest exposed rock in the world, and it received its name “Black Canyon” due to the fact that parts of this gorge receive only 33 minutes of sunlight per day at peak summer seasons. At its deepest point, from river to rim, the Black canyon is deeper than the height of two Empire State Buildings. As a rookie rock climber, it’s no wonder I was hesitant to take on such an endeavor.

After reading and hearing more about the northwest face of the Curecanti Needle, I began to feel a bit more at ease and agreed to join Kass on this climb.

To reach the top of the 600 ft. granite spire that is the Curecanti Needle, we would need to hike a stand up paddle board, and all of our climbing gear from the trailhead at the top of the canyon, down to Morrow Point Reservoir, float across Morrow Point, and hike a terribly loose scree field named "Ghengis Khan" before even going on belay.

We started our descent at 5:00 AM.

Share this Story

ATHLETE FEATURE

By: Jesse Hall

By: Felicia Sturgeon

By: Eleanor Knight

By: Jenica Camalush

ATHLETE FEATURE