Climbing the Curecanti Needle

By Max Mulleneaux

By KAVU

August 4^th, 2020

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.

Kass keeping all of her essentials in order as we filled the dry bag with a traditional climbing rack, ropes, quickdraws, climbing shoes, snacks, and rain jackets.

We took turns pumping up the paddle board to "much lower" than the recommended PSI .....

....conserving energy was high priority.

Testing the stand up paddle board before we both hop on and cross Morrow Point Reservoir was a necessary step for confidence;-)

When we pulled up to the north “shore” of the Curecanti Needle, we were immediately greeted by a very steep scree field.... again, nicknamed "Ghengis Khan".

After trudging up this scree slope, I fully understood how it got its name.

Finally, it was time to put on the vintage Scarpa’s, get on belay, and climb.

Kass led this entire route, while I cleaned up the gear as I followed her up each pitch.

We both took time to enjoy taking in the views from the top of each pitch.

KAVU day, for sure!

It felt so good to free our feet from our shoes and share a short snack break at the top of the spire before rappelling down the west side of the Needle.

After three double-rope rappels, a few stumbles down Ghengis Khan, a broken sandal, and a little blood..... we were on our way out of the Black Canyon.