George Pettengill Memorial Route

I've definitely climbed worse rock, in the Pioneers even. That being said, expect fractured, crumbly, and slightly-puckering rock. Protection can be sparse at times, but I never ran it out more than 25 feet or so. Most of the climb felt like low 5th class, with a short off-width about half-way, a beautiful exposed slab, to a short tips-to-finger crack to the top.

The rock gets progressively better the higher you climb and the rat shit remains constant. Be sure to peek around the arete to get some awesome exposure as you near the top!

As I said in the area description, Needle Rock has almost certainly been climbed before, if anyone has route/FA beta, please let me know!

The far left side of the west face of Needle Rock. The climb starts in a dirty/chossy right-facing dihedral and climbs close to the left arete all the way to the top. I slung a horn at the top and backed it up with a decent .4 on the north shoulder of the formation and we climbed a protectionless 30-ish foot pitch to the top.

From the top, either sling one of the large horns on the south-east side or do what we did and down-climb/scramble to the bottom. It's pretty loose up top, so take care to not kick any rocks or slip off the edge.

Gear from 000 C3 to a #4 C4.