The Mystery and Controversy of Gray Needle

I didn't know much about Gray Needle until I decided to climb it. After completing the ranked 13ers in 2023, I decided it would be fun to climb the unranked 13ers and the unamed 14ers.

After all, I love mountains and goals. When you write down your goals you end up with a list... so yeah... let's check these mofos off the list! hahaha

When it came time to plan Gray Needle, I learned that there were uncertainties as to the location of the 'real' summit. There was debate over which tower on Noname Ridge was actually the 'real' Gray Needle. What!?!

I had some digging to do as we didn't want to go all the way back to Noname and climb the wrong peaks.

Conceptually (and technology aside), determining the location of a ranked summit is relatively easy. Measure height and prominence and you have it... it's science.

However unranked peaks are more nebulous. If a ridge has 5 pionts all above 13,000ft, which one(s) get the distinction of being an unranked peak?

Answer: The unranked peak(s) are the ones that the OGs thought were cool enough to climb and document despite elevation and prominence. The peaks that have asthetic significance or special features that only the human eye can discern.

With that said, I am now of the opinion that the unranked peaks are even cooler than the ranked. They were chosen and deemed special by the pioneers. They didn't just exist. That layer of historical significance adds to their allure.

After a bit of reading, I learned that the mystery around Gray Needle comes down to the fact the bolts described in the American Alpine Club's journal of the 1953 first ascent have never been found.

In addition, the route description from the journal doesn't quite match up with the route of that currently being climbed on what we thought to be Gray Needle... Gray Needle Coke Bottle.

In 2021 Joe Kramarsic, a well respected guidebook author and mountain historian, documented the Gray Needle mystery in a Forum Post.

With new light on the issue, interest in the community was sparked to find the bolts and solve the Gray Needle mystery once and for all.

Boom! In July of 2024 Clint Carafelli (Anima) located the bolts while climbing on Needle Ridge and documented it in his trip report Gray Needle Secrets Revealed

Although Clint found the bolts, he did not pursue the summit to where the bolts led on that day.

In late September of 2024, BoggyB, Amy Blazintoes and Jonny Zaugg returned to Noname Ridge, located the bolts and successfully climbed to the summit. Their outting is documented in the Gray Needle's North Chimney trip report.

Mystery solved right? The 'Real' Gray Needle is what was previously been labelled 'The Bishop'!

Lists of John, the defacto database of record, changed the location of Gray Needle's summit from Coke Bottle to 1953. In addition, I believe a USGS change has been requested and is still pending as of this report.

But not so fast! Despite the discovery, the debate regarding the Gray Needle's summit continues in Kramarsic's forum post. Great read if you enjoy geeking on this kind of stuff.

The take away for me was that we would climb both Gray Needle 1953 and Gray Needle Coke Bottle on our trip.

The additional tower was added to our plan just week before the climb. After all, we were going back there to climb... so why not just climb another tower... and be sure to check the right stuff off of the list hahaha.

Colorado mountain history is fascinating, and I am thankful to have folks like Joe Kramarsic who play a huge part in bridging the history and culture between different generations of mountaineers. If this kind of stuff floats your boat, I recommend picking up a copy of his book "Mountaineering in the Gore Range: A Record of Explorations, Climbs, Routes and Names".

At this point it feels like so many of Colorado’s mountaineering objectives have been discovered and achieved.

It is unbelievable that peaks like Gray Needle were being climbed in the 1930s and 1950s. No trails, inferior gear, inferior maps, no weather forecasts, trip reports etc. The approaches themselves are daunting… let alone the technical climbs.

Solving Gray Needle and the efforts of finding the bolts is like going back in time and rediscovering what the pioneers did in these zones in the 30s and 50s.

Amy mentioned that re-discovering routes like Gray Needle is akin to "mountain archaeology"... a cool way to think about it.

When J and I climbed these peaks, the pioneers were on my mind the entire trip as were Boggy’s team, Gladback and Carafelli. What incredible efforts by these groups to rediscover these mountains and what it took to climb them back in the day.

I also thought about the folks who had previously climbed Gray Needle Coke Bottle thinking they were on 'the real' Gray Needle. Gray Needle (Coke Bottle) is no small effort, and I am sure if is frustrating to have the summit “taken away” by new information.

However, we have all lived through Lidar… so I guess it is just part of the game now.

On a side note... Hundreds of people orphaned a classic ranked 14er when East Crestone was deemed to be higher than Crestone Peak in 2025. Crestone Peak is no longer ranked and East Crestone is ranked 21st. To pour salt in the wound East Crestone adds no more than 20 minutes to the day if you are already on Crestone Peak's summit.

With all of that in mind, there was no way that J and I would leave Noname Basin without climbing both Gray Needle summits. Moving forard, I imagine that most people will also climb them both.

Given how all of this has gone down, it is my thought that the 1953 summit should be deemed Gray Needle and Gray Needle (Coke Bottle) should be called “Coke Bottle Needle” in a nod to Steve Gladbach.

In addition, Coke Bottle Needle should be added to the list of unranked peaks as it also has a significant place in mountain history.