Three Needles - Ski
Date: 02/02/2026
Partner: Kristi Henes
Trialhead: Route 550 (just south of RMP summit)
Distance: 7.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 3150ft
Duration:6.5 hours
GPX
The summit of Three Needles is one of the cooler summits on the 550 corridore, and it is a good thing because the skiing was breakable crust hell. Not surprising as it is 2026 after all.
Three Needles' north couloir aka Muddy Lake Couloir is an asthetic line that can be seen from all over the northern San Juans. I promise to come back and ski it in the conditions it deserves.
Regardless we were still thankful to be moving through the mountains on a glorious day
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7.3m - 3150ft - 6.5 hours
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Skinning Bullion King Road FR822 into Porphyry Basin
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Sultan views to the south
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Up into Porphyry
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There are a few ways to skin into the upper basin... we took the longer less steep approach
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Three Needles comes into view
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Amazing San Juan views to the east
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we would skin to the saddle and drop the west side to the base of Muddy Lake Couloir
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Three Needles from the saddle
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Much of the west side of the saddle was dry and wind blown so we skirted lower for more connective snow
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Kristi skinning to the base of the couloir
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Up we go on awful snow... position over condition today
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Kristi boots Muddy Lake Couloir as I scout the summit
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This isn't going to be much fun to ski... steep breakable crust with some nice icy spots
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Kristi topping out the couloir
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The crux of the scramble to the summit is some loose class three near the top of the couloir
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Kristi approaching the summit on dinner plates
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Pretty cool spot to be!
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Hello Three Needles... what a fantastic summit!
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Thanks for joining in on the fun Gabe!
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Kristi descending the crux back to the top of the couloir
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Kristi getting fired up for some breakable crust... hell yeah buddy!
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Sometimes you have to ski these conditions with some gusto. Kristi gets gonzo abusive on the crust
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Some pretty nice Sneffels Range views to the north
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Stoked for more breakable crust all the way back to the car. It is 2026 after all
