Needles and Fingers

Trip Overview

In August of 2025, J and I ventured into the Weminuche with the goal of climbing a handful of badass peaks in Noname and Ruby Basins.

These are the summits on our agenda:

  • Gray Needle (1953) 5.10
  • Gray Needle (Coke Bottle) 5.8
  • Noname Needle 5.8
  • Peak Twelve
  • The Index
  • Monitor Peak
  • Peak Thirteen
  • Animas Mountain
  • Litttle Finger 5.8

From Needleton, we used the Noname approach and climbed three towers on Noname Ridge:

  • Gray Needle (1953) 5.10
  • Gray Needle (Coke Bottle) 5.8
  • Noname Needle 5.8.

The next day, we moved camp from Noname Basin to Ruby Basin over Peak Twelve.

The day after moving camp we climbed The Index 5.10, Monitor, Thirteen and Animas.

On the fifth and final day we climbed Little Finger 5.8 and returned to Needleton where we stayed the night.

The next morning we caught the train to Silverton and hitchhiked back to our vehicle in Durango.

The five day outing covered 31.6 miles, 14,100ft and 9 awesome summits.

This was easily one of the best mountain trips I have been on. Definitely stoked on this one!

GPX

Here are the reports for each segment of the trip.