Closed to climbing:

This route is illegal to climb and has been left on Mountain Project for historical purposes

only

. To read more about climbing restrictions in the park, click

here.

Angel Arch is arguably the most beautiful landform in the Needles district. Its size and position is unrivaled and it is truly the monarch of arches in the region. It is composed of very good Cedar Mesa Sandstone and can now be done entirely hammerless and much of it goes free. At the time of its first ascent it was the largest unclimbed arch on the planet.

The first ascent of Angel Arch in 1991 followed the obvious wide crack on the east side of the formation.  A rope was fixed over the hump to the north so that they could climb over the hump on the descent.  There is a large flat ledge above the center of the arch. The fourth pitch followed a drilled pin ladder to the summit. The descent follows the route.  All anchors are hidden from view.

It must be noted that the NPS looks down on climbing named features in these particular national parks. "Named features" translates in NPS speak to "arches." They don't seem to mind people climbing the towers and various formations, but for whatever reason they do not like climbers on the arches. If you are caught climbing Angel, Castle, or Druid arch, you will likely be issued a compulsory "arch climbing permit", which cost $25 in 1993.  As always, practice sound and environmentally-minded judgement in the desert. It is particularly important that the "leave no visible trace" philosophy be exercised here.

Angel Arch

Druid Arch

The New World Order

Castle Arch

Beckoning Round

The National Hot Rod Association

Closed to climbing:

This route is illegal to climb and has been left on Mountain Project for historical purposes

only

. To read more about climbing restrictions in the park, click

here.

Druid Arch is the most tower-like of the arches listed here, and is the most technically challenging. It is a majestic arch with a commanding view from the summit.

The route follows the obvious crack system on the left hand side of the arch when viewed from the trail. The first pitch followed a very nice crack  to a nice ledge. Pitch 2 climbed up the face and to the right to another nice ledge. The third pitch followed the slightly overhanging dihedral through a short roof and diagonals up and to the right. The crack ends and one traversed on huecos and face holds to just below the summit saddle.  Anchors were up there that allowed a return to the nice ledge.

Second crack to the rt. of Worlds Hardest. 25' OW roof, crux @ the lip.

Closed to climbing:

This route is illegal to climb and has been left on Mountain Project for historical purposes

only

. To read more about climbing restrictions in the park, click

here.

Castle Arch is absolutely beautiful in its position and character. It is perched on a very thin fin of rock which is not apparent until you stand at the very base of the arch itself. From here you realize that it is possible to see light through three places in the arch. The base of the arch is also extremely narrow on the west side and it is offset, so that when you peer through any of the holes on the summit all that you can see is space. It is a very exhilarating experience to stand on this arch! It is also an adventure to climb. The route never exceeds about 5.5 in difficulty, but the climbing is airy in nature and there is little protection.

The route on Castle Arch ascended the south face and then the east buttress of the arch. From the western side of the south face, one traversed right on a bedding seam for roughly 15-20 feet (4.5-6 m), and then climbed up to the next bedding seam. The FA party continued to traverse on this seam until they attained the next bedding seam up. They followed the path of least resistance (up and right) until they gained the ledge at the base of the arch. You can see how narrow the base of the arch is in the photo below. From this ledge, they followed the low-angle chimney to the east to gain the buttress next to the arch. They fixed a line from the tree so they could lower themselves down into the notch between the buttress and the arch. It is only 10-12 feet (3 m) or so down to the arch.

Proper press off a nice jug shelf. Pretty burly. Not terribly sandy either! Yay!

The NHRA is a burly OW roof similar to New World Order in style and difficulty. Its a bit longer than NWO, and the crux lies in the middle of the roof, where the crack flares.

Start as far back into the cave as you want to go (another 15' could be added on to what i did, but its gets pretty cramped in the cave) and work your way around the high-ish lip.

The lip is about 15' off the deck, and the landing is a little wierd. If you have a few crash pads, it would be fine to boulder, but if your single pad is smaller than a laptop (like mine was) you can bring a single #5 camalot(new) to protect the lip moves. The route has yet to be bouldered.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Needles District