Buzzard Peak is the eastern sub-summit of Organ Needle, appearing quite impressive when viewed from the true Organ Needle summit and providing equally amazing views. This route is certainly not a destination on it's own, but if you're up there anyway, why not?  

  From the true Organ Needle summit, scramble down toward the SW side of Buzzard Peak. A large dead Juniper tree marks the start of the route, which is an obvious, easy-looking gully. Harder options exist in the vicinity, e.g. the crack below the fixed piton.

Buzzard Peakbag

Searching for Ingraham

Northwest Ridge

Normal Route

Ingraham's Gully

This is a variation of the Normal Route as described in Ingraham's guide to the Organ Moutains web.nmsu.edu/~amato/ingraha…. It goes up a gully on the S face of Organ Needle, and is the quickest way to reach the summit. The rock in this gully is solid, the climbing is fun, and the views/exposure are spectacular.  

  Instead of following Ingraham's description by climbing onto the crumbly rock immediately north of Hummingbird Saddle, walk NE from the saddle, hugging the rock to your left. Bushwack up the first gully encountered, ignoring the concrete marker on the ground suggesting you continue hiking NE to the easier 3rd class route. Climb directly up the "easy 3rd class gully" (as Ingraham called it), which is near but does not necessarily involve some incredible exposure. To get a taste of the exposure, take a look to your left, but otherwise just stay in the gully. The gully cliffs out in dramatic fashion after about ~120 ft. At this point, climb up the rock to your right, toward the summit. Many options exist for the next section, but it is usually done by going up ~10 ft, then downclimbing to the right 5 ft to a less exposed shelf where a 10-15 ft vertical wall with excellent holds can be climbed to the summit.

A failed attempt to find Ingraham's route "SouthWest Wall". What we ended up on was a dirty crack with deteriorating holds. I'm only including this as beta so other climbers can learn what to avoid. 

  Starting in a dirty fist crack, climb 15 ft up to a large pointy and unstable flake. From this gain another crack system which angles slightly left. A few face holds on either side of the crack help, but are not very solid (we broke a couple off completely). The crack thins down to a crux about 40ft up. Commit to the dicey crux and gain a thank-god ledge. Bail-away, the nex tpitch looks even worse.

This route is deceptively straightforward. One pitch of steep climbing followed by two rope-lengths of 3rd class scrambling. At first glance, the steep NW ridge head-wall does not look protectable, is fairly steep and is smattered with lichens, making all the holds invisible. This taken together with the Ingraham guide description of "steep, narrow, rather holdless, unprovided with piton cracks, and not altogether solid in its first half" made me rethink attempting the route when we reached the saddle. If getting an authentic mountaineer's thrill is what you're after, read no further, just tackle the route head-on. 

  For all others, be reassured that the route does indeed follow the far right hand arete of the NW ridge. The start has the most committing moves, up some un-protected face climbing just left of the arete. Once the arete is reached though, the moves get easier, and the position is superb. The drop off on the west side of the arete is straight down for 200+ feet. The first pitch ends at a nice shoulder just beneath the top of the ridge.  

  The rest of the route is a 3rd class scramble along the ridge.

While not really a technical climb, this route is included here for reference. Other climbs in the area share the approach. Anyone serious about climbing in the vicinity of the Organ Needle should familiarize themselves with this "trail" as it is currently the best means of egress from the mountain. 

  A detailed description is also found at Ingraham's Climbing Site. web.nmsu.edu/~amato/ingraha…

  The climb: Follow the approach of your choice (see below) to the "Yellow Rocks". Cross the gully to the south and follow cairns up the steep slope heading directly towards the grey rhyolite formation known as "the Grey Eminence". the trail meanders along the base of the "Eminence" eventually gaining a grassy saddle at its top, commonly referred to as "Juniper Saddle", owing to the once proud (now dead) Juniper the cut-down remnants of while still lay around. 

  From Juniper Saddle, hike directly up the slope until a smooth granite wall blocks passage. This wall is surmounted by scrambling up its right side. Traverse back over to the left. Continue up faint trails heading towards a large pine at the base of the Organ Needle. At this point you can enter "Dark Canyon", a narrow canyon formed between the Southwest flank of the Needle and a narrow cliff known as "The Retaining Wall".  

  At the top of Dark Canyon, a small saddle is passed and you drop down on the east side of the mountain to find the right gully which will take you to the top. Approximately 100ft from the saddle is a corner system which can be scrambled up. Near the top of this is a 15 ft section of exposed rock which must be surmounted to reach the summit. A narrow dike provides good hand and foot-holds, and it is no harder than 3rd class, but it involves some good exposure. A slip during this 15 ft climb would probably result in a fall which would land you all the way at the bottom of the corner-system. 

  Enjoy the summit!

The tallest of the Organ mts and a favorite destination for the adventurous hiker. A number of routes ascend its various flanks. The most popular way to reach the top is via the Regular route, which is mostly a hike but has a short section of 4th class scrambling near the top, which has kept many off the summit.

 The more technical routes can be found on all sides of this peak. The East side has some immense and steep walls which have only begun to be explored by climbers.

 Even if you do not intend on trying one of the technical routes to the summit of Organ Needle, it is well worth your time to hike to its summit, and familiarize yourself to Organs. Indeed, the Organ Needle offers one of the few actual trails to a summit (not maintained though) and anyone considering attempting any of the peaks nearby should be familiar with this trail for use as a quick descent route.

 Rock quality is highly variable. While some sections appear to be quite solid, others are extremely treacherous.

Description

Protection

Routes in Organ Needle