Stein leading Airy Interlude 5.10a, to the left of Nathaniel (snoopy138) leading up the third pitch of Igor Unchained 5.9 on the Witch at the Needles, CA.

The crux pitch of Atlantis involves a tenuous layback out 15 ft from the ledge with no pro.

Nick on the onsight attempt. 8 Jul 2006

Climbers on the second pitch of Thin Ice, and another down and to the left on Trade Winds. 8 Jul 2006

I took this as I got to the top of Igor Unchained, a really bitchin' 5.9 at the Needles. All the climbs here look really intimidating. Lots of fun! photo Tom Slater slatervision.com

Doug does laps on this like it is a 5.7. Fun to watch, but not good on the ego. Photo Tom Slater

Another group shot of The Needles with a USFS Helicopter flying past.

Great view of The Needles from the road that passes below it, in the valley. Nice camping, down a dirt road by a stream.

I finsihed thin ice and looked down to find Mike K climbing the thin flake edge of the last pitch. Looked desparate from up there.

I think this guys name is Shaun. He was from El Portal. A cool guy and quite strong. His warm ups were Spook Book and Atlantis. Can never look at this stone enough.

Climber leading the first pitch of Thin Ice on the Sorcerer. Thin Ice is one of the classic Needles routes. Two pitches of varied crack climbing on beautiful rock.

Nathaniel climbing the Emporer. For some reason he decided he enjoyed crack climbing after visting the Needles.

Unknown climber on the second to last pitch of Igor. The light was incredible, this picture hardly does justice.

I don't know how many of you have been here, but you all can attest to awe that this place brings.

Next day, still beautiful and always incredible.

Cruising the four-bolt, 120ft, second pitch of the Howling, 10a. I didn't know this at the time, but the picture was taken from the top of the Witch by Petter Restorp, who just happened to show me the picture that night at camp. What luck.

Photo of 2 climbers dwarfed by the monster flakes on Spook Book (5.10+). The left flakes seem to be part of The Entity (5.11-).

Unknown climber following the second pitch of Love Potion #9 on 25 June 2005. You can just make out the knob tie-off on the face about 8 feet above the follower's head.

Some french dude taking a huge flight on Atlantis's 2nd pitch (Needles, CA, July 4th), for the 4th time in a row, while going the flake (top of pic). It appears to be a barndooring finger lieback crux. His blue alien, the only piece, a 1/4 sec after this shot will be shot out of the crack and fall into oblivion (how did it get unclipped?!)... The belayer will kiss the wall, and the rope will stretch on a nice factor 2 fall. Can you say "aaaah-[breathe] -aaaaah"?

Erika leads Stars and Stripes Forever on the Sorcerer at the Needles, CA. Photo by AlexC.

We had a marvelous view of the main needles formation. Lovely trip. sonso45 took on nikon digital 062705.

Brad takes off at the start of Igor Unchained and visible above is someone on Airy Interlude. Great jams on this one, I can understand why it is always busy. Sonso45 took on nikon digital 062605.

Great lead and smooth moves by Becca as she lead up the crux second pitch. Sheana belays as we admire. Becca was so smooth, I later found out how hard it really felt. Sonso45 took on nikon digital 062405.

Xavier belays Brad from the end of the first long pitch. Brad is just passing the overhang at the bottom of photo. Superb climb, I wish I had finished up Spooky instead of the original line. It looked great. Sonso45 took on nikon digital 062505.

The pro was great, lot of nuts and small stuff. All the pitches were stellar climbs and very demanding. I lead both 11 pitches and loved them both. I whipped on both but got thru. Great people all about. Seana watches below as Brad M. belays. Becca took on nikon digital 062405.