Weaver's Needle or El Sombrero is a famous landmark in the Superstition Mountains east of the Salt River Valley. This picture was taken many years ago in about 1996 from the Fremont Saddle, at the top of the Fremont Trail, looking southwest toward the Needle and Boulder Canyon. The terrain is more rugged that even the picture can show. Cross country travel, without following one of the established trails can become virtually impossible. The topographical map of the area will give you some idea of the difficulty of the area, although the Needle is practically invisible.
The summit elevation of Weaver's Needle is 4553 feet. I remember the view from the top. One interesting thing is that the Needle is not visible from almost anyplace in the Salt River Valley, the main ridge of the Superstition Mountains visible from most of the east valley blocks the view. So, from the top you can see very little of the almost surrounding city. The climb up is quite difficult. Click here for a pretty good description of the climb. You might want to read an interesting story about a fatal fall from the Needle back in the year I climbed it, 1963. Here's my story:
My Senior year, I got two friends, and we decided to climb Weavers Needle. Now, this was before the Grand Tetons Climbing School and real equipment. At the time I was driving a Triumph Herald, a little blue car, and we loaded up the car with some water and a lunch and an old nylon rope that the other boy had and drove out to the Superstition Mountains.
Weavers Needle is also known as the Sombrero. It is an eroded volcanic cone with shear cliffs all around. It is about 4300 feet high and the cliffs are over 1500 feet high. I had heard that some crazy woman had hired two miners to look for the Lost Dutchman Mine on top of the Needle and one of the miners had fallen to his death while trying to descend the cliffs. As I found out much later, the stories were true and even more bizarre than the rumors. While going down the mountain, the miner had lost his grip and slid down the rope until his gloves were burned off his hands and he fell. I had heard. Someone told me that there was a crack on the south side of the Needle that could be climbed.
We hiked to the base of the Needle. The hike in is quite rough and about 5 miles long but at that time it seemed like a cakewalk. We practically ran the whole way. When we got to the bottom of the Needle we could see that there was a huge crack going clear to the top on the south side. We climbed up the base of the mountain and found that the cliff near the bottom was not that steep and soon we were many hundreds of feet up the mountain. We finally reached the steep cliff and to our surprise there was a rope hanging down from the top. It was a huge 1 inch hemp rope, like the kind they use for rope climbing in schools. Using the rope we found the climb up to the top to be relatively simple. Right at the top there was a huge chock stone blocking the way but we were able to climb under the stone and make our way up onto the top of the peak.
It turned out that the top was almost flat and about the size of a basketball court. There were two parts. The one to the west was a little larger and by jumping to the chock stone and then to the other side you could move from side to side. Surprisingly, there were a few people up there. There was some evidence of digging on the east side of the peak. We walked around for a while and looked out across the desert. Weavers Needle is the highest peak around for a long way. The view was tremendous. However, to the south, there is the main Superstition Mountain and it blocks the view entirely into the Salt River Valley. Weavers Needle cannot be seen from the Valley. It can only be seen by driving to the north on either the east or west sides of the Superstition Mountains.
We decided that we had been up there long enough and started to climb down. Both my friends went quickly down the chock stone and on down the fixed rope. I was soon left to climb down alone. I had no trouble getting down the chock stone and I started down the fixed rope. My hands very quickly got tired. They were so tired I started to have difficulty holding onto the rope. I was still at least 100 feet up the cliff and if I fell I would surely die.
I struggled to keep my grip on the rope. My hands were getting so tired that I could no longer keep from slipping slowly down the rope even if I tried with all my strength to stop. I began to be very afraid and started praying for some kind of help. I finally started to slip and told my Heavenly Father that I had done all I could and that I would probably fall to my death.
Suddenly, a thought came into my head. I remembered seeing the circus and seeing the trapeze artists wrap the rope around one leg to “stand” on the rope. I quickly wrapped the rope around my leg, even though it was very heavy. I immediately stopped slipping could partially rest my hands. But I couldn’t move down the rope because it was too heavy. I was hanging in a deep crack in the cliff face with ridges on both sides of me. The rock was shear and I couldn’t see anything to hold onto. As I hung on the rope with my leg, I began to turn slowly to the left. As I swung around, right there in front of my eyes was a big metal spike, actually a piece of rebar, pounded into the rock. I lunged for the iron rod and quickly pulled myself onto the cliff. After resting for a few seconds, I discovered that the climb down on the other side of the ridge was not that difficult and I was quickly at the bottom without further incident. I have been forever thankful for the iron rod that saved my life.
In later years the symbolism of the iron rod saving my life has occurred to me many times. The true “iron rod” the “word of God” has saved my eternal life just as the iron rod on the cliff saved my life from falling.
We hiked back to my car and started to drive home. The road out from the Peralta Trailhead at that time was all dirt and quite rough. As we drove out, I am sure quite a bit faster than I should have been driving, we came up out of a wash with a turn at the top and there was an old pickup truck driving in the middle of the road. I swerved and skidded sideways just missing the truck by inches. The car then spun around and ended up off the road on a dirt bank pointed almost straight up into the air.
We climbed out of the car and tried to push it off the dirt bank. It was totally stuck. Another passing car stopped and offered to help pull us off the dirt bank. We tied the nylon rope, doubled a few times, between the two cars and the passing car tried to pull my Triumph off the dirt. Not only did the car not move, even with all of us pushing, but the rope broke. It was not going to go anywhere.
You would think after almost falling to my death on the cliff, I would have been a little more careful, at least for while, wouldn’t you? The passing car left and we were stranded, staring at the stuck Triumph.
I finally thought about the low gear that the car had. First gear in the Triumph was so low that it would only go about 3 miles an hour top speed. But it would spin the tires all day. I got into the car, put the car in First and drove forward. I went right over the dirt bank and then was able to backup onto the road. We drove home the rest of the way without incident.
My Senior year, I got two friends, and we decided to climb Weavers Needle. Now, this was before the Grand Tetons Climbing School and real equipment. At the time I was driving a Triumph Herald, a little blue car, and we loaded up the car with some water and a lunch and an old nylon rope that the other boy had and drove out to the Superstition Mountains.
Weavers Needle is also known as the Sombrero. It is an eroded volcanic cone with shear cliffs all around. It is about 4300 feet high and the cliffs are over 1500 feet high. I had heard that some crazy woman had hired two miners to look for the Lost Dutchman Mine on top of the Needle and one of the miners had fallen to his death while trying to descend the cliffs. As I found out much later, the stories were true and even more bizarre than the rumors. While going down the mountain, the miner had lost his grip and slid down the rope until his gloves were burned off his hands and he fell. I had heard. Someone told me that there was a crack on the south side of the Needle that could be climbed.
We hiked to the base of the Needle. The hike in is quite rough and about 5 miles long but at that time it seemed like a cakewalk. We practically ran the whole way. When we got to the bottom of the Needle we could see that there was a huge crack going clear to the top on the south side. We climbed up the base of the mountain and found that the cliff near the bottom was not that steep and soon we were many hundreds of feet up the mountain. We finally reached the steep cliff and to our surprise there was a rope hanging down from the top. It was a huge 1 inch hemp rope, like the kind they use for rope climbing in schools. Using the rope we found the climb up to the top to be relatively simple. Right at the top there was a huge chock stone blocking the way but we were able to climb under the stone and make our way up onto the top of the peak.
It turned out that the top was almost flat and about the size of a basketball court. There were two parts. The one to the west was a little larger and by jumping to the chock stone and then to the other side you could move from side to side. Surprisingly, there were a few people up there. There was some evidence of digging on the east side of the peak. We walked around for a while and looked out across the desert. Weavers Needle is the highest peak around for a long way. The view was tremendous. However, to the south, there is the main Superstition Mountain and it blocks the view entirely into the Salt River Valley. Weavers Needle cannot be seen from the Valley. It can only be seen by driving to the north on either the east or west sides of the Superstition Mountains.
We decided that we had been up there long enough and started to climb down. Both my friends went quickly down the chock stone and on down the fixed rope. I was soon left to climb down alone. I had no trouble getting down the chock stone and I started down the fixed rope. My hands very quickly got tired. They were so tired I started to have difficulty holding onto the rope. I was still at least 100 feet up the cliff and if I fell I would surely die.
I struggled to keep my grip on the rope. My hands were getting so tired that I could no longer keep from slipping slowly down the rope even if I tried with all my strength to stop. I began to be very afraid and started praying for some kind of help. I finally started to slip and told my Heavenly Father that I had done all I could and that I would probably fall to my death.
Suddenly, a thought came into my head. I remembered seeing the circus and seeing the trapeze artists wrap the rope around one leg to “stand” on the rope. I quickly wrapped the rope around my leg, even though it was very heavy. I immediately stopped slipping could partially rest my hands. But I couldn’t move down the rope because it was too heavy. I was hanging in a deep crack in the cliff face with ridges on both sides of me. The rock was shear and I couldn’t see anything to hold onto. As I hung on the rope with my leg, I began to turn slowly to the left. As I swung around, right there in front of my eyes was a big metal spike, actually a piece of rebar, pounded into the rock. I lunged for the iron rod and quickly pulled myself onto the cliff. After resting for a few seconds, I discovered that the climb down on the other side of the ridge was not that difficult and I was quickly at the bottom without further incident. I have been forever thankful for the iron rod that saved my life.
In later years the symbolism of the iron rod saving my life has occurred to me many times. The true “iron rod” the “word of God” has saved my eternal life just as the iron rod on the cliff saved my life from falling.
We hiked back to my car and started to drive home. The road out from the Peralta Trailhead at that time was all dirt and quite rough. As we drove out, I am sure quite a bit faster than I should have been driving, we came up out of a wash with a turn at the top and there was an old pickup truck driving in the middle of the road. I swerved and skidded sideways just missing the truck by inches. The car then spun around and ended up off the road on a dirt bank pointed almost straight up into the air.
We climbed out of the car and tried to push it off the dirt bank. It was totally stuck. Another passing car stopped and offered to help pull us off the dirt bank. We tied the nylon rope, doubled a few times, between the two cars and the passing car tried to pull my Triumph off the dirt. Not only did the car not move, even with all of us pushing, but the rope broke. It was not going to go anywhere.
You would think after almost falling to my death on the cliff, I would have been a little more careful, at least for while, wouldn’t you? The passing car left and we were stranded, staring at the stuck Triumph.
I finally thought about the low gear that the car had. First gear in the Triumph was so low that it would only go about 3 miles an hour top speed. But it would spin the tires all day. I got into the car, put the car in First and drove forward. I went right over the dirt bank and then was able to backup onto the road. We drove home the rest of the way without incident.
You shared this story with us in Young Men's. I've always remembered it. thanks again.
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