The Needles- Igor Unchained

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September 26, 2026

Igor Unchained is a classic route on the West Face of The Witch. It is likely the most popular route at The Needles, being one of few routes under 5.10 that is very well protected. Most of the climbing involves splitter cracks of various sizes. 

Routes climbed

Name	Grade (YDS)	# Pitches	Quality (1-5)	Type
Igor Unchained	5.9+	3	5	trad

Peaks/Towers climbed

Peak	Elevation	Topographic Prominence	Summit Coordinates (lat/lon)
The Witch	8,112 ft	130 ft	36.10733, -118.47957
"Needle Spring Peak"	8,122 ft	300 ft	36.11894, -118.51230

Gear

- 60m rope
- cams: triples 2, doubles 0.2-1, single 3, optional 4

- small-medium nuts
- 10 alpine draws

Total Stats

6 miles

1,810 ft gain/loss

Approach

This was the standard Needles approach. A 2-mile trail hike from Needle Spring brought us to a small notch below the old fire lookout. From there we descended north for a few hundred feet and then traversed along the north side of the needles on climber trails and easy cross country, making our way over to the Witch-Charlatan notch. From the notch, we descended south down a gully along the West Face of The Witch. 

Pitch 1 (5.9+, 130 ft)

This started up the main left-facing corner which shot up directly through the center of the West Face. I followed the corner the entire time and stopped at an uncomfortable gear belay below an overlap where the crack grew wider than hands. The belay took finger sized pieces. 

Pitch 2 (5.9+, 120 ft)

I climbed through the overlap, placing my single #3, then continued up what felt like miles of splitter hand crack in the corner. Occasionally the crack would disappear and I would have to do a few stem or slab moves. Eventually I ended up on a large sloping ledge. I continued up a few more easy ledges, pushing the next belay as high as possible right below where the wall abrubtly steepend. The belay took hand sized pieces. It was better to save my finger sized pieces for the following pitch. 

Pitch 3 (5.9+, 130 ft)

This was the money pitch. From our belay alcove, some stemming led to awesome jugs which were hard to tell from below. It was rare for granite to create so many consecutive jugs that were so positive. There were several horizontal and vertical cracks for gear. Once the jugs ended, the angle gradually fell back and I continued up a left-facing corner with still interesting moves and great gear. This corner eventually slabbed out at a bolted anchor. 

I fixed the line for Mason to jug, then unroped and scrambled some easy class 3 to the summit. It was fun watching several parties climbing various routes on The Sorcerer's East face From here. 

Descent (2 rappels with 60m rope)

We rapped directly north from the pitch 3 anchor over to a large ledge with large blocks on it. We stopped here for about 20 minutes while I toproped Ankles Away in order to suss out the moves and gear. I was happy with my toprope onsight and made a note to come back with sufficient tiny gear next time to lead it. 

The second rap started from the north side of the large blocky ledge and was only about 30 ft long. We coiled up the rope afterwards and scrambled class 3 back down to the Witch-Charlatan notch. 

We retraced our steps back to the trailhead. With some extra daylight remaining, we tagged a small peak southwest of Needle Spring which I dubbed "Needle Spring Peak." This peak was nothing to write home about but it was there. There was some light bushwhacking but nothing bad.