Some have been commenting on the many blogs about how great to be climbing at age 71, and yes it is, but to put that in perspective imagine this...Paul emailed me just after his 70th birthday to let me know that he led seven 5.10's at Potrero to commemorate his 70th. Wow!!

He had just led an onsite trad 5.8 called Binary Star before the accident. Niether he nor the climber who followed were familiar with the rope that had black ink marks twenty feet from each end as well as a center mark. Somehow Paul mistook one of the end marks for the center, a tragic mistake.

Hopefully, knowing how Paul died will save other lives.

Hi Everyone,

Great weather right now and lots of the old, regular climbers around. This is a good weekend for you to come up and climb.

This past weekend was the Park's annual open house, free admission to the park and lots of activities. There were many climbers around Saturday and Sunday, groups on the Needles Eye, Thimble and Moonlight Rib. There were four or five groups at Moonlight ridge both days. Some working on a new line on Gobs of Knobs Tower. A great time was had by all.



Memorial Day weekend is always a big climbing weekend...come on up and climb.

Nice weather around here lately but I haven't seen any climbers around. Did a little bouldering on the Hitching Post Sunday...plenty of tourons around.

At least the kids are getting some climbing focused workouts. The artificial holds keep them busy climbing and laughing.

Hi everyone,

Things have been slow around the Needles...too cold to do anything. So here is a belated birth announcement.



Baby Addy (Adlore Louise Hamling), born December 9th 2006 at 11:01pm, 7lbs 7ozs, 21 inches long and already leads 5.12 (according to Becky).

Congrats to Josh and Becky, looks like you guys did a good thing.

Sorry to have neglected the blog for so long, I've been bummed about the loss of friends in the climbing community, been sick with the flu, and been on work trips. Excuses heh?

I'm looking forward to summer and some more antics like the one depicted in the photo below. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and wishing everyone a great new year.

Here's a good article about Todd.

Click here

Sorry to hear that Todd Skinner, a Black Hills Needles area icon, was killed in Yosemite while rappelling off Leaning Tower. I guess even a world class climber can fall victim to a senseless accident. Condolences to his family and many,many friends.

Yes, its true, and we're very sorry to lose Loretta. Below is an online article describing the incident. We may add more later as we learn more details.

KNBN-TV
Sept. 29

A Custer woman died after she was hit by an unoccupied SUV that rolled into her in a parking lot. The South Dakota Highway Patrol says 64-year-old Loretta Muehl was walking to her vehicle near French Creek Logger's Supply when she was struck by a Nissan Pathfinder.

The Pathfinder had been parked on an incline, but rolled away shortly after its owner went into the store.

Muehl was taken by helicopter to the Rapid City Regional Hospital where she died.

Loretta will be missed by many, many climbers in the years to come. She stayed close to the climbing community, shared stories about the early days of climbing here in the Needles with all who were interested and she always had a great sense of humor.

September and all is quiet. This is a great month to be climbing in the Needles, no crowds, comfortable weather, should be great right through October.

Hope everyone had a great summer. I know there were a few climbers who had never been here before. We'll be looking forward to seeing them again in the coming years.

Biddick looks like he's about to go real steep.

OK, by popular demand, here is another shot of Rebecca working on the Gill route on the Thimble.



I voted again and again until there were enough votes to post this photo.

No news, no climbing, I'm in Baton Rouge, LA for a week or so, don't know whats happening in the Needles. Someone else post an article.



Would you believe Becky is pregnant??? So now how long before she gets the Gill route on the Thimble???

If you think you're pretty familiar with Needles climbing...tell me where these photos were taken. (Just the general area will do)