BETA PHOTO: Sunlight Peak on the left and Sunlight Spire on th...
Description
Sunlight Spire is a quarter mile southeast of Sunlight Peak in Colorado's Needle Mountains. It lies on the ridge between Windom and Sunlight. It would be Colorado's most difficult fourteener, except that it is so close to Sunlight Peak and there is very little drop between the two. The topo map lists its elevation as 13,995' but a recent survey upgraded to an even 14K.
You walk right past this Sunlight Spire on the usual route up Sunlight Peak. Sunlight Spire doesn't look very impressive except for the monolithic summit block which makes it so hard to climb. The top is a hundred-foot tall "obelisk". If you look carefully you'll see a beautiful splitter crack facing you as you near the summit of Sunlight Peak.
Getting There
The usual route is to take the train to Needleton, and hike up into Chicago Basin, the standard approach for climbing the 14ers Windom, Sunlight and Eolus.
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