West Ridge

This is the summit baggers route, the simplest and most obvious way for someone to gain the summit of Minerva's Temple. Unlike the nearby summits, this one requires technical climbing abilities and gear, even if it is only for a single pitch.

Starting from the gap between the Retaining Wall and Minerva's Temple the route takes an obvious weakness directly on the west end of the ridge. After climbing up 30 ft, the corner can be turned over onto the south wall where a small bush impedes progress along a sloping foot-ledge. Several nice crack systems lead straight up to the ridge-top from this foot-ledge and provide more difficult variations (5.9-5.10 range). Skip over these crack systems and traverse right until a difficult move is required to traverse into an easy corner system (crux move, exposed). Easy climbing straight up on the face gains the summit ridge.

From the summit ridge, scramble for ~200 ft to the east to a small col with Aspen trees. From here a short 40 ft pitch over some technical blocks gains the summit.

I'm adding this section because although the original description contains some useful information, we ultimately found it overly minimal and somewhat misleading. That said, I can't say I recommend getting fixated on this peak unless you're capable of doing one of the huge east side routes, which would be a worthwhile effort.

THE APPROACH

There are three ways to approach, all starting from the La Cueva parking lot. Option #1 (3 hours) is to take the Organ Needle trail all the way to Hummingbird Saddle, then drop down over the ridgeline to the east a few hundred feet, staying close to the rock to the south/right. This is the simplest option and is on an actual trail all the way to Hummingbird Saddle. Some bushwhacking is involved in the other two options, but they both allow you to skip the first pitch. Option #2 (3 hours) is to take the Organ Needle trail almost to the Dark Canyon. Instead of following the normal Needle trail from here, go right along the south side of the Retaining Wall, where enough hiker mistakes have been made that a trail is clear for quite a long way. There is some bushwhacking involved in the last stretch to the Retaining Wall/Minerva's Temple saddle. Option #3 (4 hours) is the longest and involves taking Filmore Canyon almost all the way to the Organ Ridge, then hanging a left onto some low angle scrambling which is followed by a bushwhacking stretch on the way to the Retaining Wall/Minerva's Temple saddle. 

THE CLIMB

P1 (70ft, 5.7+): This pitch is required if you took approach option #1. After descending to the east a few hundred feet from Hummingbird Saddle, locate a weakness on the north-facing wall to the right, probably with a tree limb still leaning against it. A few easy moves places you on a ledge with the traverse pitch visible on climber's left. The traverse is over dirty, lichen-covered, but apparently solid rock. It feels very exposed, with the crux being some delicate moves left about midway. The leader will want to have a nut tool aboard for excavating dirt and moss from cracks along the way. Upon arriving at the gap between the Retaining Wall and Minerva's Temple, a large boulder can be slung for an anchor (240 cm sling).

P2 (50ft, 5.9): This is P1 if you took approach options #2 or #3. The grunting begins quickly, about 10 ft off the ground in the deceptively difficult but short left-facing corner (see photos) on the west end of the Minerva's Temple ridgeline. Once through that section, climb up over an annoying bush and then take a hard right through a short squeeze section (consider removing packs and/or rack from harness before this part). After that, you end up on a good ledge on the south face of Minerva's Temple with several gear anchor options. The pitch is necessarily short due to horrendous rope drag.

P3 (80ft, 5.9): From the ledge on the south face, make a wildly exposed slab move out to the right, fortunately well-protected with a Camalot #4 (most climbers will clutch this cam for dear life until the end of the move). Angle up and right until a pocketed corner is reached. Follow this past a small tree to the ridgeline, where a boulder can be slung for an anchor (240 cm sling).

P4 (300ft, 4th class): Coil a rope or two and head east on the ridgeline, scrambling around the right side of a false summit in the middle of the Minerva's Temple ridgeline.

P5 (40ft, 5.9 A1): The original route description mentions an awkward chimney on the south face of the summit bump. Indeed, there are two chimney-like options there. We were unsure of whether the lefthand option actually led to the summit reasonably, and we were equally unsure of how to get into the righthand option, which looked easy from the belay but not from directly below the feature. Another option is to mantle a slab on the west face of the summit, but we deemed this unprotectable/psychotic. Finally, there is a crack on the east edge of this slab that starts from the SW corner of the summit bump. This would be a mid/high-5.10 if free climbed, but we opted to pull on cams for the first 15ft or so.

THE DESCENT

From the summit, a boulder can be slung with webbing to make for a short rappel to the west, back to the ridgeline. From there, scramble back to the P3 anchor and sling the boulder with webbing. A 50m rap to the south from here reaches the ground just below where P2 stars. One could proceed to rappel back down to the north where P1 started. Instead, we recommend reversing approach option #2 and reconnecting with the Organ Needle trail above Juniper Saddle.

RECOMMENDED GEAR

Double ropes (we did not see reasonable options for getting down with just one), single rack up to #4 (DON'T FORGET THE #4!!!), doubles in #0.5-1, a few <0.25 cams, 5 or more 60cm slings, and at least one 240cm sling. Also bring webbing to replace what we left in April 2022.