Organ Needle is the highest point of the
Organ Mountains in the south-central part of the
U.S. state of
New Mexico. It lies in
Doña Ana County, east-northeast of
Las Cruces and southwest of
White Sands, headquarters of the
White Sands Missile Range. It is at the southeast end of a narrow ridge of vertically jointed
granite (more specifically,
quartz monzonite) called The Needles.
Organ Needle is one of the most dramatic peaks in the state. True to its name, it is a steep, pointed summit. Moreover, it rises above the edge of the
Tularosa Basin to the northeast in only , and above Las Cruces, giving it as large and as steep a degree of local relief as any peak in the state, including
Big Hatchet Peak
Big Hatchet Peak is the high point of the Big Hatchet Mountains, a small but rugged range in the southwest corner (the "Bootheel") of New Mexico, in the United States. The mountains are located in southeast Hidalgo County, about southwest of De ...
,
Sandia Crest, and
Shiprock.
Climbing Organ Needle involves tricky route-finding, a vertical gain of about and a difficult
scramble ().
References
Mountains of New Mexico
Landforms of Doña Ana County, New Mexico
Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument
Mountains of Doña Ana County, New Mexico
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