Climb the crack.  The crack is really more of a stem rather than an offwidth (don't get scared away).

Losleben's Crack

Cacahuate

Normal Route

Fisura del Cielo

West Face of Lesser Spire

This is likely the easiest way to summit the Lesser Spire.  Ingraham calls it 4th class, but he does mention roped vs. unroped climbing, so his definition of 4th likely includes roped climbing.  Approach by either east (via Rabbit Ears Canyon), or west (west described herein).  From the Topp Hut, hike the road towards the mine, but turn right on an old mining road before the mine proper (this is the approach to Southern Comfort Wall).  At the end of the road, follow the climbers trail to Southern Comfort.  Follow the climbers trail all the way around to the routes in the middle of the wall, then follow a faint trail leading right and descend a break through the lower wall into the gully.  Consistent with Organ Mountain approaches, your 'trail' now consists of finding the path of least resistance.  You want to aim for the col just north of the Lesser Spire by ascending a maze of minor gullies.  The area is relatively lightly vegetated (by Organ Mt. standards), but there are some thick sections and there is some loose rock to watch for.  Once at the saddle, you are afforded with a great view of the Rabbit Ears to the east, and a rare vantage point of the chutes (incl. Boyer's Chute) on the west side of North Rabbit Ear.  Belay from the saddle, or better yet to avoid rope drag and some brush, scramble up and a little left to a nice belay stance in some brush.  Climb out left, then turn up towards the left edge of a largish roof (low 5th), and set a belay once past the roof.  Scramble right then left to a large ledge.  From this expansive ledge, you can go way left (where the ledge ends) make an easy but exposed move and turn right, or go up over the headwall directly (right over some flakes, hand traverse left to a vertical crack, and up.  Set another belay amongst some large boulders.  From here, scramble to the summit. 

  Note: I originally posted this route as Easy 5th, but have been convinced that the rating may be soft, so I upped it to 5.4 (isn't 5.4 low 5th?), but I digress...

The first pitch is the crux and climbs up to an old bolt anad fixed wire in a small crack/bulge about twenty feet off the ground. After pulling the bulge, continue up the ramp as it steepens and narrows. A two-bolt belay is reached by a large tree. Pitch two is an easy 5.4 traverse to the left, following a clean wide crack around the corner and then a short ledge system to a good belay stance by a bush. Pitch 3 feels sllightly run-out and climbs up and right past a vegetated crack to a nice hand crack in a nlock. Belay on top of the block. Pitch 4 starts with an aid-step onto an old button head. Carefully stepping up onto this and balancing to full extension gains a horizontal edge. Hand traverse left (5.9) for about 12 feet with wild exposure until you can stand on ledge. Continue traversing left for another 15 ft, then do a scary mantle (5.8) to gain a discontinuous crack system and easier climbing to the top.

Great route with an easy approach for the Organs. First two pitches are shared with "Mixed Nuts and Raisins" but as of 2/25/18 this doesn't have a topo, so we added details. The last pitch is really good and the namesake of the route.Pitch 1: 5.9 50m. Start at a south side of Lesser Spire near a tree (see picture). Traverse left across the slab and through a healthy bush to gain a dihedral with hands/fist crack, follow the crack to a giant ledge. We built an anchor at a large detached flake, but it is also possible to belay from rap anchors left of the ledge.Pitch 2: 5.10 45m. The whole pitch works it's way through strange offwidths. (see picture) Start crawling through the boulder and head to the corner. Climb left of the corner, then straight up to find an old bolt (shoes are hanging here in pic). From here trend left working your way in and out of offwidths until hitting a tree. Keep climbing right and change to a southern aspect of the spire, past old bolts and past the old belay station. Continue right on easier terrain to a huge ledge with a tree and bushes below the obvious final pitch. While not too hard, the cruxes are all proper 5.10 OW climbing.Pitch 3: 40m 5.11+. This is the "Fisura del Cielo" what you came for! Sustained crack climbing through a small Bombay roof gains the beautiful crack that starts steep with fingerlocks in a dihedral and continuously wanders up until pinching out. The Climb gets steep and thins out. Save a #1 camalot for the final crack placement.Once the crack peters out, undercling, clip a bolt, savor the exposure , and perform a heroic deadpoint left to small holds. From here either go straight up on a thin slab, or tick tack through positive crimps heading right. Climb to the bolt, and continue on thin climbing to the anchors.Rap the route.Or top out the spire, Scramble across the summit blocks heading east and drop down the north side down grassy ledges funneling to a tree. Rap from here East to a slabby ledge. Then scramble back upwards and south to another tree with rap slings and rings at the ridge, rap SE to the saddle between ORP and L Spire saddle.

p1:  go up the large crack, past the bolts (typically aided so 5.8 A1) and then a bit more (the squeeze) to a stance on the right (longer pitch).   p2:  go up then left and wander a bit looking for a stance to the right of the old eagle's nest.   p3:  go left near the eagle's nest, up a steep head wall then right to a corner and stance on the north face.   p4:  this is primarily a long traverse left and up the upper north face of Lesser Spire, staying below the major roofs above.   p5:  finish up by climbing up and right to a rap station a bit below the true Lesser Spire summit.

A proud pinnacle of rock, one of two prominent points seen directly to the east of the Topp Hut. It is a relatively lesser known crag in the Organs, with only the briefest mention in Dennis Jackson's 2006 NM guidebook, and a vague description of a route on the NW ridge in Ingraham's guide. Climber's heading to the Lesser Spire can get the feeling of climbing the unknown. As viewed from Southern Comfort Wall there are some inviting big-cracks on the north-west face. The south face is steep and shaded and offers a few excellent climbs and more potential. A rewarding tiny summit makes for a great outing.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Lesser Spire