This route begins on the west side of Candlestick Spire.  Climb a bit of A1 to get to the good bedding seam ledge.  Traverse left (north) on the ledge to get to the base of a lovely offwidth chimney.  Climb some 5.9 to the summit.

Standing Rock: Chortler's Joy

Sewing Machine Needle - The Treadle

The Middle Finger Tower

The route starts on the south side of the spire.

The original description:

Climb a short 5.8-9 dihedral to get to the good ledge (the knuckle). The route follows the obvious weakness above, which is a crack that start on top of a large square block and zig-zags up.  Use some bird beaks, and thin to medium pins or clean aid to get to the shoulder. A couple of beaks in drilled holes get you close to the summit.

Newer/better description courtesy of Crusher (thanks!):

1. Climb crack in a dihedral, 5.8, to a small ledge, then a couple aid moves to a ledge/shoulder. Belay in rubble field, from pins and a single bolt (30', 5.8, A1).

2. Mantel onto block, then gain a left-angling crack that starts 15 feet above the bolt (tricky). There were no existing pin scars in this crack. Work up and left to 10-foot dihedral. Up this to rubbly shoulder. Build complex belay (might be safer, but less comfy, to belay from bomber cams in the dihedral below) (50', A3-).

3. Up to small roof, then short steep thin crack to mantel onto loose ledge. Angle left and up, past two drilled holes (pins in horizontals bypass the scary-looking holes), to free moves onto the summit (30', A2. 5.7).

Great summit. Lying on one's belly and peering over the northwest edge of the summit is highly recommended.

Quoting Eric Bjornstad:

The Sewing Machine Needle is the spectacularly thin spire in the butte visible from Hite Marina on Lake Powell, when looking to the north.  The tower is named on the Browns Rim USGS quadrangle and the Trails Illustrated map "Canyonlands Maze District and Northeast Glen Canyon."

Climb the best looking crack at the base of the southwest face to a belay below the vertical shaft of the needle.

From the third ascent party:

Easy free climb with a move of 5.7 or 5.8 near the top of first pitch.

The second pitch was aid, small pins and cams. The crux was a crumbling spot 1/3 of the way up where TCU's were kind of blowing out. However good gear wasn't far below.

This is included here to differentiate this nice looking tower from the MFT just down the road.  I'll need to dig through my photos of the last trip through here, but will post some asap.  I also asked the third ascent team for theirs too.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Land of Standing Rocks