Montgomery Peak, White Mountain Peak, Boundary Peak

28-Jun-75

By: Jon Petitjean

The Boundary/Montgomery trip was rescheduled a week later to this week-end, but only one person was interested in the climb so I planned the trip as a one day ascent. On Saturday my parents and John Waggoner took it easy at the Bristlecone Pine Forest. I rode up the White Mtn. road with a YMCA group of four persons led by Dick Banner. The steeper grades of the road caused an unusual problem. The angle of the 4 WD wasn't allowing proper gasoline flow through the gas line but the situation was solved. Dick simply turned the car around and drove backwards for the remaining 3-1/2 miles. The day was clear, sunny and windy. The whole afternoon was anticlimatic outside of the summit view and the many marmots we saw. The r.t. mileage from the gate to White Mtn. is 13 miles. Left the Bristlecones and went down the road and up to Hwy. 3A to the dirt road turn-off at the maintenance station. The road was good for most of the way but there was one place where the road was cut up enough to keep a very delicate and watchful eye on the road(however, we were in a station wagon). In Trail Cyn. we stopped a mile short of the road's end thinking we were there and ate dinner and went to sleep. The night air had been on the cold side but by morning the wind was gone and it was a little warmer. We started off at 6:00 and gradually gained the main ridge by about 8:30. 11:15 put us on top of Boundary Peak where my dad was too altitude sick to continue. (Both my parents climbed the two peaks seven years ago so it wasn't as if they were forced to "bag" them). The traverse over to Montgomery should be made mostly on the east side of the ridge or over the top even though the west side looks inviting. We didn't know that and it took us longer than expected. There was snow on the ridge in places so it was lucky the trip was canceled a week ago when a storm was dumping snow on it. On Montgomery Peak my mom joined along in the celebration of John Waggoner's DPS emblem and my completion of the DPS list. After some time on the summit we traversed back over to Boundary in 40 minutes using the better routes. About 1/4 mile off the summit we descended in some semi-rotten scree down to Trail Cyn and out to the car by 5:00. It was a beautiful week-end and very enjoyable. One list down, two to go!