The main party, climbing steadily along the well kept trail, reached the peak on time after the 5 mile whiteout. The, weather was brisk and windy. After a short food stop on Charleston we proceeded on the North Loop trail until the trail started to lose altitude (A Vitz saying). We then left the trail, and stayed on the ridge to Mummy. On this ridge, you can pass the rock on the left if you don't want to climb the friction type slabs, the summit plateau is gained by a short class 3 section on the east end. The appealing center break in the wall is not the easiest way to the summit. (Only 4 people turned back.) No ropes were used, although some non-class,3 climbers appreciated the help of Dick Akawie over the uncertain area on the descent. We proceeded back down the ridge to the saddle ran scree to the trail. Passed the dry spring where we expected water. (Fortunately, snow melt filled our canteens on Charleston, so no one was hurting.) We came to the trail branch down to Kyle Canyon and were back at the cars before 6:30 p.m. despite the non-appearance of our shuttle bus. Climbing both peaks on Saturday allowed the gamblers to indulge their weakness while the less venturesome returned to their campsites. Surprisingly (to the leaders) the only campground that was not open was Mary Jane because it was believed by the Forest Service that the road would be washed out if the rain continued. But many campsites were available in the Kyle campground and Fletcher campground about three miles away. The campground in the opposite Lee Canyon (which is the quickest-though steepest of the four routes to Charleston) contains over 100 campsites and is open at this time but campsite spaces were not critical at this date. Scheduled two weeks earlier this climb would have been an ice axe, crampon climb. As it turned out, the rain undoubtedly melted the snow and the high night temperatures prevented any freezing. This is a totally enjoyable (though long) climb and the long drive to Las Vegas was worth it. Will schedule this annually.

OUTLAW TRIPS

RUBY DOME -- Gordon MacLeod Four DPSers (Barbara Lilley, Horace Ory, my wife and myself, climbed Ruby Dome over the Memorial Day Weekend on Sunday (May 28, 1972) having left Los Angeles 6:00 pm Friday night. We backpacked cross-country a couple of miles Saturday afternoon to a camp at about 6900 feet along Little Welch Creek. Ruby Dome was ascended by the ridge between Little Welch Creek and Echo Canyon. The ridge was no more than Class 2 at any point and involved about 5000' elevation gain on a rather warm day. Fortunately, snow patches were available along the ridge to augment our water supply. We descended directly off the summit to the south in a continuous series of marvelous glissades to about 9500' level, ending below the cascades on the side-stream that arises to the immediate south east of Ruby Dome itself. Snow conditions were excellent; neither crampons nor snowshoes were required or carried. After descending into Echo Canyon we followed the trail (with some difficulty because of brush) to our camp and backpacked out to our car by 6:00 pm. I believe the west side route described above is the simplest and easiest of the many possible routes up Ruby Dome. This route becomes less attractive after Memorial Day because of the heat. The best approach to the route described is along the secondary road that branches to the east about a mile and a half north of the community of Lee in Te-Moak Indian Reservation. Rattlesnakes should be watched for, as we indeed saw one at 6800' on our backpack out to the car.

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