El Picacho Del Diablo Double Traverse April 16-20, 1992 - Steve Smith and Vic Henney

After getting snowed off Big Picacho last Thanksgiving with Dale's group, Vic and I decided to try the peak again by doing a double traverse. This would allow everyone to experience both traditional routes without having to double back or do a shuttle. We scheduled the trip for Easter week with Vic, Sue Wyman and Bill Gray making up one team while my wife Debbie, Desert Survivor Morgan Irby and I formed the second team. Of course each team wanted to do the east to west traverse to claim the more difficult 12K gain as opposed to the more civil 6K gain of the west to east traverse. Somehow my team lost?" on this deal and ended up with the easier west to east direction. Not wanting to miss out on too much though, Morgan compensated by carrying extra gear (including blue pajamas!) in his pack and taking it all the way up to the summit! Amazingly, everything went exceptionally well on all the critical phases but we did have one hitch on what we thought was a routine part of the planning. We all met at the last toll booth near Ensenada Thursday morning at 6:30a.m. and set up our meeting point for regrouping on Monday to exchange cars back after the traverse. Vic and his group headed to the eastern trailhead on highway 3 - not knowing if due to the recent rains they would be able to get across the playa. My group headed south on highway 1 for the western trailhead not knowing if the heavy spring snows would stop us from descending from Bottela Azul down to Campo Noche. The lower portion of the road in to the observatory was barely passable for 4-WD. Water was flowing across the road at several points and heavy equipment was working to repair the damage at a couple of arroyos but with 4-WD we forded the streams. None of us had ever been at the Rancho Meling Guest Ranch so we stopped to find out about the accommodations and learn what we could about climbing conditions. The ranch is in a nice setting and the cost for two people is $90/night which includes meals and activities such as horseback riding. Their brochure gives a phone number of 619-758-2719 for reservations. The news on climbing Picacho was not good. Two other climbers had turned back the week before due to snow but the road was passable to the starting point. The upper road was much rougher than last fall as a result of some bad winter weather. A snow bank stopped our vehicle right at the point where the ducked trail begins for Cerro Botella Azul. While getting ready to start, a group of seven Mexican Alpine climbers walked out and reported they had climbed Botella Azul but turned back from Picacho due to steep snow where the route drops into Canyon Diablo. We camped at the base of Botella Azul and Friday morning were soon on the summit. Looking across the canyon, we could see that the route up Picacho was practically clear of snow so we knew if we could descend 1,000' into Canyon Diablo and get below the snow accumulation at the south end, the rest of the trip could go as planned. It was slow going without proper snow climbing gear and at one point I broke through the snow and scrapped my leg up pretty bad. Morgan, a Contra Costa firefighter and experienced in such medical aid problems quickly bandaged the scraps and had me back plowing through the snow. By tying together with several small pieces of rope, using vegetation for belay points and carefully plotting our course, It was mid afternoon before we got out of the snow. We made it to Campo Noche at 7:00pm. and amazingly, just 10 minutes later, Vic's group arrived from the east side. Vic reported that a heavier than usual water flow had increased the challenges of negotiating countless waterfalls through the lower canyon.

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