Pfeiffer turned back early and Pat
Russell stopped at 11000' so we had eight on the summit. We had plenty of
leaders so we split the group to accommodate our climbers who had widely
varying speeds. We left a new register can; the side spiral book placed in 1977
is 1/3 full.Most of us camped at the meeting place Sat night where we enjoyed a campfire in a splendid fire ring prepared by Tom Sumner. Dan Richter and Eric Siering started very early from the NW and climbed Boundary and Montgomery, The Jumpoff, and Dubois and joined us in camp. Asher Waxman dropped them off and drove their car around to our trailhead and climbed with us.
Sunday morning we drove through Tonopah and met at the "Stone Cabin" on the way to the Jefferson trailhead. We had ample 4wdr capacity and drove to the end of the track on the main south ridge and climbed Jefferson without incident. Again we split the group to accommodate the fast and slow people. The register container on Jefferson is a 2" PVC tube and the book is a side spiral that is 90% full. A new container and book are needed.
For Arc Dome, we were down to six people in three cars. We chose to get to the trailhead via the town of Austin, to the north. In fact we all had dinner there and then drove to the trailhead to sleep. The driving instructions in the peak guide are good but need some updating. There is no third stream crossing 'and there is no longer an Upper Columbine Campground, It is 3.4 miles from the second stream crossing to Columbine Campground. On Monday, we climbed in several groups as before. Pat and I and Asher went up Stewart Creek and then up the easy rounded ridge to its west through (676028); it was a pleasant way to go. The others went up the jeep trail. The register container is large nesting tin cans and the book is a 4"x6" top spiral placed in 1992 by the "Northern Alpine Section, Peak and Gorge Division, Mother Lode Chapter, Sierra Club". It was a good, although diffuse outing, which seemed to satisfy the wants of the participants. They were: (D for Dubois, J for Jefferson, A for Arc Dome)>
| D D D |
J J J J |
A A A A |
Bill T Russell Pat Russell Dan Richter Eric Siering |
D D D D |
J J |
Charlie Knapke Patty Kline Paula Peterson Bruce Peterson |
D D D |
J J J |
A A |
Asher Waxman Tom Sumner Delores Holladay George Pfeiffer |
BIG PICACHO DAY HIKE
May 23, 1993
This was as a scouting trip for a three day backpack the following weekend. Last year Tanya Mamedalin and I staggered back to the cars at 8PM after I got a severe case of nausea trying to keep up with her. This year Erik Siering, Bob Sumner, Jim Fujimoto and I were hoping to beat that time and staggered back the cars at 11PM. Oh well, nobody ever claimed Big Picacho was easy.
We set off about 5AM and got to Blue Bottle Saddle about 6:20. I waited at the saddle while the other guys who were still fresh and full of vigor did Blue Bottle, getting back to the saddle by 6:50. Bob Sumner and I then raced down to Campo Noche, arriving about 8:15, with Erik and Jim arriving about a half hour later, We left Campo Noche about 9, hoping to get to the summit by 11:30. The Big Picacho God decided it was time to strike, however, and laid a dose of heat exhaustion on Erik. Now this is the same Erik who runs up Baldy from the Village in two and a half hours. We got to the summit at 12:30 and about 1 Bob bounded off to do the South Summit while the rest of us started down. Erik recovered from his heat exhaustion and we all got to Campo Noche about 4PM. About 4:30 we started up and the Big Picacho God decided that Bob was too proud of himself for having done Blue Bottle, and the North and South summit all in one day and laid into him. The ailment effecting Bob was mysterious, but effective in slowing him down. It may have been too heavy a pack, because eventually we took some of the extra items out of it and his speed improved considerably. By 8 we were back at the saddle and in good shape to get the cars by 9:30. This time the Big Picacho God decided to lay a moonless night on us and my route finding became quite muddled and we didn't get to the cars until about 11PM, for a total time of 18 hours. Oh well, maybe next year.