EL MAYOR (3130'), March 7         Arkel Erb Saturday morning March 7th, 7 DPS members met at the El Mayor fishing camp at Kilometer 55, south of Mexicali. From here we drove one and a half miles south and then one half mile west on a gravel road, where we parked the cars. We headed NW up the main wash on the east side of the peak until we reached the NNE ridge, which involved an enjoyable scramble to the summit. Half the group went over to the lower south summit and then descended down the east side of the peak over some solid granite dry waterfalls. TUCKI MTN (6732'), March 21      Hugh Parshall (by telephone) Six persons, including two young boys, made the climb of Tucki Mtn. from the ghost town of Skidoo in the Panamints overlooking Death Valley. The weather was cloudy on the way up and very windy on top. The group had to fight their way back in high winds and continuous snow, arriving at the cars just before dark. This was the second supposedly dry desert peak trip in a row that turned into a snowy climb for Hugh Parshall.
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Quote of the month:   "Buy yourself stout shoes, go away to the mountains, search the valleys, the deserts, the shores of the sea, and the deepest recesses of the earth... In this way, and no other, will you arrive at knowledge of things..."   -- Peter Severinus, 1571
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MAILBOX
Editor, DPS Newsletter: I was surprised and pleased to receive the Newsletter containing the memorial to Chester Versteeg and the recognition of his efforts in founding the Desert Peaks Section. It did take courage and dedication of purpose to bring this vision into useful focus. It is good to see the organization fully prospering after twenty-two years.   Sincerely, Lillian (Mrs. Chester) Versteeg
Editor, DPS Newsletter: Our enjoyment of a recent DPS trip was marred by a problem which we believe deserves serious thought by all Desert Peakers and other Sierra Club members as well. We arrived at the campsite the afternoon before the climb, and were enjoying the sunset and twilight views, the most beautiful time of day on the desert, when one more carload of people arrived. All of the occupants, but one, were old-timers in the DPS and were obviously in good if not high spirits. They had climbed a peak that day and had apparently been celebrating on their way to the campsite. There was one non-drinking passenger, a newcomer, who had been offered transportation to the climb, and who seemed a bit dazed and surprised by the situation in which he found himself. These people continued to imbibe during the evening meal, and then settled down to several hours of rather serious drinking. Load voices and raucus laughter shattered the silence of the wilderness long after

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