through the cactus covered slopes.
The builder of this 1,000 ft. high summit block must have been the same one that built Little Picacho for it has the same type of spiral ramp that helps make an impossible climb possible. The technical portions are similar too, only they are higher.
The leaders, Lothar Kolbig, Abe Siemens, and Gordon MacLeod, did a perfect job in getting 12 climbers up an icy 60 foot, class 4 or 5 pitch to reach the summit at exactly noon for lunch and a spectacular view.
At the bottom of the pitch, two others built a fire in three feet of snow, while waiting for the others to rappel down from the summit. The leaders got back to camp shortly after dark. November days seem much too short. The remainder of the weekend was used shopping for Papago Indian baskets, visiting Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Mexico, Grand Canyon, and bird watching(great big birds).
Know Your Desert PeaksIf you haven't explored southern Arizona, you ......................................, just too bad.

BIG MARIA MTN. (3350') LITTLE CHUCKAWALLA PK. (3448') DEC 19-20
            -Ernie Spiehler

With overcast skies and a chilly breeze from the north, an even dozen desert enthusiasts including three newcomers who were out for their first desert peak, met in Blythe at 8:30 Sat morning. Because of the demolished condition of the road on the east side of the range (a direct out-come of the Army's Operation Desert Strike), the ascent of Big Maria had to be changed to the more conventional western approach.
After caravaning 17.5 miles north of the main highway in Blythe, a right turn was made and a good dirt road followed for approx. three miles to the northeast until a barricade was reached. Because of a previously injured ankle, one of the group decided to remain at the cars, while the remainder a scrambled up a well-ducked route (thanks to Jess Logan who helped scout the route a month earlier) to the disputed summit in 2-1/2 hours. On the peak there was much discussion concerning the true high point of the range. Two members of the group, being Asst. Ldr. Gordon MacLeod and Bud Bingham, felt that half-mile farther south peak which they had previously climbed, was slightly higher. The rest of the group had mixed opinions. A note left in the register by an earlier group claimed that they determined our point to be the highest with a level sighting. Familiar names such as Bill & Marge Henderson, Harry & Siina Melts, and Niles & Louise Werner were among those included in the register. The 1951 Army Corps of Engineers topo sheet shows three points above the 3350 ft contour; one of which we were atop, another immediately to our west which was obviously lower, and the other was a point about a half mile south. We final1y concluded that only a measurement taken with an accurate surveying instrument would establish the true point and left it at that. It is certain, however, that the point 3139' to the northwest, which is the elevation shown in the DPS peak list for Big Maria, is not the high point. The eleven to sign in on the north peak were: Bill Hunt, Bud Bingham, Ralph Shankland, Dave McGone, Vic Miller, Pat Donnegen, Dick Aunger, Roger Peters, Bob Micael, Gordon MacLeod, and Ernie Splehler.
 
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