We drove over the Dale Lake and Parker Dam roads to Vidal Jct. For a camp spot, we had chosen to use the large level spot along the north side of the aqueduct on the road into Whipple Mtn. This road turns off the Parker Dam road 4.2 miles east of Vidal Jct. In past years, this was one of the major roads of the area, and one of the old signs indicating Vidal (south) and Chambers Well (north) still stands about 200 yds off the highway. This confirms one is on the correct road. (One other member of our group found that there are eight other dirt roads in this area.) For the Sunday climb, we decided to start south of Whipple's Summit (on the road to Parker), rather than west of the summit (on the road to Wells). To reach this point, we drove in on the Chamber's Well road until we came to a road entering from the right (at about 5 miles). There is a bench mark at this intersection. We turned sharply right on this road for two bumpy miles and parked the cars. We had intended to follow the watercourse that heads in the general direction of the highest point visible from the cars. The true summit is behind this point. On the ascent, however, we experienced difficulty in choosing the right branches and gained the ridge west of our intended point. This error added some distance to the climb, but caused no other problems. All 10 people made the summit without difficulty. The descent was made down the correct watercourse. This route is not easy to follow on the topo map. The stream beds are generally rocky, but not difficult to travel in. This particular route was chosen since it avoids some of the up and down hiking found on the normal route. The climb was scheduled a bit too late in the year, weather-wise, as the temperature was about 10 degrees above that for optimum climbing.

-Jess Logan & Neko Colevins

New York Butte & Mt. Pleasant- April 24-25 -Sid Davis Sat morn, eight cars with 22 people, drove up Long John Canyon to within a mile and a half of the road head, at which point we were forced to leave four cars behind and make a shuttle to pick up the passengers. At 9:05 we started at a reasonable pace, with a plan to hike 55 minutes and rest 5 until the summit was reached. The weather was beautiful and snow was hit at 8000 ft. The peak (NYB) was reached at 2:10, and the last to make it arrived at 3:30. Fifteen out of the 22 signed in. Looking across the Owens Valley, one could see a panoramic view of the recent spring snows that was a sight beyond description. On the return trip we were all at the cars by 7 o'clock. Sun morn we congregated at the town of Keeler and "Volkswagened" up to Cerro Gordo, passing thru some interesting abandoned mining country that was the scene of major past operations. On the way to the road head over a steep but navigable jeep road, we encountered a snow drift and all hands went to work with ice axes to make it passable. At 9:10 we started our climb and again hit snow at the previous day's elevation level. We made a long traverse to what we thought was the peak. Upon arriving, we could see the next peak over was still higher, so we called to those below to stay low, while those of us on top made a third class descent before starting up the true Mt. Pleasant. Someone commented, "Will the real Mt. Pleasant please stand out!". We arrived at 10:40 and the last one arrived at 10:50. Only one party in our 16 climbers failed to reach the summit. After a bit of refreshment, we came down the mtn over snow and scree. It was a lot of fun, especially to those who had never had the experience of 'the heel step' in snow. The round trip took only about 3 hours. Happy and tired, we drove back to Keeler and everyone began their wend home. HAYFORD-STIRLING Climb-   May 1-2       -Frede Jensen If one of the main reasons for scheduling a desert trip in early May was

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