OLD WOMAN MTN-PROVIDENCE MTN    Jan 20-21     -Leon Pimple
At 7:10 Sat morn the group left Amboy on a caravan toward Danby. At this place several cars were left and the party continued up on the sandy road to the Florence Mine. The climbers, consisting of 23 eagers, began the trek up the slope to Old Woman Mtn. The ascent was a direct ascent to the ridge. Once atop, the ridge was followed directly to the summit. The pace to the destination was slow and only one person turned back enroute. Our bunch spent over an hour relaxing at the top in the warm desert sunshine. This time was also utilized by comedian Bob Bowen, who explained the beauty of the desert.
The down haul came directly thru a north side wash. Once at the cars, another drive was made to Mitchell Caverns State Park, where we camped just outside its boundaries, specifically at the Mexican Mines as shown on the topo sheet. Here we were met by Ted Lewis of the San Diego Chapter.
At 7:30 Sun morn the bunch was seen leaving camp for Providence Mtn. Unfortunately the "dum-dum" leader, being this writer, had not scouted the peak and had asked the Park Ranger for directions. As a Result, we climbed Fountain Peak!
All was not a loss however, since Jack Bradford, Bill Schuler, and Horace Ory did make a diehard traverse and caught the right peak. The Sunday event was enjoyed by eighteen participants. Thanks goes to Ben Neffson for volunteering as Assistant Leader.

Old Woman LocalePALEN MTN    Jan 28   -John Vitz (non-sked)
After a pleasant Sat climb of Chuckawalla Mtn with Bob Herlihy and a group of DPS types, we proceeded thru axle-deep sand to a point just eight miles west of Palen. The weather had cooled to a beautiful desert evening after having been a bit squally during the day.
Sun AM we set out across the seven miles of sand and desert varnish to the base of the peak. We were unable to pick out the right route and ended up in a fairly tedious traverse of the southeast ridge. Once on top, as is the general case, the route became readily apparent.
The easy descent was balance with the problem of locating the car in the hundreds of square miles of sand flats and brush filled washes. After tracking ourselves back we reached the paved road by dark, though I don't know when the sand will ever get out of my clutch and gear shift linkage.
The difficult task makes for a crown eliminator and ours was the ninth ascent since the register was placed in 1960. It is an easy peak to do after its base is reached.
A number of roads wander around the east side of the peak but are reported to be poor. We climbed from the sandy road paralleling the road north of Desert Center. This was done to avoid a number of wash crossings on the route from Palen Pass Read. The best route form the west is to climb the main wash on the west face to a point on the summit ridge just to the north of the high point. Its seems strange that some crazy miner hasn't located a mine and especially a road somewhere on the west side of this mountain. Oh well, they can't all be like Orocopia!

CERRO GORDO & PLEASANT MTN       Feb 10-11   -Jim Jenkins (non-sked)
A projected winter climb of Mt Clarence King in the Sierra that quickly dwindled into a climb of Goodale Mtn, shrunk instantly with the arrival of new snow to an ascent of Cerro Gordo and Pleasant in the Inyo Range.
 
Page Index Prev Page 4 Next Issue Index