Mar 25 diary: About 6 weeks ago our Ellen, Bill, Andy trio drove up a poor road SE of the Stepladder Mtns. This precipitous range lies just north of the Turtle Mtns and runs north and south. A close inspection of the topo sheet shows an abrupt face as does a view of the range. The high point lies near the northern end of the range and is one of a series of pinnacles along sheer-looking east and west walls. We walked six miles to the eastern base and thence northward along the range. A more precipitous range in the County I have yet to see! Weather was cloudy with low clouds swirling about the higher summits. As we passed the eastern side of the highest pinnacles about all we could see was a steep wall of cliffs with vertical gullies. We continued around to the NE side to a saddle and a vertical cliff, l50' high, went straight up all around the NE, N, & NW sides of the peaks. The compo of the rocks is largely loose conglomerate, with varying sized rocks embedded in a dry mud-like matrix. There was no visible route. We continued on and along the west side of the higher peaks. Here it was just as formidable, with pocked vertical wal1s. We tried going up one promising gully only to be stopped by a 20' conglomerate wall. It was too nasty and loose to attempt. Defeated, we then crossed over a saddle well south of the highest peaks and back to the car. My cherished hope of climbing all the high point of the San Berdoo Ranges suddenly went "POOF". On the way home we discussed our failure and felt we should try it once more with ropes and hardware.
The next weekend we did return with the technical equipment. This time Bill Croxon came with us too. There was one place that we did not have time to explore on the previous trip so it was here we directed our attack. We made steady progress and were never certain of success from one minute to the next as we zig-zagged up ledges and over and up vertical steps. But we finally reached the summit and shook hands triumphantly. Now, I was certain that there were no more barriers to my long projected goal, and I'll resume the climbing activity next fall.
This same weekend we found the top of the Fenner Hills, Club Peak, Wildcat Buttes and Teutonia Pk, leaving fresh registers with the summits.
For any other Desert Peakers interested in climbing any of the ranges described in these series of writeups, please contact me, -Andy Smatko.
Palen Mtn Dec 1967 -Sam Fink
As I have been reading that hikers have had problems getting to the base of Palen, I offer this route for its ascent:
Drive 18 miles north of Blythe toward Midland. Turn west going thru Inca to Arlington mine, 11-1/2 miles, mostly on old paved road but with washouts in dips on south side of pavement.
