Mount Palmer, Grapevine Peak

1972

By: Paul Lipsohn

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GRAPEVINE - PALMER EXPLORATORY - LIPSOHN AND HERLIHY

If the drive to Beatty, Nevada is long, it is at least tedious as well. A night already too short for much sleep was further shortened when Darryl Kuhns unsuccessfully thrashed at a scorpion which then scuttled somewhere into the night. Heavy-lidded we drove the remaining several miles to Beatty in the morning, where we met our equally tired group.

Plans were originally to climb Sawtooth Peak, so we caravanned through Rhyolite, found our dirt road and drove around behind the peak. We were dismayed to find that the road continued over the top of the peak, so we cancelled the plans for that one. After making some quick repairs to a broken clutch return spring and replacing a shredded tire, we continued across the ridge to the road into Phinney Canyon, drove to about 7000 feet, and begun our climb of Grapevine. Our twenty climbers concord Grapevine (sic) where we enjoyed a late lunch and views of the next day's climb of Palmer. Four climbers left early to climb nearby Wahguyhe Peak (no, that's not a Piute social disease) which went uneventfully, with the rest returning to the cars. Perhaps influenced by the long ridge to Palmer, all but eight of the group decided to caravan through Titus Canyon and climb Thimble Peak the following day. Our explorers camped near the old Phinney Mine and started bright and early for Palmer. The long trip along the ridge was uneventful, with an apparent third class wall below the summit fading to class 2 as we arrived. The summit itself was quite spectacular, with the side dropping off in a 600-800 foot precipice. Ours was only the fourth ascent in ten years, others having been made by a total of seven people. We placed a register and enjoyed the view before returning along the ridge, cleaning up debris in the form of an antique bottle and an arrowhead along the way.

Consensus of our tired group was that Palmer would make a good addition to the list. Even the Thimble Peakers were impressed by the previously unseen south side of Palmer.


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