SE Damsel Peak - 11/16/13

Damsel Peak with Pincushion Pinnacle

Laszlo with Mount Wilson in Background

 Two of the Around the Bend Friends club members had quite an adventure on Damsel Peak on Saturday. Jerry provides the photos, the story and the GPS track. He and Laszlo had a tough but fulfilling day as described below.

Laszlo and I decided to conquer Damsel Peak yesterday.  We both wanted to climb the mountain for a long time.  It was taunting us everytime we drove home since it sticks out right in front of you as you drive up Thomas Ryan Drive in Sun City.  We had only one day we could do it.  We could not find anyone to join us so we decided to go off on our own.  We started at about 7:30am from the dirt Kraft Mountain parking lot in Calico Basin. The only other way to get close to the mountain is to drive on private property.  Our route stays on BLM land the whole way.  This made the approach to the mountain much longer.  It took us almost two hours hiking across the desert just to reach the mountain. 

Jerry and Laszlo on the Summit

Turtlehead Peak in Late Afternoon Sun

 We were following a track from one of my mountaineer friends but as it turned out it was probably the worst route up the mountain.  The way up was very steep with lots and lots of loose rock and scree.  It was the most horrible terrain to hike on imaginable.  Did I mention that there was lots of scree?  We made it past the Pincushion Pinnacle which Laszlo had named the "thumb" and up to the summit which I found out later is called "Southeast Damsel Peak".  We were running out of time so we did not make it to the slightly higher peak called "Damsel Peak".  We started down around 12:15 and took a much more direct route down although it was still very loose rock, scree and sharp limestone.  We reached our vehicle about 4pm as the sun was starting to disappear behind the escarpment.  I would not recommend this peak to anyone else unless they are simply suicidal.  Evidently most other people agree with this assessment since the log book had only 5 names in it for 2013 (that includes me and Laszlo). ~ Jerry

"Terrible Traverse" with Summerlin Peak in Background