Mt. Charleston Winter Ascent

March 12-13, 2005

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Report by Raoul Kennedy, Photos by Alan Andrunas

Alan Andrunas led Ali Haghi, Howard Herndon, Luba Leef, and me to a successful winter climb of Mount Charleston on March 13, 2005. After a false start the prior weekend due to foul weather, this Club trip began March 12 at 6:00 am at the IHOP at Cheyenne and 95 with a hi-carb breakfast (we later learned that every one of those carbs was going to be needed). The weekend weather was expected to be near ideal, with little wind. The risk of avalanches was considered lower due to no new snow and a week of warm weather.

We caravanned up to the parking lot above the Cathedral Rock Picnic area entrance, and after loading up our packs and distributing weight, we were off at 8:10 am. We snowshoed up Echo Canyon and made good time up until the last 500 vertical feet when we hit the cliff bands right below the ridge. There we struggled for close to two hours with a wall of powdery snow that we had to kickstep multiple times to get enough purchase. The traversing on steep slopes was also an extreme challenge because improper footing could cause us to slide down the slope hundreds of feet with our 45-50 pound packs on (note: Luba’s pack was 40% of her body weight)!

Dead tired, we finally hit the ridge near Griffith Peak at approximately 2:20 pm (approximate elevation 10,500 ft.). After a short rest, Alan suggested that we continue along the ridge for at least another half mile so as to shorten the distance to Charleston the following day (the distance along the ridge from Griffith Peak to Charleston is roughly 4 miles). We established our base camp at about 3:30, cooked our meals, checked out the sunset, and by 7:30 were all in bed trying to catch some Z’s. The wind began to pick up and blew in powerful gusts throughout the night, interrupting any attempt at sound sleep. Moreover, it was very, very cold and I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn’t a summer expedition! For some reason, although we had all set our alarms for 5:00 am, only Howard was able to keep to the schedule and woke us up at 5:30. Shivering miserably, we prepared a quick breakfast and our summit packs and were off at 7:00 am. The wind had died down considerably by then, and Alan decided that it was safe to proceed.

The undulating ridge to Charleston seemed endless, although we were able to summit by 9:30 am, only two and a half hours later. At that time the sky was blue and cloudless, and the snow-capped East Sierra mountains and Telescope Peak were clearly visible. Lake Mead shined on the other side. Mummy Mountain lay there solemnly in front of us. Then, my 2-mile radius walkie-talkie started to pick up some dialogue and I figured that it was some hikers below us in the Pahrump area. I “jumped in” to their conversation and announced that our group was summiting Charleston. They were startled and said they were in Baker, California, some 60 miles away! The register was not buried in snow, so we signed in the soggy book and saw the last entry was Feb. 10–two extreme snowboarders. Only Howard’s cellphone worked, and he found the right spot to call from in between the antenna and the solar panels. After 30 minutes, we headed back down.

Our energy level was very low by now, and the return to base camp was slow and painful. Clouds suddenly began to pop up out of nowhere above Griffith Peak, and by the time we were ready to break camp at 1:00 pm, the sky was filled with dark, dense clouds blocking the sun. The descent off the ridge began further away from Griffith Peak than the way up. As expected it was very steep and scary due to the constant fear of slipping and tumbling down the snowy slopes. Alan plunged-stepped down the first 1000 vertical feet in less than 10 minutes (he later explained that he does a lot of leg work in the gym because it would take tree trunk legs to do what he did!); it took the rest of the group close to 45 minutes to rejoin him! One time-saving trick was to slide down parts of the slope because there were no exposed cliff bands in the area that we had descended (in fact, Alan later said that he wished we had ascended this way, although any way up those last 500 vertical feet to the ridgeline would have been miserable). Also, the snow was not icy and would naturally stop you. On the descent we encountered snowboard tracks and Ali caught a glimpse of some snowboarders coming off of Griffith.

We surveyed the phenomenal damage caused by recent avalanches in awe. Alan pointed out the “Vegas Hose Monster”, an amazing 400-foot ice waterfall that can be found in the cliffs of Echo Canyon. As we headed back to the parking lot at approximately 3:30 pm, visitors stared at us like we were psychotic (and maybe we were by then!). As we loaded up our gear into the vehicles, Ali commented how this climb made Rainier seem milder–he was right. Luba then asked rhetorically, “Why do we do this?” My best try at an answer would have been (1) that it feels so good when you stop, and (2) it helps us appreciate things more.

Thanks to Alan for guiding this real monster of a trip, thanks to good weather, and congratulations to all for a safe and successful climb.