Mammoth snowboarding to Pyramid Peak hik e in DV

“Saturday: Mammoth Snowboarding

SnowDude and I were leaving the condo at 8:15am, and as I was making a path out to the street in the knee-deep snow, realized I’d left my goggles inside. SnowDude was still at the door, so he went inside to get them. Our firewood was just dropped off in the parking lot, so we took our layers off and started stacking wood on the balcony. We finally got on the slopes at 10:15.

It was windy, but we caught up with a group of friends before they went in for lunch. We stopped for lunch a few minutes later, and ran into a few other groups of people we know. We rode with them the rest of the day ‘til we stopped at the Grizzly Bar for a drink.

After a shower and dinner at Hennessey’s with SnowDude, I left for Death Valley. Got some pretty awesome views of the Geminid Meteor Shower during my 3.5 hr drive. When I got there at midnight, I found Calhiker at the Furnace Creek Campground and woke him up to let him know I had arrived. On Saturday he had ridden his bike from Furnace Creek (-190’) towards the Dante’s View overlook (5,400’), but due to the snowy conditions was turned back about 4 miles from the top by a locked gate. Back on the main road, he then rode up towards the trailhead for Sunday’s hike, and turned around at the high point (3,065’). He rode 54 miles with 4000’ elevation gain/loss. He said it was a nice little “training ride”. Ugh!


Sunday: Pyramid Peak hike in Death Valley

Got up early and drove 17.5 mi to the Pyramid Peak trailhead (3,025’). We weren’t sure exactly where it was, but managed to find Bob R and his group, who arrived a few minutes later. The group of 7 (Bob R, Tom S from the Thor Peak hike, Sigrid and Tom S, Al G, Calhiker and I) started up the wash at 8:50am. We followed the wash for an hour before heading cross-country towards the peak. What a beautiful hike! The changing colors of the rock, dirt and cacti with snow on the north slopes, were awesome! It was once again windy, extremely windy on the exposed ridges, and the clouds kept changing every few minutes. Tom S was leading for awhile, so we kept climbing, thinking that he was just over the next ridge. Later we found out he had stopped and was actually behind us, so then Calhiker took off to lead the way. I got a burst of energy and followed. There was a steep use-trail, which made this hike a lot easier on my knees. Calhiker reached the Pyramid Peak summit (6,703’) at 12:40pm, followed by me and Tom S., two minutes behind. We quickly put the layers on, took pictures and signed the register. By now the others had reached the top. However, some of them decided to quickly head back down after staying only a few minutes in order to get out of the fierce wind, so we only got a partial group shot at the summit. Well, we got 4 of us in a group shot anyway. Calhiker and I were the last to leave the summit (35 minutes). I kept drinking so I wouldn’t get dehydrated, and had to make extra stops. I also made a lot of stops to take layers off (too hot when the wind died down). Calhiker and I kept looking back as we were descending, amazed at the difficult terrain we had hiked up earlier. It seemed even steeper coming back down, so we had to watch our step. The group decided to descend a side canyon that led down from the prominent saddle, rather than going back the way we came up. We followed the wash out and got back to the vehicles by 3:40pm. Bob R estimated 7 hours for the 11-mile round trip, and it took us 6 hr 50 minutes. Clouds were threatening rain, which dropped a few sprinkles on the drive out. Calhiker and I had a quick dinner at a Furnace Creek café before leaving the park. It was a lot of driving for me, but I got to snowboard and hike in the desert! I really stretch those weekends out, don’t I?”

“Snowboarding and desert hiking on the same weekend...you folks got style ;-)

Great pictures as well....I liked the cactus shots.

I don't get around cactus much.”

“Awesome weekend! Great pics and panoramics.”

“Hey Snow Nymph, long time no hear...guess you've been busy backpacking and snowboarding. :o) Nice report and pics...as usual.”

“So, THAT"S where you've been!”

“and trip report...can't wait to get back and do it again.”

“Very very nice pics! I like the cacti shots and the orange lit mountain. Beautiful!”