Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Corkscrew Peak / Death Valley Buttes

Digonnet has some surprising omissions: Corkscrew Peak, Sidewinder Canyon, and Furnace Slot Canyon. The most comprehensive guide is Steve Hall's web site www.panamintcity.com. Steve is in the process of covering seemingly every square inch of Death Valley.

Andy Zdon's book describes a different route from the one that Kevin R and I posted. Zdon's route is the same as in the Sierra Club's Desert Peaks Section. Bob R has posted many trip reports over the years with other routes including one that started from Titus Canyon and included Thimble Peak as well.

Tom - Would you have a GPS track/series of waypoints you could email me regarding that ascent route? Even though I've done it 6 times in the three years since I first climbed it, others like you and Bob R. have much more experience on it than I. Given the long drive from RC/IYK (4 hours RT) and short winter days, there's not too much slack for exploring. And I can verify Zdon's comment that some of the small canyons have dry waterfalls that just don't go, including the one just west (uphill) from the "black canyon".

In terms of hiking times - our group of 5 did it this week in a bit under 6 hours, and that included about 45 minutes for lunch. Not too bad for geezers drawing Social Security, but no record either. Still, with 3,550' elevation gain, we aren't couch potatoes.

Hi Kevin -

I think you old geezers get up and down just fine. As far as tracks, I have lost some of mine over the last year. I can approximate if you want a rough idea. I should be back up there sometime in the next month also.

The route I was posting may not be any easier on the difficulty, but I think it is much easier in a "route finding" kind of way. The first time we Bob H. and a few of us attempted to find our way up, we followed some of the previous known route descriptions. It felt like work to get to the best place into and out of drainage. At times we were not on the route. Once we had ascened a certain elevation above the drainage we got on route and it became obvious were to go from there. We did not always feel like the route was intuitive(IOHO), higher up it was easy to stay on and you could always see where you were going ahead. Descending it is obvious where to follow and in the years following the trail and ducks have become more used and more marked.

The alternate route I was discussing seems more easy to follow in a "navigation" sort of way. From cars - aim for V-notch. You always keep this V-notch in sight as you cross the desert. As you get closer, you see where to begin an ascent off the valley floor with well used "use trails". I look for the green area of a small spring off the valley floor. Once at the top of the V-notch, you are on a ridge line. From there - it is straight forward - go up in along what a appears to be obvious high point of ridge line. You merge with other trails at the keyhole rock. This is approximately 5-10 minutes below the summit.

Kevin, Richard, Tom - I appreciate all of this great detail! It sounds as if Tom's route up and Kevin's route down would make a great loop day. Since catpappy and I will be camping at Texas Spring, we'll have a lot more daylight to poke around the routes and explore a bit more than you guys who spend the extra hours driving up from the Ridgecrest area.

By the way, any snow on the peak? The last time I hiked DV in very early March, the snowline seemed to be at about 7500 feet, so I wasn't planning on bringing Yaks.

Also, anyone familiar with DV Buttes? It looks to be a short scramble, and I've read a couple of internet journals that say it's well worth the 3-4 hours or so spent doing it, but I'd appreciate any first-hand opinions. Most of my DV hiking in the past has been concentrated in the Panamint, Black and Greenwater ranges. I've done nothing north of Stovepipe Wells other than Ubehebe and Keane Wonder Mine, so I'm looking forward to hitting some new territory. This is one damn big park!

One other thing - the Albatross crash site near Towne Peak. Anyone done that trek? It looks like it would be a long day, but do-able in a day. My real concern is whether it might still be snowy at that elevation the first week of March.

No snow on Corkscrew - dry as a bone. Have not done the DV Buttes, but they dominate the western view when you first start up Corkscrew.

Only snow visible is on the Panamints, like Telescope. And of course Charleston and the Sierra. Still early, though, as your trip is 5 or 6 weeks away.

I've not done Towne, but know that Tom has. I've been told it's not a long hike.

The Albatross crash site is only 4 miles from Townes Pass, with a total climb of just over 4000 feet round trip. You'll have to watch weather reports to be sure, but I have never had to deal with snow there in March.

Great day yesterday on Corkscrew with 11 of us summiting in gorgeous weather. One helluva group: catpappy, MooseTracks, SierraGator, Tomcat, SoCalGirl, Bob Pickering, Bob Rockwell, Harlan Stockman, and Dave G. Big thanks to Laura, Bob P, Harlan and Chris for making the long drives to join us. Had a blast!

Bob, sorry I didn't catch you to say bye before you left. Hope your wife has a great birthday!

Gary:

I'm sorry I couldn't wait. It was 370 miles back to Reno. I got home in time to put all my stuff away, give the horses their grain, and take a shower before bed.

It was fun climbing with everyone, even if catpappy is a Georgia Tech fan.

Keep in touch and I'll try to climb a day or two with you when you're here this summer.

Bob

Any real displays of wildflowers yet? A group of us are headed over Wednesday to do Fall Canyon (it uses the Titus Canyon TH) and was hoping they'd start to bloom.

Bob, it's all good - loved the UGA shirt you wore for the hike! Look forward to seeing you again this summer.

Kevin, not a wildflower in sight yet - dammit!

I hope SierraGator won't mind... here's a picture of his from your hike.



Looks like everyone had a good time!

Thanks Steve - I tried to view it with my BB on Facebook, but no luck. That was a really fun group to hike with. Between John and I we have a lot of great photos of this trip. TR coming when I get back home.

Did DV Buttes today with John, so we got some nice Class 3 in this trip. I highly recommend this climb to anyone who hasn't done it - hike, scree ski, and exposed climbing all in a sweet 3-hour out and back. Great views of the Valley and Corkscrew Peak.

I've been wanting to do this hike for a long time.Looks like a great day and a good bunch of people to hike with.I'm soooooo out of the loop.

Thor, both Corkscrew and the Buttes were very worthwhile climbs. The company we had for Corkscrew made that pretty special - a fun group, with a few uber-mountaineering resumes to boot.

Participate in the message board and you'll find yourself looped-in. That's how I met almost everyone over the past couple of years that wound up in this group hike. And I'm 2000 miles away!

Bulldog34,I hear you and you are correct.I have in the past hiked with several people that were on this hike but we've lost touch which is my fault.Plus I totally got tired of the bs on the other board and all kinds of other things going on in life.I am making an attempt to get back to my old ways of going to the Sierra atleast once a month so I'll be back

Thor... if I'd known you wanted to go I woulda called you!!! I even would have driven!!! I will definately keep it in mind for next time!! Promise!

Chris,
If I had known this hike was happening I would have driven up too but that's the way it goes.I've been wanting to get back to Death Valley for a couple of years outside of my last hike to Telescope Peak.Like I said I'll try to do better at staying in the loop.