Palo Verde redux
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 8:16 am
My first attempt at Palo Verde was April, 2024. I turned back at the knife edge ridge, still a little shaken from stepping directly over a rattlesnake in the approach gully. I had run out of risk taking brain juice for the day. On the bright side, I had solved all the route finding problems and other obstacles to that point. I felt like the second attempt would be easier. The morning was cool and I saw a herd of mule deer on the drive. A wild burro was running with the pack.
I was very mindful of snakes as I went up the gully. The top section was as loose and miserable as I remembered. I improved the route slightly by clinging to larger rocks away from the wall. I reached the main ridge, then went over the top and scrambled down above the saddle. As before, a 12' class 3 chute below a cave allowed me to reach the saddle. A large cairn marked where to climb up on the other side. I traversed a little right for the next class 3 section. At this point, the ridge proper turns into high, vertical slabs that can be bypassed on the right. This brought me to the knife edge section.
I dropped my pack and pole, then crept slowly onto the knife edge. The wind was gusty, up to 25mph. There was a class 3 down climb at the end on good rock, then a short walk to the summit. After waiting a year for the second attempt, I was quite elated. The views were inspiring. A tall, broken flag pole had fallen down and looked unfixable. An ammo box held a tattered US flag and two registers: a small paper register and a fancy hand made register in a leather tube. It seemed the leather register was left by the Banks family, who recorded their ages as well as their names. I was two years older than the Banks' family patriarch, making me (probably) the oldest hiker to climb Palo Verde so far. I loved this mountain.
Looking back at the knife edge section
Hand made leather bound register with some kind of fancy vellum pages or something.
Heading back to the saddle
I was very mindful of snakes as I went up the gully. The top section was as loose and miserable as I remembered. I improved the route slightly by clinging to larger rocks away from the wall. I reached the main ridge, then went over the top and scrambled down above the saddle. As before, a 12' class 3 chute below a cave allowed me to reach the saddle. A large cairn marked where to climb up on the other side. I traversed a little right for the next class 3 section. At this point, the ridge proper turns into high, vertical slabs that can be bypassed on the right. This brought me to the knife edge section.
I dropped my pack and pole, then crept slowly onto the knife edge. The wind was gusty, up to 25mph. There was a class 3 down climb at the end on good rock, then a short walk to the summit. After waiting a year for the second attempt, I was quite elated. The views were inspiring. A tall, broken flag pole had fallen down and looked unfixable. An ammo box held a tattered US flag and two registers: a small paper register and a fancy hand made register in a leather tube. It seemed the leather register was left by the Banks family, who recorded their ages as well as their names. I was two years older than the Banks' family patriarch, making me (probably) the oldest hiker to climb Palo Verde so far. I loved this mountain.
Looking back at the knife edge section
Hand made leather bound register with some kind of fancy vellum pages or something.
Heading back to the saddle