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| Hiking | 5.12 Miles |
1,870 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.12 Miles | 4 Hrs 37 Mns | | 1.75 mph |
| 1,870 ft AEG | 1 Hour 41 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | So this was an adventure into the unknown. Bob had done some research and learned that this rarely-visited peak was reachable with just some class 3 climbing with exposure, and possibly a spot where people afraid of heights would have to turn around. Or maybe the other report for the same peak that said it had only been summited once and involved a 500-foot technical climb with crumbly rock.
I guess we would figure it out. The previous day's hike up Signal and Ten Ewe led me to believe the latter description. The peak is hugely prominent, ridiculously vertical, and clearly unattainable without a serious technical climb. But that was as seen from a few miles away. Often hidden routes appear when you get close to a peak.
So we headed out from the Kofa Queen Canyon road, heading up Summit Canyon. It's an easy hike in a sandy wash. The sand is hard packed and not at all difficult to hike in. After about 1.25 miles, the wash tightens up a bit and you have to fight an occasional catclaw with some increased boulder hopping.
At about 1.5 miles, just as the wash is getting difficult to hike in, a drainage enters from the left, and we followed that drainage up a short distance before heading up a ridge to the right. There's a 100-foot spire at the top of the ridge that we aimed for, reaching it at about the 1.9 mile mark. From here we headed right, following a well-traveled sheep path to the next saddle where we took a quick snack break and admired the up-close view of the impressive Summit spire.
From here we followed the ridge to the right, arriving at the next peak with a couple of small spires before dropping down a short ways to another saddle. Now immediately adjacent to the Summit spire, we absolutely confirmed that there was no possible way there was a non-technical route to that summit. Instead we headed up to the right, staying close to the cliff face and ascending to the saddle below the peak marked on the topo maps as Summit.
There are some ups and downs to get to the actual peak, including a very steep, narrow, exposed slot just before the actual peak. There's a nice 2-3 foot shelf that ascends to the peak above the slot. Actual footing is class-2. But it's a narrow shelf, and a looooooooong way down, so it might get into your head if you let it.
On the peak, we enjoyed a snack, and perused the register. I like when you can read an entire register in about 20 seconds! We hit the neighbor peak on the way back and then decided to descend to the saddle immediately below the Summit spire. It is even more impressive from its base. Photos can't capture is size or height properly. There was a climbers camp with some rope and water, as well as some signs of use on a couple of shelves at the base that we climbed up onto. It would be an impressive sight to see somebody climbing this thing!
After some exploring we headed back up to the ridge and followed largely the same route down that we had ascended.
While not the most prominent peak in the Kofas, this was a highlight of the weekend.
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Note: Part of the confusion on Summit Peak versus the huge, prominent spire next to it is that that the spire does not appear on USGS topo maps. Since USGS topo maps are what Google uses to interpret Google Earth photography into 3D, you can see on Google Earth that the spire doesn't exist! So very strange! |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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