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Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:41 am
by desertrat
Climbing Mount Everest ain't worth risking your life for. It's just not that big of an achievement. After you pay for the mountain guides, the equipment, and everything else needed for a successful climb, you wind up with a dozen people doing everything for you. It's better to just get out in the desert or the local mountains and climb on your own. That's what peak bagging is REALLY all about!

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 8:08 am
by panamint_patty
desertrat: I agree that local peaks are the best peaks. Of course, we got a nice selection in this part of the country. Just the same I think it would be neat to visit a few other countries and hike around in their parks and maybe even bag a few foreign peaks along the way!

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2014 7:31 am
by cactuspete
It's rather unfortunate that the highest peak in Searles Valley is located on military land. I'm talking, of course, about Argus Peak. Many people still climb it, but technically it's against the law to trespass on military property so anyone who has bagged that peak is a lawbreaker, unless of course they got special permission from the base commander to climb the peak.

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Mon May 05, 2014 7:10 am
by wildrose
Even I hiked to the top of Argus Peak. It may have been many years ago, but I remember it well. Lovely pinyons at the top. Lots of flowers were blooming along the way. It was quite a hike! One of the most wonderful peaks in the desert.

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 6:35 pm
by cactuspete
Snow Disaster Death Toll - Oct 17, 2014
Hiking most of the time isn't this dangerous, but when you're in the Himalayas and a huge storm hits, then you probably can't be prepared enough!

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:52 am
by surfsteve
wildrose wrote:Even I hiked to the top of Argus Peak. It may have been many years ago, but I remember it well. Lovely pinyons at the top. Lots of flowers were blooming along the way. It was quite a hike! One of the most wonderful peaks in the desert.


I've been wanting to hike up that way again for a long time. I remember posting about it on one of the very first Trona forums. I remember someone had told me to start a little above Ruth mine. I had instead went to far up and climbed up a very cliffy ridge and down it's back side. There were a couple of nice springs. We had discussed one of them had been fenced off for deer. I climbed down that ridge and went back out of the canyon a little to climb a slightly higher one that as far as I know offered an excellent view of argus peak. It looked like an over grown trail led most of the way if not all the way to the top. I had discussed climbing up it's face directly which I think I had done partially one time, on the old forum which was pretty treacherous climbing; but the trail looked pretty easy for anyone in good enough shape to go the distance. I think the safest place to park would be at Ruth Mine. You can drive up a little closer but I wouldn't leave my car there. If you had a quad it looked like you could go up a lot closer to the overgrown trail.

From Ruth Mine you hike up the road a little further. When you get to the fork, stay to the left and go over the easiest part of the ridge. If you walk up that canyon you will see what looks like an over grown path leading towards the top. I'm not sure how it looks from the ground but the way up was pretty clear from the mountain I had climbed up going back out the canyon a little bit to get a better view of the trail. It looked like no one had walked up it for a very long time.

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 7:48 pm
by wildrose
Fast & Dangerous: Speed Mountain Running record beaten in Swiss Alps
This is some pretty treacherous terrain.
Andreas Steindl beats his own unique Speed Mountain Running record in the Swiss Alps by crossing more than 30 kilometres from Zermatt to Saas Fee in less than eight hours earlier this month. The Swiss mountain-runner did the crossing for the first time in 2013, taking just over nine hours to do it. This time he did it in 7:45:44.


Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 7:37 pm
by CactusHugger
Obama Changes Mountain Name, Tantrums Ensue... :roll2:
The freaking mountain has been known by two names for decades. I'm not sure why it couldn't just continue to be like that for a few decades more. It was actually kind of a neat thing that it had two names.

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 8:54 am
by MojaveMike
SHERPA, The Price to Climb: Commercialism On Mount Everest
Interesting info about climbing the world's highest peak, but $100k for a shot at the peak seems like a wasteful extravagance. On top of that, who wants to fight crowds while camping and hiking? The whole point is to get away from the crowds.

Re: Peak Bagging

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:39 am
by sandman
Skiers tackle Colorado's 50 highest peaks
Most peak-baggers are busy bagging peaks during the summertime when it's warm and most of the snow is melted away. These guys do it in the winter!