Living in the southern part of Las Vegas, Potosi is a prominent peak. Every single day on my way to work, I stare at it. It has a distinctive shape from our vantage point, and I actually took a photo of it years ago, before I even knew what it was (www.flickr.com/photos/philadendron/3139433323/). It also hold snow in the winter, and it's quite photogenic.
It's also notable because Clark Gable's wife, Carol Lombard, died in a plane crash on the mountain. From what I hear, there is still a ton of wreckage up there from the crash.
There are several routes to the top, but at the time, we wanted a straightforward, drama-free trip, so we chose to drive through Jean to the start of the dirt road that leads to the top.
The beginning of the dirt road is really steep, so steep that on our way back down, we chose to walk backward for a while, as a kind of "downclimb". I think the jury is still out on whether it's as steep as the Frenchman Mountain dirt road.
Obviously, with this being a "road hike", the trip was fairly uneventful, but the top offered some views from a unique vantage point. We were high enough to have unobstructed views of both Red Rock and the Spring Mountains, from the South. There aren't many peaks that afford this. We also met a guy who had approached from the Northwest. He was from Arizona and was visiting relatives, and I could tell by his gear and his athletic build that he probably gets out a lot. Not to mention the fact that he took time out of visiting relatives to climb a trail-less route to a peak.
We were happy to chalk up another peak that had been on our todo list forever. One day, I'd like to attempt a more adventurous route to the top. Specifically, I think there are some options from the North.
Link to the GPX: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f1m19y4hzfsdush/Mt.%20Potosi.gpx
No comments:
Post a Comment