Avoiding a Strikeout on White Rock Pinnacle

If you have any interest in hiking and scrambling in the Las Vegas area, Red Rock Canyon in particular, then you have seen the picture: a narrow, wildly exposed ridge of bare sandstone, sometimes with a person perched precariously atop it and taken from an angle that makes the ridge look incredibly steep as well.

My version from a wet summer's day:


This is White Rock Pinnacle, which looks impressive in many pictures but in reality is only a minor outcrop on massive Mount Wilson, the highest sandstone peak in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Nevertheless, it has exposure that may feel sickening to almost anyone who is not a seasoned climber (and may still spook many of them), and the route, though not long, is a lot of fun, being Class 4 at the very least and about 5.4 at the hardest (explained later).

I have seen this route described as the best, most thrilling, or most exposed hike in the Vegas area, but let me assure you that it is not a mere hike. Anyone who is purely a trail hiker or Class 2 hiker is not going to like this route at all. There are several spots of Class 3, a Class 4-5.4 short wall, a Class 4 chimney, an exposed Class 3/4 canyon wall, and then the final stretch to the summit, which is mostly Class 2 with a little 3 but hideously exposed the whole way, especially on the south side.

But for anyone experienced with Class 4 terrain, the route is fun and not that scary (when dry), and despite suggestions you may see in some sources to have a rope, I really don't think one is necessary unless there are bad weather conditions or someone in your party has never gone beyond Class 3.

Anyway, I got an itch to climb this peak, so climb it is what I did, or thought I would do, when my family and I went out to visit my parents in Vegas last spring.

Strike One: April 4-- Wrong Route

Entirely my fault.

In a guidebook I own, the author mentions that the gully to access if one wants to climb the peak is the southernmost gully on the eastern face of the mountain.

He is right. Here is where I screwed up: I judged the southernmost gully on the east face based on what I could see from the Scenic Drive through RRCNCA.

And here is also where I paid a price for being one of the Luddites without a smartphone: With one, I could have pulled up the SP route page. There would have been two benefits to that. First, I would have easily seen and gone into the correct gully. Second, I would have easily seen and gone into the correct gully.

You see, the gully is not visible, or I missed it if it is, from the Scenic Drive, and from the trailhead, the correct gully looks unclimbable. As the route page says, "As you approach the gully, it appears a sheer wall hundreds of feet high blocks the gully about halfway up. This is only an illusion!"

And the route page includes a picture that leaves no doubt as to which is the correct gully.

So even though my gut was saying I should try the "unclimbable" gully, especially since the other did not seem to lead to a peak with exposure anything like the pictures of White Rock Pinnacle suggested, I ruled out the dead-end route and proceeded with approaching the "correct" gully.

Surprise! Failure!

Even though I had my doubts, I headed off to what I thought was the correct gully. Conditions in the gully were harder and brushier than I had expected them to be, but I kept working my way through and up. As I became more and more convinced that I was going the wrong way, the going was also getting harder, and eventually I found myself climbing on Class 5 rock. It was a cloudy but warm day, and I had packed a rope and other necessary gear because I understood that a fixed line traditionally at the hardest part of the route might not be there anymore, so I was hot, sweaty, dirty, and not enjoying unprotected Class 5 climbing with about 30 pounds on my back. Finally, I gave up and headed back, determined to study the route description more carefully or find out if I had been in the wrong gully.

For the record, it turned out I was in the gully to the right of what is labeled as Gully 2 in this picture. Below is my own photo which shows Mount Wilson, White Rock Pinnacle, Dead Horse Point, and both the correct gully and the one I was in. White Rock Pinnacle is the bump way out on the left edge, and the gully where the route is is just below and right of it.

Strike Two: Friday the 13th #1-- Weather

A bit over a week later, I went back, certain of the route this time. The problem, though, was the weather. Dawn was featuring moody, threatening skies, but the sun was breaking out, too, and I hoped the sun would win. In the meantime, I enjoyed the lighting:

Images

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