LaMadre Traverse on Very Rough Ridge

LaMadre Traverse on Very Rough Ridge (W of Las Vegas, NV)

Pics by Harlan W S
May 23, 2020

I originally planned to do this with my Bud in 2018, then realized the exposure might be a bit over the edge for her. She got much better with exposure; then the Quarantine for COVID-19 hit, among other restrictions. This traverse has been on my list for 16 years, I'm not getting any younger, and I decided this might be the last cool weather for 5 months... so I went for it.

I started hiking from the 4x4 road a bit after 7:32 AM. When I reached the 1st peak (East La Madre) in 2 hrs and 18 minutes, I thought I was in for an easy day. Well, the next 2.5 miles took 3.5 hours, and by the time I reached LaMadre, 5000' accumulated gain later, I was beat. This was the hardest day I've had since a series of illnesses and operations that started 9 months ago. I ended up with over 10 miles.

I first saw this set of peaks from Gottlieb in 2004. My traverse would come up the other side (N) of East La Madre, wind over Fernande, hit LaMadre and then back down a ridge to my car.	The route. Thanks to Chris G. for a track to fill in the gap from the W of East LaMadre, to Fernande. That was a rough section	Context for the previous map.
Early on, desert marigolds an 4 o'clocks blooming at 8AM.	Larkspur	View SW. the peaks I will traverse
View back E to Gottlieb. The N route is generally Class 2	On East LaMadre, view E over Summerlin Peak and Woody	On East LaMadre, view SW, El Padre and La Madre to R. I've been up this peak 4x, from 3 different approaches, and this is the easiest.
The register got wet and faded, but the bottom "9-03" is actually the 11-29-03 entry Steve N, Matt H., Pierre M. and I made when we came from the E.		Charleston Peak center
Now I'm descending generally W off E LaMadre. I had been up this way in 2004, and remembered it as being rugged	Now I'm near the saddle on the W side of E LaMadre looking up at the ridge leading to Fernande	Now I'm NE of Fernande Ridge. I'll go R and around.
View E as I finally reach the notch just below Fernande	View W from same spot. One has an exposed climb R	View ENE over East LaMadre
	Now I head R around this shoulder to continue to Fernande	Another view back at E LaMadre
View W, top of Fernande still out of sight	The register bottle was broken. The bottle had been in good in 2012, so I suspect the next person to sign in left it out in the sun and the UV destroyed it. I meant to bring up a UV-resistant bottle, but forgot
El Padre (L) and La Madre (R).	Almost always the easiest "walking" is right on the edge of a big cliff	View ENE back at Fernande
Again, the rough "walk," which typically involves hopping from boulder to boulder above a big drop.	More typical "walk"	More typical "walk"
Pincushion/Damsel at L, Calico in middle, View from LaMadre	View WSW from top of Madre	Damsel/Pincushion and City of Las Vegas
	Lots of folks up here recently, I guess escaping Quarantine.	SW from LaMadre, over El Padre to sandstone peaks in RRCNCA
View WNW over Charleston	Claret cups on descent to N	LaMadre slide scar with Fernande in back
Slide scar to S. Note debris field at bottom	penstemon	Cliff Rose
East LaMadre to E on descent	Prickly Pear with bugs	Beavertail
Finally, the long pleasant valley NE to my car.	My car and a TRD. A guy was hiking up the canyons.	On the way down, I put my hand on a broken juniper trunk, and got splinters in my hand. One of the splinters apparently hit an artery, and blood spurted when I pulled it out. I'm used to having to stop blood in the field; it isn't easy to tape yourself when your hand is wet with blood.