Rainbow Peak without ledges or sanity or rope

pics by Harlan W.S.
May 23, 2010

This started out as a routine trip up Juniper Canyon to Gunsight Notch, with the eventual aim of Rainbow Wall, possibly with an easy exit via Terrace Canyon. This was Peter B’s last week in Vegas this summer. The weather turned, so 4 of our original 8 decided (wisely) to bail down Gunsight Canyon, thence out by Pine Creek. Four of us (me, Barb S, Jim E and Peter B) went on and took a shortcut up the backside of Rainbow Wall… then headed over to Rainbow Peak.

What followed was an adventure of camaraderie, bad conditions (not well-reflected in the sampling of photos), a few nasty surprises, and some ingenuity. By the way, Peter is 76 years old!

The letters on the map indicate some approximate positions for the photos.	About to cross Pine Creek. Rainbow Peak is the mountain at left; Rainbow Wall is in the middle.
In Juniper Canyon, near A.		At B, the start of the tight slot.
Terri goes through the tunnel.		Still near B.
		Looking up at Gunsight Notch.
	Near C. After parting with the rest of the group at Gunsight Notch, we 4 head to Rainbow Wall.
Near D, the shortcut	This was the site of the 1^st miscommunication. I climbed ahead to photograph the others, and suddenly realized they had bypassed me to point E.	Near F, we head to Rainbow Peak; Wilson is visible to S.
Snow clouds start to swirl.
Now we are at point G, heading down the E side of the ridge just W of Rainbow Peak. We started following “new” cairns (well, I hadn’t been here in 6 years) that gave a sketchy route.		Barb at point H, Rainbow Peak.
Note thunderhead behind me. The wind was fierce, but died down a bit for this picture.		View N from just below summit.
Now we start heading down.		Near point I.
	Note the snow.
1^st fixed rope.		2^nd fixed rope, near point J. Now it’s miserable; wet snow and wet, mossy rock. We have to climb up over wet slippery slabs.
When we got down to K… surprise! the last 120’ fixed rope was gone. Peter’s hands were incredibly cold. With some good ingenuity from Barb and Jim, we set up a belay.	Sad wet primroses.	For irony, we saw a muted rainbow.
View back at Rainbow Peak (L) and Rainbow Wall (middle).	Wet Larkspur.
Wet indigobush.	View back up Pine Creek to Mescalito.	What the Hell were we thinking?