South Ridge to Cockscomb (near Las Vegas)

Pics by Harlan W S
Aug 26, 2022

I've been to Cockscomb at least 15x since 2003, but I had never tried the South Ridge route described by Branch Whitney (BW). The BW write-up is good, but is meant for a N to S descent. I did a S to N ascent instead. I spent a lot of time confused, did some back-tracking, so I thought I would make this guide with a full track. I tried to put the instructions on a peak-bagging site, but that site randomizes photos.

A gpx file, to use at you own risk, is here. (DON'T just click on link; right-click or long press to get a menu to "download" or "save link".) If you have a single-frequency gps, it may get very
confused on the sides of the steep cliffs.

There are 4 maps to start the page; that is necessary to keep from crowding the image. The 1st map shows the round trip, the 2nd detail shows the location of key photos, and the 3rd detail shows the location of BW waypoints relative to my track, and one area where I suspect the real "trail" is located.

Loop trip.	Detail to show photo locations.	BW waypoints. 11 is off, perhaps from ridge reflections (I used dual frequency gps to avoid that).
Context. Route starts ~1/2 mile up Trail Canyon.	Near location A on map, view E. 2938T (m) is at L, minor peaklet at R. I saw just 1 cairn on way to ridge at far R.	Location B, view SE
just beyond B, view ~S.	Location C, view N. To get to BW point 13, it is easiest to go L (NW) to a loose class 2 ramp (light blue line). However, to get to BW point 12, you need to retrace and follow dark blue L along W side of peaklet, then head N.	Near BW 13, view S.
Location D, view NNE. There is a big cliff in 20'.	Location E. This part of route, on W side of peaklet, was fairly well- cairned.	Location E'. more of route on W side of peaklet, view N
View NE at BW point 12.	Location F, view S. BW 14 is at top of cliff. Topo map => this cliff is 20-30m high (66-98').	Location G, view NNE to peak 2938T. I took ~blue line, but intended route is likely to L (W) of my route.
Location H, view SSW.	Location I, view N.	Location J, view S. Griffith in back of peak 2938T.
Location J. Charleston Peak to W. Joseph's class 4 route to Charleston in shown in blue.	On way down NE side of Cockscomb, View S. This fixed rope appeared recently. I've come up this cliff since Nick and I found the NE route in 2003, and occasionally brought a rope to belay others, but always took it down when I was done.	View from location K (on Trail Canyon trail), view SE, showing initial part of ascent.