Manny and I both really liked the Pahrump Point hike we did last season. Rumppah was in the same tiny mountain range with the added bonus of some exposed class three scrambling near the summit. The last time we were here, we camped overnight to get an early start. On this trip, we drove up that morning. The weather was supposed to be good, but the clouds starting out gave me a small pause.
The exposed class three ridge near the summit was fun. I wasn’t sure what to expect and Manny did not have a lot of experience on this kind of terrain. It’s difficult to anticipate how exposed or difficult a crux move is going to be, but after reading trip reports, I opted to bring a rope and some slings just in case. In hindsight, this was overkill. Manny was pretty comfortable up there, but better safe than sorry.
We heard a crack of thunder in the distance just as we crossed the exposed ridge and walked onto the summit.
As expected, the hike was steep all the way to the summit. Clouds rolled as we got close to the summit. We heard a crack of thunder in the distance just as we crossed the exposed ridge and walked onto the summit. Given the weather situation, the 15 minutes we usually spend on the summit turned into 2 minutes. Across the vast expanse of the valley, we saw a storm dumping heavily on the mountains and slowly moving toward us. For the entirety of our descent, I thought the storm would be on our heads long before we reached the valley floor. Fortunately, in the hours of our descent, the storm broke up.
On the way out, we had lunch at our favorite Death Valley haunt: The Crowbar. There is nothing like a Philly cheese steak sandwich piled high with extras after a hard hike. This is a great way to end any adventure.
Elevation Profile
