Cross Mountain, Butterbredt Peak, Mayan Peak, Nicolls Peak

17-18 January 1970

By: How Bailey

Leader: How Bailey
Asst.: Lew Hill

This trip managed to go as scheduled, miraculously sandwiched in between two storms just as if it had been planned that way. There were some light drizzles on the way up Cross, and it was a little raw on top as were just at the base of a cloud, the view fluctuating rapidly between sunny hillsides and a white-out. The 500-ft. scree-run down is almost worth the trudge up. With the weather greatly improved, Butterbredt was uneventful, except for the arrival of Paul Lipsohn who had hitch-hiked from Robbers Roost. We camped in a oak grove at the site of Sageland; whereupon a couple of tigers charged up Mayan, and seven of us in a couple of bugs drove around via Walker Pass to rescue Paul's orange monster from a sandpile.

It was frosty in the morning and pretty nippy for the exploratory up Mayan, so without dilly-dallying, 22 of us made the 1700' in 1:05 to 1:15. The recent rains made the sandy slope firmer than usual, but the view of snow in the Domelands-Olancha area made us even colder, so we ran down in 15 minutes! We behaved ourselves on Nicolls, the hardest and most interesting of the four peaks. There is a bit of rock on top, and a very picturesque view of Lake Isabella. Temperatures under a high thin overcast were ideal for hiking, and a good time was had by all of a very congenial group.