Starting up toward the saddle in the center, Hamblin Butte on the right.
Class 2 to Hamblin Butte.
Looking east toward Basalt Peak (later), the saddle I came up from just below.
Basalt Peak summit looking north toward the Muddy Mountains.
Basalt Peak summit, looking at my route. Pinto West Peak is on the right. Hamblin Mountain West center left. The notch in the center is where I came through on my way back. The ridge visible on the right to potentially gain Pinto West Peak is riddled with cliffs, so keep right of it.
Traversing the desert. The ridge in the center is the one I mentioned previously not to take. Continue right to the ridge way over there.
Heading up to the ridge via small washes.
Ascending the ridge toward Pinto West Peak.
Pinto West Peak summit looking toward the Muddy Mountains. Hamblin Butte visible center right.
Pinto West Peak summit, Lake Mead in the distance. You can see Auxiliary Point left of center out there. Next up is the traverse from Pinto West Peak to Peak 2867, seen center.
Descending the Class 2/3 stuff on the south side of Pinto West Peak, roughly along the ridge crest.
There were lots of little zig-zags around small cliff obstacles along the crest, nothing exceeding Class 3.
Nearing the saddle. I'll be returning there after Peak 2867. The ridgeline itself is gnarly, so the route I took to Peak 2867 navigates the steep, loose nonsense toward the center of this pic. I then reached the ridgeline just right of the first bump on the left. This is where I reached a false summit.
View back up at the ridge cliffies from Pinto West Peak, seen from the saddle.
View back on my way up Peak 2867. Pinto West Peak seen on the left.
From the false summit, a view of the true high point. I continued left here, taking a Class 2 diagonal chute in the center of this photo. From there, I stayed high and wrapped around the summit block on its left.
View back as I near the base of the summit block.
Peak 2867 summit, view southeast.
Peak 2867 summit, view southwest.
Back at the saddle separating the two peaks, I took this gully to descend into the wash to the east.
Looking back up the gully I came down, Pinto West Peak on the top right somewhere.
Continuing down the wash.
Long walk in the wash to get down to Auxiliary Point.
Class 3 dryfall that I opted to skip on the descent, but used to ascend on the way back out.
Taking the high road rather than going down the Class 3 dryfall toward Auxiliary Point (visible top right).
Close-up of Rufus Cove, where the wash I was following to get down here drains into.
Continuing toward Auxiliary Point.
Hamblin Bay, view looking west.
Auxiliary Point view. This is a really relaxing peninsula on Lake Mead.
View north toward Canyon Point in the center, a previous route I did. Love this area.
View looking back toward the way I came. You can see Pinto West Peak in the center, Hamblin Mountain West to the right of it, and the notch formed by the wash I used to get here.
Close-up of the end of the wash into Rufus Cove. I chose to take this back and give the Class 3 dryfall a go at an upclimb. The notch in the center is where I'm headed to get back.
At the top of the wash after ascending for a few miles.
Top of the wash looking north toward Hamblin Butte (center).
Headed through the desert toward my bonus peak: Basalt Peak (center).
Summit of Basalt Peak on the right.
Basalt Peak summit, looking west toward Hamblin Butte (right) and Pinto West Peak (left).
Basalt Peak view looking northwest, Muddy Mountains on the top right. I decided to go down a series of ridges somewhere in this photo to get back to my car.
Close-up of the Muddy Mountains on my way back.
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