Trip report
Jun 12, 2019 — The traverse from North Macks Peak to Macks Peak follows a mostly loose, sometimes quite fun limestone route in the Spring Mountains. Though it mostly doesn't follow the scary-looking crest, there are a couple of exposed sections on loose rock that require care. The views are great and the route-finding is reasonable and interesting. If you're looking for an easier ascent for Macks Peak (the high point) without doing too much scary scrambling, check out this route instead. Austin and I parked on the side of the road leading into Macks Canyon, about a mile before the official trailhead. We went up a wide gully that led to a slope leading west. A big, dark-colored rock pinnacle appeared on the right, and it would serve as our lighthouse to avoid the sheer cliffs of North Macks Peak's eastern side. We headed as directly as we could for this pinnacle, going up and down in small gullies along the slope. We kept to the right of the pinnacle and pulled a likely avoidable Class 3 move to get onto the northeast side of North Macks Peak, where we encountered a steep, loose slope that led around to the northwest side of North Macks Peak. We also had some snow to deal with that required care, and we did so by enjoying a few fun Class 3 moves on sticky limestone slabs, likely avoidable without snow around. We found ourselves just below North Macks Peak's summit, where a knife-edge led to the top. It was actually a really pretty, and fairly exposed little summit scramble.
From the summit of North Macks Peak, we inspected the gorgeous ridge crest leading to Macks Peak. Fortunately, there is a route just to the west, avoiding a likely Class 5 horrifying-looking fin. Immediately on the southwest side of North Macks, we got to some loose Class 3, and then a Class 4 downclimb. A static line was there, and we were really happy for it, because to the left was a sheer drop and the right wasn't much better. The holds are all there, but the rock quality was dubious. Note that on a second visit, the static line was gone and this was certainly a Class 4 move.
After the Class 4 section, we side-hilled along the base of the crest, just beneath large limestone slabs, slowly descending to avoid the cliffs. We descended a bit too far, avoiding the slabs, but then worked back up along base of the cliffs until we saw a rope dangling from a tree. This was only tricky because we had snow at its base. Without the rope, the climb would require some thought, but isn't harder than Class 3+. Otherwise, there isn't any exposure, but the slope is steep and a fall would likely be pretty bad.
Once we got over the second significant obstacle section, we pulled a couple more Class 3 moves marked by cairns, and then followed a steep Class 2 slope leading up to the ridge crest. Macks Peak became visible ahead to the south. We followed the crest pretty much directly to the summit, encountering on a few more Class 3 sections and some fun and easy slab. The views on Macks Peak are probably my favorite I've had in the Spring Mountains, mostly due to the perspective toward Mummy Mountain and Charleston Peak.
A heavily-worn and well-cairned social trail leads down some Class 2+ from Macks Peak's summit, then follows a ridge with great views in all directions. We lost the cairns about a quarter mile from the Macks Canyon Trail, and descended a gully. The trail is flat and pleasant and we made it back to the car in one piece.