Trip report
Mar 14, 2020 — Pyramid Peak is a major summit of the Funeral Mountains, and within the greater Amargosa Range. It towers over the CA-190 highway for visitors entering Death Valley National Park. I’m really starting to love peaks around Death Valley the more I do them, beautiful routes and wide open views drawing me back.
Kailey and I set out from a small dirt lot next to a free BLM campground. We traversed the desert toward a wide drainage to the north, turning left up a prominent wash once we were nestled between the hills. A social trail led up a minor ridge out of the drainage, bringing us to the primary approach ridge, which would generally take us northwest to the summit. We mostly stuck to the crest of this ridge, encountering a few Class 2 sections.
About halfway up the ridge, we laughed at an absurdly steep-looking scree slope, thinking we would have to ascend this. However, a Class 2 colorful gully weakness took us up to a route that switchbacked just to the left of the scree slope, avoiding the worst of it. At the top of the slope, we followed pleasant terrain along a mostly short flat section with great views toward Death Valley National Park’s gorgeous landscape.
Just past the small section of flat, the final 800 feet or so of vertical gain consisted of a steep section on black rock, then keeping left around a series of steep rock pinnacles. A well-traveled social trail keeps the route low Class 2. A final slope brought us to the summit, where we took in some really amazing views.