White Mountain Peak

16-Feb-91

By: John McCully

Dale van Dalsem needs White Mountain to finish the DPS list a second time. The original idea was to finish by April 13, 1991. These days he is shooting for next fall. Last February, when Dale was still pursuing the original plan, we decided to keep him company while he did White Mountain.

The idea was to drive up Millner canyon on a road that runs South of the creek to a mine at 7300 feet. Starting at 4:00 AM we would climb south out of Millner Canyon and then go east up a smooth ridge that parallels Millner Canyon toward Mt. Barcroft. From there the normal road leads up to White Mountain.

The first thing that went wrong was that Dale and Annie Johansen didn't show up. Dale's fuel pump broke in the San Fernando Valley and he had to go back to the Marina to get his second car. The road up Millner canyon is four wheel drive after about 6200 feet and Dale's back up car didn't have a chance. After waiting till 5 AM Wendy and I decided to try it without our leader. It was pitch dark and we chose to head South South West through some cliffs. It took an hour to go the first 600 feet with flashlights and considerable back tracking. Later, in the daylight, we could see a clear way through the cliff. Once we got to 7900 feet all was smooth going until we got over 12.000 feet when a storm came up and it got quite cold. I got one of those little white patches on my face and the water bottles inside our packs started to freeze. At 10 AM we decided to turn back and got to the car about 1PM. Coming down off the smooth ridge we followed a steep qully that goes South South East from the end of the mine.

It would appear that doing White Mountain from this direction would involve about 7000 feet of gain and about 20 miles of walking. Would make nice summertime day hike.