Asbestos Mountain (Ping's List Finish!)
Asbestos Mountain - Ping finishes the list!
Private hike led by Mars Bonfire
27 October 2001
We're sooooooooo happy! She's done it, Ping Pfeffer has done it!
This diminutive but determined lady has climbed every peak on the HPS
list!
Many of us (Pat and Frank Arredondo, Doris Duval, Joanne Griego,
Barbara Guerin, Brian and Karen Leverich, Dave Michaels, Martin
Parsons, Byron Prinzmetal, and Ingeborg Prochazka) were lucky enough
to join her last Saturday
south of Palm Desert, and followed her and Mars Bonfire to the top of
her last undone peak: Asbestos Mountain. Statistically, the hike
doesn't sound like that much trouble, a mere 2 miles round trip, and
800' of gain. But don't let the numbers fool you. Ping saved a very
worthy peak for her list finish. This was definitely not a drive up!
It is definitely a desert peak, but Ping as usual had ordered up good
weather -- it was clear and cool. After a short stroll across the
desert floor, stepping carefully around cholla and other botanical
hazards,
we ascended a steep, rocky gully, with footing sufficiently
challenging that some of us abandoned our poles part of the way up.
We took our time, enjoying the terrain, the scenery, the excellent
company.
Once atop the summit plateau, Mars led us around the summit in a
clockwise direction, mumbling something about how =every= rockpile was
topped by a dead tree, and looked more or less alike. Byron and
Barbara split off and went straight up, presumably meeting us at the
top. (I arrived a bit behind the group, having tangled with a boulder
that proved more difficult for me to scramble across than it had for
anyone else in the group, oh well!, so I don't actually know if Byron
and Barbara got there first or not.) But it was the right summit,
complete with register, so the Peak Police needn't be concerned: Ping
well and truly finished the list. (We did attempt to convince her
that the Management Committee had met in the emergency session the
evening before and added a dozen new tough peaks to the list, but she
wouldn't have any of it.)
Ping triumphant:
Ping had requested that we not celebrate on the summit - she preferred
that we wait to party until we met at a restaurant afterwards. But
since when have we ever paid the slightest bit of attention to advice
like that? Pat poured out sparkling grape juice so we could all toast
Ping,
Dave Michaels had brought not only brownies but certificates (one
written in Chinese) honoring Ping for her achievement and Mars for his
essential assistance along the way. Brian took about eighty million
photos, until we all got bored of posing and smiling and threatened to
throw him off a cliff.
She was so jazzed, I think Ping would have agreed to anything. For
instance, maybe not paying as close of attention as she ought to have
done, she seemingly agreed to carry Byron's water up Big Rabbit in
return for $100. And I know we were coaxing her into becoming a
leader and leading the list. I think she did agree to get an "O"
rating and help newcomers get started. Not to mention working with
Pat and Joanne and others to help them finish the list. I'm soooooo
glad, I was worried that finishing the list might mean we'd not see
Ping again. But we will. Hurrah!
The hike itself hadn't been =too= challenging, but getting back to the
cars didn't mean our challenges were over for the day. First, there
was the small matter of Dave's car. The drive to the trailhead had
included a stretch of deeply rutted sandy road, and Dave's 2WD Detroit
sedan hadn't coped as well as it might. It was, in fact, totally
stuck. But he'd been such a good guy, bringing brownies and the
certificates, that it didn't seem entirely right to leave him there,
stranded, while the rest of us went off to party. So first the men
attempted to push the car out, but that didn't work, it was too stuck.
Dave luckily (had this happened to him before sometime?) had a tow
cable, so Brian attached it to our Jeep, and in short order we had
Dave's car rolling again.
The next challenge, and it was an annoying one, was working our way
through all the weekend traffic back to Palm Springs. Many knew of
the road work being done on CA 111, and went by an alternate route.
We didn't, and so didn't. No matter, everyone seemed to arrive at the
restaurant at the same time.
The restaurant is one Ping had learned about from Huell Howser's
California Gold -- Nature's Express. All the food is vegetarian, but
you wouldn't necessarily think so, eating it. We ordered hamburgers
and tacos, enjoyed mysterious but presumably healthy beverages, and
finished up with tasty sundaes. Martin had contacted Huell Howser
himself, and he came to the restaurant to congratulate Ping.
Unfortunately, we just missed him -- he was driving off as we drove
up. But Joe Young and his wife Jeri Marston were there already
waiting for us, and they had chatted with him. He left a note with
them for Ping.
This entire day was so much fun, I attempted to convince Barbara
Guerin that she'd already hiked (but had somehow forgotten doing so)
the Big Three and Big Rabbit. Why? So that when she reached the top
of Black Mountain #4 the next day, it would be =her= list finish, and
we could party some more. I really think she was receptive to this
fine idea. Why do I think she'd have a better turn out at her list
finish if it were on Black #4 rather than the Big Three or Big Rabbit?
Oh well, no one ever listens to me! (And yes, she did do Black #4 the
next day, so is now down to only those four easy peaks. Who's going
to join her? I certainly hope to!)