Sisters South Peak | Lee Canyon | Spring Mountains, Nevada скачать в хорошем качестве

Sisters South Peak | Lee Canyon | Spring Mountains, Nevada

Sisters South Peak | Lee Canyon | Spring Mountains, Nevada | Visit https://lasvegasareatrails.com/sister... | Apologies for the lost audio during a large part of this video filming! Bad mic connection. I added notes to point out views and trail junctions. This route to the summit of the Sisters South peak (elevation 10,197ft) begins 6:30am at a parking area on Lee Canyon Road across from the Old Mill Picnic area. Two reasons why parking here is a good choice are 1) Old Mill Picnic Area is a fee area. 2) More importantly, at 6:30am the gate to the Old Mill Picnic area was closed. It’s the third weekend in June and temperatures in the Las Vegas Valley are close to 100 degrees. However, it’s under 40 degrees during parts of this adventure! That’s a 60-degree differential today! We start out on foot up the asphalt road in the Old Mill Picnic Area, pass 3 gates locked to motor vehicles, and just above the upper of 3 picnic areas a wide trail bordered with a row of stones on each side branches off to the right from the main road. After about 1/4th mile on that trail another very obscure, narrow use trail branches off to the right. You could easily miss it. This is the trail that will take you all the way to the final summit approach of the Sisters South Peak. Being my first time in the area and not knowing that this small use trail went all the way to the summit, I jumped the gun and headed up a ridge that seemed more direct. It was quite a slope, nearly one foot elevation gain per step! I call it “The Slope of Death”. Yes, it was more direct, the views were more spectacular, but the steep, loose rock ascent was relentless! As you ascend near the 9,000ft point the majestic bristlecone pines begin to appear, and then totally take over around 9,700ft. The views are spectacular including Charleston and Lee Peaks and Mummy Mountain to the East and the entire North Rim of Kyle Canyon between Lee Peak and Mummy Mountain. To the West, McFarland and Macks Peaks began to emerge along with the ridgetop traversed by the Bonanza Trail. Below is the lower Bristlecone Pine Trail and the Lee Canyon Ski Area. Around 9,500ft in elevation I topped a ridge and noticed a use trail heading toward the summit. Turns out the use trail was the continuation of the very same trail I had left earlier. It took a longer, more round-about, gradual route to the summit than “The Slope of Death”. I know this because I later returned by that use trail. Looking at the Sisters South Peak from the South, the closer you get you begin to notice that there are two summits, an Eastern summit on the right and a Western summit on the left. These are guarded by towering sheer vertical cliffs. However, between the two summit areas there is a more gradual ascent weaving up to the summits. The trail weaves around and up through this more gradual mid-section on the South side of the Sisters South Peak. It’s class 2 all the way to the Eastern summit (on the right). From the Eastern Summit I there are spectacular 360-degree views including the Northern Las Vegas Valley, Gass Peak, points in Lee Canyon from the ski area and Lee Peak all the way down to the Sheep Range, the Hwy 95 corridor North, the Sisters North Peak, and points from Mummy Mountain all the way to Charleston Peak. The Western summit (on the left) is a bit more challenging. There is a class 3 final approach section, perhaps 50-100ft long and not too difficult. If you’re continuing on from the Sisters South to the Sisters North, you need to ascend this stretch to the top of the Western summit, then head down a ridge to the saddle between the Sisters South and the Sisters North Peaks. The approach to the summit of the Sisters North Peak is on the Eastern ridge (left side). On this day I turned around at the Sisters South, Western summit leaving the rest to be explored on future adventures.