KOFA National Wildlife Refuge, 1995

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Carl, Laird and Tom on top of Ten Ewe Mountain, March 25 1995

KOFA is an acronym for the King OF Arizona, the name of a sliver mine that was active in this region.

Patsy and I, Tom, Jane, Carl and Fred met at 7.15 pm Friday evening at our house. We piled into our three 4WD vehicles and headed off east on I8. We reached El Centro at 9.30 and stopped to pick up Laird at his house. Trying to misdirect me twice on the two mile drive between his house and the freeway, it is easy to understand why Laird has a reputation for getting lost.

We reached the Palm Canyon turnoff at midnight (KOFA is the only place in Arizona where palm trees, Washingtonia filifera, otherwise known as California fan palms, are to be found). We drove down this until we turned north on the dirt road that heads to KOFA Queen Canyon. We pulled off to the side of the road and crashed for the night. In future, I would drive the 4.6 miles down that road and camp at the picturesque rise just before the road enters the canyon. In the morning, we continued driving into the canyon and stopped at the mouth of Indian and Ten Ewe canyons.

On Saturday we climbed Ten Ewe, a moderate scramble from the cars. The view was outstanding. The summit register contained the entry of only one other party, Mark Adrian, Richard Carey, Gail Hanna et al. We returned to the cars in time not only to drive to the road's end at KOFA Queen Mine but also to eat dinner in daylight!

Dinner was excellent. Thanks to the constant encouragement of Betty Hobert, I decided to bring along the Coleman camp oven. This was a definite asset. Not only did we enjoy hot crusty Italian bread with our preprandial glass of Merlot but we enjoyed hot apple pie for desert. Now we only have to work on the ice cream.

We awoke at 5.30 am Sunday morning, early enough that we were able to reach the base of KOFA Pinnacle (Squaw Peak) at 9.30 am. This peak is a miniature Shiprock.

Patsy and I were unable to identify the route that we had attempted two years ago. Instead, we chose what turned out to be a much worse route. We toiled upward. I led a squeeze chimney pitch of rating 5.6 or thereabouts. Scholars might one day argue whether this was truly a 5.6 or merely a 5.3. Whosoever cares can repeat the climb. This was the most rotten climb I have ever done. I threw potential holds over my right shoulder after they failed the structural integrity test. I employed my cleaning tool for gardening in the back of the chimney, clearing sufficient debris so as to be able to place protection. After much struggling, I managed to reach a cave at the top of the chimney, just 100 feet below the summit. I secured myself in the cave and belayed up Tom, who was adamant in his refusal to continue further. It did seem pretty hopeless. On good granite, we would have attempted the delicate friction moves that led left and up another chute but on this "rock", it would have been insanity.

We had no choice but to retreat. Tom had trailed another rope and had clipped that rope, during his ascent, into all the protection in the chimney. We set up a rappel anchor, four pieces in rotten rock. I tied into the rope that Tom had trailed and also into the rappel anchor. I had Jane, down below, tie off the second rope. That way, there were approximately fourteen pieces between Tom, myself and certain death. Tom rappelled off safely. I removed two of the rappel pieces, leaving a #0.5 Lowe Tricam and a #7 Chouinard stopper. I tied these off with a long sling, draped the end over the edge and doubled the rappel rope through the loop. I asked Jane to put me on belay, drawing in the slack as I descended. Pretty spooky, going off that edge on those marginal pieces. As I descended, I removed the protection that I had placed on lead. I too reached the others safely.

Once again KOFA Pinnacle has beaten us. This time, I was even more chagrined because I was forced to leave two pieces of pro behind, despoiling Wilderness values. I lay no claim on them. If they are ever retrieved, they are yours to keep.

Now I have a real vendetta on this peak. We have sworn to return next spring for another attempt but this won't be a Sierra Club trip either. This time we will carry a pair of high-powered binoculars, climb Old Smokey on Saturday and survey the summit of KOFA Pinnacle. On Sunday we will attempt Squaw again.

In compensation for our disappointment, however, KOFA offered its usual rewards. There were no other people, we were deep in this mountain fastness and the bajadas were resplendent with wildflowers.