Havasuper Peak

January 4, 2022

445m

Lake Havasu, AZ

“Havasuper Peak” is the unofficial name of an interesting summit in The Needles about halfway between Lake Havasu City, AZ and Needles, CA. This peak itself is a fairly straightforward but boasts a vertical, if not overhanging east face and offers probably the best views in this area. The two towers to the east, “Gold Dome” and “South Dome” are much harder climbs but if one happens to be in this area it’s worth to add “Havasuper Peak” into the day. Earlier in the day Adam, Sean and I had climbed “Gold Dome” and “South Dome“. We only had about two hours’ daylight time but opted to scramble this add-on objective nonetheless.

Ascents of Gold Dome, South Dome, Havasuper Peak. GPX DL

Again, none of us had done much research about “Havasuper Peak” but the route was rather straightforward. We crossed the broad basin and ascended towards a gap on Havasuper Peak’s south ridge and then traversed onto the SW Face. As soon as the terrain made sense we ascended mostly class 2 slabs to get back onto the south ridge, and then easily followed the ridge to the summit. The scrambling was rather tame but the views were killer from this peak. Looking back at the two towers with routes facing us was extremely satisfying.

“Havasuper Peak” and its shear east face
Looking back at South Dome and that intermediate dome
Wrapping around this imposing buttress on Havasuper Peak’s south ridge
Sean traversing onto the SW Face of Havasuper Peak
Adam plodding up the typical class 2 slabs
Sean back onto the south ridge, now with Gold Dome behind
Sean and I plodding up the upper south ridge with “South Dome” behind
A full view of Gold Dome and its west face that we climbed earlier
Summit Panorama from Havasuper Peak. Click to view large size.
A closer look at South Dome and the route we climbed facing us
Colorado River to the north
This is still Colorado River but is also the start of Lake Havasu
This is still Colorado River but looking south
Me on the summit of Havasuper Peak with South Dome behind

The no-brainer option would be descending the same route back to Havasuper/Gold Dome pass and out the same way we came in, but none of us was keen on that undulating approach. Sean and I checked the maps and threw out the idea to do a full traverse of Havasuper Peak from south to north and return via an exploratory route. Adam needed a bit of convincing but I ensured that this route would definitely “go” without any technical difficulty. The traverse to the north turned out harder than I thought, but still in the realm of “class 2” for most of the time. We did not stay entirely on the ridge crest but mostly traversed across the west side of the ridge. We traversed all the way to the very far NW end of the ridge before dropping NE into the desert basins and washes. We then linked up two washes with the final 2 km re-ascending about 50 vertical meters back to Sean’s Jeep. We got back just before needing head-lamps.

Sean and Adam on Havasuper Peak’s NW Ridge heading down
Another view of Gold Dome
Sean jogging down the ridge crest
Gold Dome from a deep gap on Havasuper Peak’s NW ridge
Sean and Adam descending probably the hardest part of the NW Ridge
The NW Ridge and the summit of Gold Dome poking behind Sean
Sean taking over the lead for a while traversing across the west slopes
Sean and Adam traversing easy slopes and wide benches
It’s sunset time, at last
We traversed all the way to the far NW end of the ridge
Back onto the NW Ridge crest, looking at those two unnamed nipples
The dusk horizon to the north
Sean and Adam checking out some cool formations in the washes
Those two unnamed nipples again. I wondered who’s climbed them…

The drive-out from the gate was confusing and sketchy to say the least but Sean’s killer Jeep made this job possible. I should have recorded the drive-in GPX file as we briefly got lost on the way out. Thankfully we had the satellite images all preloaded so we eventually did figure it out. The three of us then drove north to Needles, CA to meet up with Rob Woodall again in another Adam’s favourate Mexican restaurant. A few hours later the four of us drove north back to Adam’s house in Las Vegas in three separate vehicle. That night I got to reconnect with Sean’s wife, Asaka. This was the end of Adam’s trip and the next few days I would team up with Rob Woodall for some Ribus bagging.