Arctic Point

My brother Mark and I on the summit of Arctic Point

18 APRIL 2021 W6/CT-051

After spending the night at an AirBnB in Big Bear we loaded up my aging Audi A4 and bounced along the dirt roads out to the Holcomb Valley. The Hundred Peaks Section description of the drive warns that the dirt roads in this area are confusing and they aren’t kidding

We found that we could not drive a passenger car to the end of this route and had to park well short of the Harvey K mine. Our hike was a little over 2 miles and had about 1,000 feet of elevation gain. It was a beautiful day and a very pleasant hike. We only got into one brushy section after the route leaves the road. This can be avoided by staying on the north side of the ridge in the cross-country section. The hike took us about 2 hours moving at a very leisurely pace.

There was a bit of wind after the front from yesterday blew through. We were on Keller Peak yesterday and had a brief snow shower. This wind was pretty cold but Arctic Point is forested with a lot of trees that provide a wind break and good antenna support. Only 20m seemed to be working, but I managed 5 summit-to-summit contacts. Propagation on 20mm was strange with three contacts to Georgia but nothing else past Missouri. Three summit-to-summit contacts were in Oregon. Cell phone coverage from Verizon was good and I was able to self-spot via SOTA Goat.

The register only went back to November of last year with only one sign-in. We were the first to sign in this year. This was my 177th summit on the Sierra Club’s Hundred Peak Section list. Here is the [somewhat outdated] climbing guide on Arctic Point from the HPS list: