[Gimpilator]

Battleship Mountain in the Black Mountains, north of Oatman Arizona, had no recorded of ascents online. The peak features numerous tiers of cliffs, so we brought a rope. Actually we brought two ropes, a mistake of poor communication on my part. We didn’t discover this blunder until late in the day. At first inspection of the map, I thought the north gully would be an optimal place to start our ascent, but later in my studying I switched to the south gully which would allow us to explore the upper east fork of Cottonwood Canyon afterward. If we made good time and weren’t blocked by major dryfalls, we could also climb Nutt Benchmark, the highest peak in the whole group.

Battleship

walk on balanced pipe

dryfall

There was only one significant dryfall in the south gully of Battleship. Josh took several hits from the cholla on the way up. We came to a saddle east of the summit. From there, we traversed the slope on the north side of the mountain westward, below cliffs, to the top of the north gully. We scrambled some class 3 and then we were on the summit. Much easier than either of us expected from such a rugged looking peak. We learned that we were the 8th ascent in the 20 years since the register was placed.

saddle east of summit

peaks to the north

east ridge

traverse

Battleship summit

Boundary Cone

Nutt Mountain hides Nutt Benchmark behind

Battleship

coming down the dryfall

After battleship we went further up Cottonwood Canyon. I found a fresh bighorn carcass which had recently been devoured by a mountain lion. Later we came to an old mining camp scattered with relics and then we passed a few troupes of wild burros. It was along distance over rough rock and minor steps to reach the head of the canyon. Some sections were choked with dense brush.

lions prey

mining relics

pounding rods

burros

south ridge

From the saddle we ascended the south ridge of Nutt Benchmark. There’s a Nutt Mountain further west, but it has virtually no prominence. There were only a couple of hours of daylight left, but I was hoping to get one more for the triple. A lot of partners would have voiced some reservations about the probability of descending the canyon in the dark if we continued, but Josh didn’t mind at all. I’m grateful for his good attitude.

Peak 4975 on the left

Nutt register

Nutt summit

So, we went back to the saddle and went up the north ridge of Peak 4975 navigating around some cliffs and scrambling a little near the end. It was a fine viewpoint and we could finally get a nicer view of Thimble Mountain to the southeast. We didn’t linger long and made sure to get through the thickest of the brush and boulders before full dark set in. Fearful burros snorted at us in the dark.

nearing the summit of Peak 4975

Nutt Mountain (left) and Benchmark (right)

Thimble Mountain

4975

[Fletcher]

Looks like a fun day, that sheep looks like good eaten.

[RichP]

Enjoy that sunshine. It's downright dreary in these here parts.