5 miles and 2,700' gain out of Christmas Tree pass south of Searchlight NV. This was mostly a training trip and an excuse to check out the trees at the pass. (GPX download for the route is here)

I had summited Spirit twice before with the most recent trip being around new years 2012.

Turning off of I-95 onto the unpaved but signed Christmas Tree Pass Road. There was a surprising amount of snow on the peaks of the I-95 corridor and the standing water on the road was frozen solid.

At the trailhead just over the pass with the summit now visible in the distance. Close to freezing as I headed out and I opted to wear my jacket and gloves

The initial route had to crest a small ridge before dipping down again. The very early section followed an old roadbed.

Looking back down from the initial ridgeline. The peaks in the distance had cell towers and the area had surprising cell reception given its remoteness

Dipping down to cross the bowl and then start the long climb up Spirit. The route would pass behind that outcropping in the center frame

Now down at the bottom of the slope for nearly the same shot as above

Picked up the use trail once at the bottom. Would follow this all the way to the summit.

Starting up towards the pass. The terrain had been mostly sagebrush up to this point, but started seeing cacti (Cholla and barrels) once on the slope.