[steven hatcher]

Hurrah for Nevada! The thing I like best about JW's pictures, besides the beautiful shots of aspens, is that if you look up and away from the subject of the pic you can see at least one if not two or more mountain ranges. And that's also what I like best about Nevada. Endless.

Welcome to Elko atg200. Wish I was there to take you out myself. In fact, I will be but not until the end of Jan, in which case you might be gone. Anyway, the Rubies are great for skiing as you have hopefully experienced. But as you have probably experienced, Lamoille Canyon can be a nightmare of petrol fumes and noise from snowmobiles. Plus, you're right, the eleven mile skin to the top of the canyon sort of defeats the purpose.

There are options, however. Unfortunately, apparently, all the old posts about NV skiing have vanished. If you must go up Lamoille Canyon try both the Right Hand fork canyon--the first big canyon on your right--or, and much better, Thomas Canyon--the second canyon on your right. From the campground it's about a three mile climb up to the back bowls but there are far fewer snowmobiles that get that way. (Technically, there not supposed to be there at all as it's a wilderness area but that's old school Western politics for you and better saved for a different post.)

But I would advise you to explore the east side of the Rubies or the Humbolt Range out of Wells. Access is sometimes difficult (I can email you some starting points if you want) but the payoff is much greater than Lamoille Canyon. In brief look for access points at the Krenka Creek Ranch, about two miles south of Secret Pass. Depending on how far you can drive up the dirt road the approach is rather short and will put you smack dab on top of the Ruby Crest when you finish. Then take your pick of lines.

On the other end, the Harrison Pass end, you have the Green Mtn bowls that you can see right from the main road.

On the north side you have John Day Canyon--another long, flat approach. And in the Humbolts you have a couple decent access spots. Also, think about the Independence Range, about an hour's drive north toward Wildhorse Reservoir.

I can give you more details but I don't want to usurp JW's nice post. At any rate, with a little effort you can ski in complete isolation and without any noise and interference--except for maybe a few mountainlions.

Cheers!

[funhog]

Lookin Good, I spy 2 dogs in the 2nd set...you are off the hook!

[tele mark]

Nice TR! good idea on doing a continual TR for the area, make's it easy to check one thread for an ongoing conditions report. Nice pix as well, keep 'em coming!

[jw]

Thanksgiving weekend left us with some snow to be thankful for this year. On top of that I was very thankful that Anna has such great Grandparents. Not only did they come for a visit and help make Thanksgiving a family event they also allowed me to get away for a day and sample the new snow we had.
I headed for the Schell Creeks thinking about the possibilities along the way. When I arrived at the road leading into my favorite stashes I was greeted with this view.


The drive up this snowy road involved many pauses for deer crossing the road. This gave me time to contemplate my route for the day. The snow was so plentiful that I decided to ski a south facing aspen bowl. I had often looked at that bowl but usually pushed into the mountains further to get some steeper lines. On this day with so much snow and the resulting potential for some really loaded slopes it seemed like this bowl was the obvious choice.
Another beautiful point about this bowl is the nearly non-existent approach before the climb begins. I’m so used to mile or two approaches that this was almost too much of a shock for the system. Despite the shock I adjusted quickly and put the heel lifts down for my ascent.

The dogs and I had not gone very far when we bumped into a cow and calf elk hanging out in an aspen grove. They moved up into the sage and let us pass, the dogs wanted to greet them close up but the snow was deep enough to prevent them from getting close without me having to yell at them. The elk had also been kinda enough to have broken a trail down to that grove from another grove of trees up the mountain further. This gave me a welcome reprieve from breaking trail for a little bit.





Checking slope angles along the way up I never found anything steeper than 30 degrees and those pitches were mostly small roll overs in openings scattered amongst the aspen grove. For the most part the pitches were 20 to 25 degrees and the snow was very stable.



As I reached the top of the bowl I was greeted with north winds blowing hard. I went from hot to cold very quickly. The winds were blowing a good steady 20 plus mph. Another good reason to be spending most of my time down in the protected bowl. I did manage to stay on the ridge long enough for some pictures of other tempting slopes.






Looking down at my intended route I remembered that these were going to be my first turns of the season. Thinking back I couldn’t remember a season that my first turns were going to be in sweet knee deep powder. Yeehaa!!!!
The dogs seemed excited about it to although they had to stick in my tracks for the most part as the snow was too deep for them to blaze their own trail.







The ski down was superb with the only downside being a few flat spots along the way where I had to let the skis run straight to maintain speed lest I just come to a stop on each turn. Those flat benches weren’t very long and didn’t take away from the descent at all.


At the bottom I decided that I would ski a different line on my next run. This one would involve reaching a more westerly face with a good 25 to 30 degree pitch on the top 500 feet or so of the slope.

Reaching the last bit of this ascent I quickly dug a pit and checked the snow pack. No obvious weaknesses and a green light Rutshblock test gave me the confidence to ascend this last pitch to the ridge top. I could tell by some of the vegetation that most likely in years past some of this slope had slid but today there was nothing going down the mountain except for me.
On the final switchback I went by an old bristlecone pine that reminded me I was in Nevada. Not because it was a Bristlecone but because of the empty cartridges wedged into the trunk.

The view were also reminders of how beautiful Nevada is with a snow blanket.



The ski down was all I could want it to be with the snow being deeper on this aspect.



OoooooHooooo!!!!!
I enjoyed the last moments of the day soaking in the ecstatic light of the aspen alpen glow.

Darkness set in on the drive home and with it a fully satisfied feeling overtook me, first days like this remind me of why I love playing on the mountains in the winter.
First days are hard to beat and one like this is bound to keep me searching for similar days all winter long.
I hope the Christmas holiday season brings some snow like this. Come on Santa, bring some North Pole like weather.
Happy Holidays everyone!

[powderjunkie]

WOW JW,

What a first day of the season. Beautiful snow, scenery and pooches.

NEVADA, NEVADA, NEVADA

[Adski]

HEy JW-
Nice backyard. I met Dan at a training for work a couple of weeks ago in Heber. He is a great guy. We talked about skiing in GBNP. He's familiar with the area. Sounds like a trip is in the works for May. Rock and roll!
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And now...let the wild rumpus start!

[Eric O]

Intense, stark beauty. Thank you.

[gwest]

Nice pics JW. Glad to see what the NV snowpack looks like. Glad to see what skiing in NV looks like. Whereabouts in NV are you?

[ski_tioga]

looks like I need to stop by on my way to alta
_________________
at both ends of the social spectrum there lies a leisure class

[jw]

gwest wrote

[jfb]

Dooood!
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"It's turns! 'Course it's worth the hike" -MrP

[joesnow]

Total solitude and beauty...... unimaginable for most of us.

Keep 'em coming.

[Tri-Ungulate]

steven h,

We were driving back from California on I-80 yesterday and I was wondering about the Rubies as well as the Humboldt Range out of Wells. I'd been up to the peak above Angel Lake south of town during the fall, but not when there was snow on the ground – is that the area you're talking about?

Again, thanks for the thread JW, your dogs look rightfully happy!
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[Ryan S]

JW, great photos, especially this one, and great TR.

I am always amazed how cool snow looks when it gets like this. I've been looking for opportunities to take photos like this one myself, I guess just getting out there and touring around will land me more of these in time.

I've been looking at some lines on Hayden Peak and Cinnabar Peak in the Owyhee mountains pretty far north of where you are. Ever been up there to ski any of that?

[steven hatcher]