[jw]

I've decided to do a running TR this year (ala wasatch style). There may not be the amount of folks interested in the remote regions of Nevada as compared to the Wasatch but hopefully there will be enough here to be worth checking out this thread from time to time.
Here is the report and photos from last Sundays tour.
An early start to winter here in Eastern Nevada has meant good skiing since Thanksgiving weekend. It had been very winter like up to the middle of December but it has now turned to spring like conditions. No problem, with as much snow as we have had good skiing is still quite possible.
For my forth day out looking for turns I hooked up with a bunch of local back-country skiers. Wow, just a couple of years ago Liz and I were the only locals skiing these mountains beyond a few cross-country skiers.
On this fine day we had two local high-school guys who have taken up the sport, and 5 other recently (last two years) transplanted bc skiers/rider. I say skiers/rider because there is now a split boarder being represented in these mountains. There were also 3 AT gear skiers in the group as well as us freeheelers. We don’t care what you strap on your feet to ride down the mountain here in Nevada as long as you enjoy yourself while doing it.
For one of our first White Pine Back-country meetings we decided to ski the slopes of North Schell Peak in the Timber Creek Basin.
Here is an onslaught of photos from the bluebird sky day.



We skinned to a bench below North Schell and noticed this south west face had slid. The slide path had nice corn developing as the sun heated it up. Three of us decided that we would skin and ski the slide path.


[img][http://nevadamountainlife.com/skiday4_timbercreek_groupski/skiday4_a12_kalem_descent1.jpg/img]
[img][http://nevadamountainlife.com/skiday4_timbercreek_groupski/skiday4_a13_kalem_descent1.jpg/img]
Notice that Kalem lets his board run. I must admit I love watching a good boarder ride a mountain.

Next up was Dan on AT gear.




I'll call this part one of this day as there are many more pictures and some words to come but fatherhood has limited my computer time so that's all for now.
Don't worry Tele turners there are some pictures of Telemark skiing to come.

[shredgar]

A running TR from Nevada would be fun.

Go for it JW.
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[seki]

Nice, JW... keep it comin'.

[atg200]

hey - are they any good easily accessible places in the ruby mountains? i am working in elko most of the time until the end of january, and i have been bringing my skis with me just in case. i tried going up lamoille canyon, but that is a really long skin up the road until you get past all the steep rock buttresses.

[jw]

atg200, Steven Hatcher is the guy with some info on the Ruby's, don't know if he is re-upped since the crash, hopefully he will see this and weigh in.
Thanks shredgar and seki, a little encouragement is all i need.

[Joni]

Nice pic's JW! Good to see Lee out there with ya'.

Looking forward to your ongoing reports, and make sure to come visit us again this year for a Tri-Canyon tour.

[funhog]

Ok I'll be the spoil sport...only the tail of a dog in the pictures?...what a let down I wanted more dog

Sorry to rain on your parade but keep up the skiing and TRs.
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It's all about fun....

[Tri-Ungulate]

[Avman]

Nice, JW! Good to see the old stomping grounds from 2 summers ago! In fact, I think I can see my old line in the upper righthand corner of your second pic! Of course, that was in July...

Have fun....I'm jealous.

Avman

[bcrider]

Cool TR jw!


Nice to see your mtns again and a splitboarder in the mix too!

[jw]

Tri-Ungulate, I think I did pick up on your suggestion. I knew I read it somewhere.
funhog, Since there were other skiers to take pictures of I do have less dog pictures but rest assured there are a few.

I'll continue where I left off.
The slide path was good December corn, as we got lower on the mountain the corn became deeper thicker cream corn but fun stuff all the same.

An actual picture of me skiing, no Moriah didn't take it.


Kalem took adavantage of the first air he came across.





Ok, Ok I know there were some tele turns being made, good job Lee.




Lee, Owen, Mark and I decided to go try a run in the aspens south of us. I had set a skin track up last week in the cold snow and was glad I did. We had an enjoyable skin up through the trees.



We gained a nice view of the top half of our first run as we skinned upward.



The ski through the trees was good but did present some challenging skiing as it became quite mushy as we lost elevation.
Moriah hung tough and sped through the stuff amazingly well.



Owen shedding some speed before the trees. He doesn't always do that.



Mark demonstrates that one can tele in these conditions.



Lee pulls some good ones as well.



Owen really shed some speed here, well short of the creek I might add.



A view of our tracks in the aspens.



I was able to ski that line in cold fresh snow last week from the top of the main ridge but between the winds and the heat we lost alot up there. Hope the warming trend ends soon.

The ski back down the approach trail was fast and furious as the trail froze with the first shadows of the late afternoon. I guess the warming trend in Timber Creek ends every night.

We managed a group photo at the vehicles and said our farewells which went along the lines of 'see ya next weekend'. Wasn't sure I would ever see the day that I had local ski partners. Kind of a nice change.
That's all from this day.

[Joni]

Glad to see that you're hooking up with folks to ski with, and if you're ever lacking of any, we'd be more than willing to send some of the people from Wasangeles out there to keep you company. ... speaking of which, the GBNP is looking mighty tasty - maybe we could do an earlier trip there..?

Those are different lines than what we skied a few springs ago, right? looks they are further skiers right. What a beautiful area, nice to see pic's of all the possible lines available to ski. Corn skiing in December, who would've thought we'd be doing that?! Looks like more of the same this weekend, but that's ok, nothing like a little more sun therapy to keep us happy.

Looks like Lee is starting to master the tele turn. Tell him I said "hi" and drag him to the Wasatch this year so I can ski with him. He'd be a fun guy to do the Tri-Canyon tour with. Does he like hiking down rocks like I do? har,har Is Liz getting out, too? Be great to see her also.

And man, you sure are working out Moriah, but hey, she's(he?) smiling, so that's good!

Keep 'em coming!

[jw]

Joni, as much as I like having some ski partners there's no need to send any more from Wasangeles, they would just be disappointed in the skiing anyway.
I'm all for an earlier trip to GBNP this year, I wouldn't object to a pre-road opening trip. It might add a couple of thousand feet of skinning to the day but that also means a longer descent at the end of the day. That's not a bad thing.
You're right about the lines being further skiers right.
We went for the sun baked corn slopes with the thought that the N and NE lines are ripe for some slides. I did an exploratory tour into some North East facing trees the day before this tour. There were some disturbing instabilities and low angles were a must. We didn't have the natural releases the Wasatch was having but I believe skier triggered avy's would be most likely had anyone been venturing onto those aspects. On that note it's worth mentioning that the sledders we do have here are mellow guys, no big high-markers pushing the limits.
Lee and I discussed a Wasatch trip this year, I'm pretty sure you'll be seeing us there before long. I know Lee would have some choice words for wow's 'easy as pie' rock scramble.
Liz has been out cross-country touring but no turns yet, that wil change over Christmas break.


Here's the group photo I forgot to post last night.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Thanks JW! Also good to hear about how the snowpack relates to the conditions. Glad you're doing it and looking forward to GBNP.
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[keithermadness]

Nize TR!

Thin snow is certianly better than no snow


Keep em coming.
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~km

"Everyday is a potential avalanche day."
-Missiongravity