Road trip! With good skiing in the Sierra limited to facets in sheltered trees or a few limited south facing runs that corn up, I decided to take a chance and head out to Nevada.
Satellite data seemed to indicate eastern Nevada generally had a decent snowpack, so I decided to stay in Ely and ski the mountains in that area.
After driving for five hours or so I wanted to get out for a short tour to stretch the legs and breathe a little. The topo maps showed an old rope tow ski area just outside Ely in the Egan Range. Sounded good. To my delight someone (Forest Service?) grooms trails in there with a snowmobile, so travel was fast and easy.
In less than an hour I was at the base of the ski area.
The thinned glades made for cool terrain, but the snow was variable. Good on the textured snow. Funky on the smooth.
I always enjoy the mood in Mahogany forests.
It felt terrific to move after the drive. Skiing was mediocre, snow depth was barely tolerable, but I didn't hit any obstacles, enjoyed a few good turns, and loosened up the body.
At the trailhead I met an older gentleman walking his dogs who had skied the rope tows as a kid. Pretty cool!
Next day I woke up without a clue as to where to ski. Finally, I settled on taking a look in the Schell Creek Range, driving up Duck Creek Valley northeast of Ely. Near the end of the paved/plowed road I found this snow packed road heading up into some nice looking terrain.
After twenty minutes the snow became too deep, so I parked the truck and continued up on a snowcat track.
The snowcat track took me in another mile before it ended at a creek crossing. After that it was trail breaking time.
While the snow depth was good, I didn't see any sort of skiable terrain until I rounded a corner and noticed glades and an avalanche path falling from the ridge above me.
A quick stream crossing and a little bushwhacking brought me to the base of the avy path. Pleasing limestone outcrop across valley.
Trailbreaking was not easy as the snow was soft, shin deep, and slightly faceted. I eventually reached the ridge which was too wooded for views, but a short traverse led me to the top of the glades.
The skiing was nothing short of excellent top to bottom! 1,500+' of pure fun.
Paydirt.
Next day I elected to explore the area above Cave Lake just five or so miles south of the zone I skied the day before. Curiously the snowpack there was much thinner and the icy road became steep and sketchy. Time to bail.
Earlier I had noticed what appeared to be good coverage on the east side of the Egan Range.
The best access seemed to be the road up to the historical Ward Mining District which proved to be an easy drive all the way up above the old townsite.
Following snowmobile tracks up I soon noticed a well traveled skin track heading up through north facing trees towards an attractive glade. Mellow skinning brought me up to a ridge with fine views. East towards Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park.
Up towards the sweet glade. The skin track wound up into the forest to the right.
Once on the ridge I headed to the top of the glades which fell from the top of a small summit. Looking north to Hamels Peak.
Stoked to reach a summit and soak in the views.
Time to ski! This glade skied very well in boot top facets.
As the drainage narrowed and turned southeast I traversed out to the ridge and then descended the north facing trees. They skied well too. Deep fast facets and tight trees didn't allow me to "open it up" but still provided enjoyable skiing.
Heaps of fun!
1 comment:
Bravo. Looks lovely . . . well, as lovely as we can hope for under current conditions.
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