Prestorm Ely Skiing

 Took a chance Tuesday on a zone I had only studied on maps. Looked like good terrain. Access ok, but once I got out there the roads that existed on the maps were no longer there! I resorted to Plan B, these good looking slopes just south.

I was able to skin up a road for ten minutes before dead ending at an extremely thick stand of Pinion-Juniper. No go! Plan C was this burn area.

Not exactly scenic, but travel was easy.

Made a few turns in here. Pretty low elevation so there was a melt/freeze crust on just about every aspect.

Oh well. Nice to get out.

Today I headed back over to the Schell Creek Range. I'd had my eye on this zone since two years ago on a ski trip. The goal was one of these two avalanche chutes. The more attractive is the one on the right, but high winds up high were actively building big cornices above it, so I shot for the one of the left.

Heading up out of the canyon to the base of the chute.

Pleasant skinning. Pleasant views too!

Pretty wind affected on the right, but I found decent skiing on the left. Above here all the snow was wind wracked, so I called it good.

Better down here although you had to mind the aspect due to sun crust.

Looking back on the drive out. Shoulders and the the two chutes.

Bonus sighting of a sage grouse.

 The forecast winds never materialized thankfully. Good tour!

Another Ski Tour in the Egan Range

 I am a creature of habit. Once I find a good zone, I keep going back. why not?

 Well, there a lot of places that are more "Nowhere" than this, but it sure feels remote despite being just 15 minutes from town.

"The Zone" viewed from where I've been parking the truck. Today's goal was the large bowl on the left.

Big open slopes, good snow, stoke high!

As a bonus, I was able to tag a mini summit with fine views. Playas and snowy ranges. Classic Nevada.

Had little a left in the tank, so I hopped back on the skin track for another run.

Skied this run in the canyon just north of the bowl.

 No doubt this zone gets less snow than the Schell Creek Range (right above) or the high peaks of the Egan Range, but the 3" to 5" we got out of the last storm is skiing really well.

Egan Range Bliss

 After Tuesday's tour we got our final wave of the storm cycle. It was colder and put down an inch plus here in Ely. Yesterday dawned bright and cold, so I decided to head up to the same zone to see if conditions had improved there.

 Skiers heaven. So many attractive runs.

I ended up doing two runs on this face.

Sure looks different without a low cloud deck. Found 3" to 5" of new, light snow.

Once to the ridge I could see the access road heading up to the communication towers on top of the peaks.

Rime highway.

Views to the southeast including the huge Robinson Project copper mine (left) and Ward Mountain (right).

The bottom section of the face. Total ego snow!

Had to head up for another.

It turned out a pair of snowcats had gone up to do some maintenance on the communication equipment.

Fantastic rime up high.

The second run was even better than the first. This is the upper part of the face.

Danged fun! Like a dream.
 

Soggy Slogging

 Early last December when I took this photo, I spied this subrange while out hiking. At least a dozen nice drainages for skiing. Hoping for decent coverage and reasonable access, I checked it out this morning.

Access was ok. The truck struggled a bit, but got me pretty close. Skinning was not great on a breakable rain crust for the first hour. Wound up skiing the valley left of center.

Once up into the hills above ~8000' the rain crust thankfully disappeared, although the snow was still quite wet and heavy. The scenery however was magical.

Fascinating rime mini sculpture.

These big, wide open glades skied pretty well.

The clouds rolled in and out occasionally providing incredible light.

The skiing was acceptable. Not the cold light powder I enjoyed a couple of weeks ago, but heavy wet snow over a supportable base.

The exit was slow on soggy snow. Right after I took this photo a squall came in with stinging frozen rain gradually turning to snow.

Before I left for Bishop it was quality not quantity with the snow. Lost the quality, but the quantity is looking good.
 

Back In Ely

I am back in Ely! Got in a short tour locally before the next storm cycle cranks up. Warm and windy, but the north facing slopes were staying wintery.

 Headed up past the old ski area on the access road then veered off to ski open slopes above.

Took a run here later.

And another here just below the left skyline.

Looking down on Ely

Got my first real taste of wind affected snow out here. Not surprising since this a particularly windy area.

Found pleasant skiing on the textured snow.

Big animal tracks

Nice to be home. Hope the snow piles up!
 

Back on the Eastside

 I took a quick trip back to the Eastside to see friends, collect more of my stuff, and do a little skiing.

 Hooked up with my buddy Patrick for a short tour in the Sherwins.

His roommates had done an early run and set a nice skin track to the top.

Gotta admit I was a little nervous dropping in. The snow seemed to be a little wind affected. The slope was steeper than anything I've skied in Ely and I was on my lightweight gear.

It took about half a turn to realize there was nothing to be nervous about! So good. Was able to rip just fine on the lightweight gear too.

About half way down I remembered to get the camera out and snag a couple of shots of Patrick doin' what he does.

Looking up at The Rock after our run.

 Thanks Patrick. That was amazing!

Shoulder Season

 Shoulder season? Yes! I'm not talking Spring and Fall. I'm talking shoulder skiing.

 For some reason the shoulder's of many ridges falling from the crest of the Schell Creek Range hold big open slopes. I'm not sure if they were cleared once upon a time or if there's something about the environment that doesn't allow forest growth. I do know they provide great skiing!

Here's a photo from the other day showing three of those shoulders. I skied the middle one yesterday.

The drive in was a little sketchy in deep snow. Managed to avoid getting the truck stuck thankfully. The approach, however, was easy.

Truly enjoyable skinning.

Looking over to the next shoulder south. Had a great day there last year on my visit.

The snow in here was excellent. I managed to pull down three 900' runs. I couldn't help myself really!

Woohoo!

 Best tour of the year thus far. Hands down!