is anyone in southern nevada interested in ski touring? mount charleston seems to be the obvious first place to try - but i am open to all suggestions

you should swing by desert rock sports and see if Mark from Jackson Hole is around- I know he's been pretty psyched on ski touring this season. There's also quite a few other folks around doing the back country thing up there.

I went up south trail from Mt Charleston lodge today - started skinning from road at 8.30 am - low avalanche risk - so felt happy on my own without shovel or transceivor - there were a few ski tracks - but the main trail was boots and snowshoes. Cos of altitude and lack of fitness stopped at 9600 feet at 11 am - after 2000 feet of ascent. No need for axe or crampons - but harscheisen useful. Had superb ski down on pretty much perfect spring snow - steep enough to be interesting - but soft enough to be easy - plenty of snow - the campsite picnic tables at the bottom were almost buried under snow. it was another 2000 feet to mt charleston summit or another 1400' to mt griffiths.

amazing!

Skiing in the Mojave Desert should be on every back-country skiers hit-list. The snowpack is typically pretty mediocre if your standard is untracked powder; but touring in the bristlecones is quite aesthetic and at times the corn skiing is as good as it gets. As John says, there are a few other folks skiing back-country up in the Toiyabe, but it's a pretty small community. It's very rare to even run into another party when your out, pretty much the exact opposite of climbing in the Red Rock these days.

Lots of options, big and small. Avi danger is significant only after a storm. So there you go Steve. Have at it. Even a Brit could figure it out.

Here's a picture of the N gully on Griffith taken from the top of Mummy. This is a good intro to back-country in the Toiyabe and is easy to figure out. Submitted By: Mark Limage on Apr 5, 2011

E Face Charlie - a slightly more challenging day than N Gully Griffith (pic taken from Summit of Mummy) Submitted By: Mark Limage on Apr 5, 2011

beautiful photos, definitely inspiring enough to have me break out the gear this weekend... thanks alot!


jon

Wootah !

I'm headed, this afternoon up to Lee, upper Bristle cone and towards the ridge for an evening bivy and morning ride.

It won't be XC but it will be back country ;)

had a second go yesterday - snow still good - actually better - got to ridge near griffith's peak - and skinned about two miles along towards charleston till I was at 11000 feeet - didn't quite make the summit - Coming down i took a short cut found a narrow gully facing NW - which ended dropping into to the main gully above cathedral peak - no trax - both much steeper - ended up at the Charleston lodge car park
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ascent gully Submitted By: steve gould on Apr 15, 2011

upper ascent gully Submitted By: steve gould on Apr 15, 2011

descent gully Submitted By: steve gould on Apr 15, 2011

looking along the ridge - towards mt charleston Submitted By: steve gould on Apr 15, 2011

I traversed got into this steep gully by accident on the descent Submitted By: steve gould on Apr 15, 2011

Nice spring conditions now! not bad for just outside of Vegas eh! Lee Peak and Mummy's Toe Summit North Side are among my favorite descents. I'll probably get up there 1 or 2 more time for a classic decent of charleston peak (hour glass) before heading to Eastern Sierra / Mammoth area. Doing a shuttle run from lee canyon ski resort start up to lee peak and decend to your car on the other side sounds like fun too. Lots of big cliff bands though so know what your getting in to. There are a lot of options up there just gotta keep getting out to explore so keep charging it! I'm a snowboarder but i have a split board so if you want a partner let me know, i have a beacon.... I have a flexible schedule, but i'll be climbing this weekend. - Mark posted some nice photos of the "hour glass" from charlie's peak!

Anybody up for riding Deer Creek ?

ping me !

their is so much to do up their amazing chutes and gullies i miss that area.

The skiing in the spring mtns. sucks!!! Dont do it.

disagree, you gotta catch it when the window's open and it can be pretty good. excellent when taken in context (we live in las vegas)

Agreed on the disagree. Yeah, the resort sucks...but in the right season, the backcountry is actually pretty great. Unfortunately, it's not that way every year.

Jason