Memorable summer after managing to ski the same snowpack for 12 months, even getting the last remains of October in the Trinity Alps. There are too many gorgeous places I have fallen in love with, with each adventure special and diverse. What a year.
utah streets and park city. bring back saga outerwear
I feel it is important to share this accident on its own before the full descent, to bring awareness and reflect upon the power of mountains.
While exploring the Wheeler Peak ridge in Great Basin National park, I made a very poor choice on my descent line. The snow had softened just enough that I felt confident to observe this drop, only to find it was a frozen ice chute with no other exit. At that point, I was perched on a 55 degree frozen slope, contemplating hiking back up (likely impossible), or dropping the line which fed into the remaining 2,500ft long couloir.
After waiting around to collect myself, I straight lined down. I thought I could slow down quick enough, but shot out too quick, and clipped my uphill arm on a big bump, yanking me downhill headfirst in an uncontrolled slide within the blink of an eye. Instinctively, I somehow self arrested and came to a stop after a very quick 100 feet of sliding. Any more sliding, and I would’ve simply been going too fast to stop, headed toward a blender of jagged steep rocks. Glad to be able to write about this experience, and take away a lot as well. Gotta respect the mountains, pretty crazy how poor judgment can nearly cost a life.
A truly wild adventure in the Independence Range of northern Nevada.
Private farmland and primitive barbed wire fences litter the nearby valleys, with the closest town over 50 miles south - separated by a seemingly endless sea of sagebrush and no sign of human intervention. This made accessing the mysterious zone a logistical feat: It meant sneaking through the private property in the early hours of dawn to reach the foothills. Over 14 miles of bushwhacking later, I had successfully skied the northeast chute off 10,440ft McAfee peak, and fled from the private ranch, leaving the undisturbed wonderland behind. Side note: old satellite imagery is often the only available information on these remote destinations, so to luck out with perfect snow conditions on June 17th, was just the right amount of unexpectedness. This one felt nice to make it back to the car safely, Gnarly Nevada never disappoints.
Cool fun fact, these mountains define the northernmost rim of the Great Basin, where streams off the east faces flow up through Idaho/Oregon, and water off west slopes run south until it’s trapped in central Nevada.
(park skier don't worry)
Exploring and skiing a first (known) couloir descent in this stunningly under-appreciated region, with my life on the line on occasions, was a particularly impactful adventure.
The Currant Mountain wilderness rests deeply hidden in the Great Basin of Nevada, one of the most remote and “desolate” spans in the contiguous US. The oldest trees on Earth blanket the high elevations, delivering sanctifying life to the colossal 11,500ft limestone spines. The area is accessible by hours of driving on a (poorly conditioned) forest service road, and hosts no hiking trails, making it mainly uninterrupted by human. I had been eager to one day climb the intimidating ridge ever since I stumbled across it a year back while searching Google earth for backpacking locations. As this year’s snowpack continued to deliver, the thought of potentially hiking and skiing Currant’s face became a real possibility, and so the time came.
I chose this particular couloir on the spot during the ascent climb up the neighboring ridge, as it looked much steeper and more exciting than what I had planned. It appeared skiable - barely. At the summit, I climbed up a steep cornice (my crampons being my lifeline), and could no longer turn back. I then skied my first turns and triggered what ended up being a good sized fast avalanche, followed by multiple others I triggered on my descent. Skiing away safely after 91 turns on some of the gnarliest terrain felt surreal. Damn, life is so cool.
Massive kudos to @cnphelan who helped build my confidence in regards to the conditions. His crew made the first known descent of Currant Mountain’s east fast just a few weeks back and shared helpful details on snow cover for other line options.
And yes… I forgot my helmet at the car.
