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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.
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