March 29, 2008
Into the Great Wide Open - Van Zant Peak, Nevada
Joe, Tony
In Nevada you can have mountains like this all to yourself all the time.
Every year Tony and I have to get together at least once. This year's first trip was going to be a very new experience for me and a new mountain in an area Tony's been exploring lately. We were headed to find snow and a good mountain in the middle of Nevada. Nevada is actually the most mountainous state in the U.S. But good skiing is only considered to exist around Tahoe and the Ruby Mountains in Eastern Nevada. But there are a lot of good sized mountain ranges all across the state, some with promising looking slopes when you pour over the topo map or scroll through google earth. Tony had recently skied Star Peak in the Humboldt Range outside of Imlay (a blip of a town along Hwy 80). During this trip he noticed a suitable snow pack on Van Zant Peak with a typical Nevada dirt road leading up the canyon towards snow line. Since the girls were going to a swim meet in Reno anyway, I figured I was halfway out there already so why not keep heading East? It was quite a drive, dramatic and beautiful scenery, a nice sized mountain (3,000' vert) and good enough snow. Here we go.
Weather wasn't so great initially as the clouds were draped over the Humboldt Range. But the breaks revealed a nice snow filled bowl just as Tony had predicted.
Typical Nevada road heading up canyon.
And the view back down from whence we came:
After parking at the washed out creek crossing we walked up the dry road for 15 minutes. We then skinned a ways up the snow covered road until the winding creek led us up towards the main bowl:
The scale was similar to the great Sierra Eastside peaks. Just when the top looks to be only another couple hundred feet, it's actually still a thousand. Up higher we found drier snow. But not really powder...
Nevada is not known for it's skiing, but it is known for it's mining. The big red blob in the middle of this picture is the Florida Canyon mine. It's a mile below us and VERY big. But still not that big by Nevada mining standards.
I was digging the unique backgrounds and scenery up on this snowy peak in the middle of the desert.
Looking back down from where we started:
That "Lake" is Rye Patch reservoir:
"Into the Great Wiiiiidddde Open"
"Under the Skies of Blue"
The summit was brisk, but revealed great views in all directions.
Looking South to Star Peak:
West to Florida Canyon and Rye Patch:
I like these skis:
"MOMENT Skis - Made in Nevada"
Time to ski. Tony wore a nice red jacked to match the Florida Mine spoils. That was very conscientious of him.
If the snow in the bowl was boring, we could just make a right into the ice glazed sagebrush.
Everything is Nevada is big and open:
Fun in the lower gully:
2,500' of Nevada fun.
Fun to the end:
From top to bottom. Van Zant is the high point just right of center. If you look VERY, VERY close you can see our tracks on the glazed doughnut.
No crowds at this trailhead.....cuz it's not even a trailhead, just a dirt road.
Thank you Tony for showing me yet another great place to go hike up a mountain and ski down. I will be back. And I will probably be back to see about the Santa Rosa range North of Winnemucca. So long sagebrush and lonely skies til next time.
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