ski touring at mount charleston

Scott Burt wrote:

I am going to be in Vegas during the last week in February and was going to ski at Lee Canyon for the first time on the 24th and 25th. My hope was to do a little bit of lift serviced touring around Lee Canyon proper maybe try to get to Lee Peak. Is there a established skin track leading from the resort? Do you have any recommendations on particular areas in the canyon or routes to get to Lee Peak? Any info would be greatly appreciated. #PrayforSnow

Skin west bowl to the NW Ridge and boot it, some 4th class if you stay on the ridge proper.  Be comfortable with mandatory airs and skiing above exposure if you head up there.  Conditions are probably pretty fucked

Trevor Faxon wrote:

Skin west bowl to the NW Ridge and boot it, some 4th class if you stay on the ridge proper.  Be comfortable with mandatory airs and skiing above exposure if you head up there.  Conditions are probably pretty fucked

Thank you for the info.

Happy New Year!
I know it's still thin but I'm in Vegas for a few days, so looking at heading up to Mt Charleston. Don't expect good conditions, just want to go skinning and see what conditions might allow for.

Would be awesome if someone felt like joining!

Some background about me:
- Lived in the Austrian Alps for 12 years before moving to the US 2 years ago.
- On average 60 days of backcountry riding a year when I lived in the Alps.
- Have taken 5 - 10 avy classes/seminars in Austria over the years. But I don't have a North American Avy 1 or 2.

Hi, I'm a local new to the area looking for a touring partner for Mt Charleston area. AERIE II w/ many years of experience in the backcountry. I'm planning on heading up on Wednesday.

We toured up near Griffith Peak about a week and a half ago, just a couple days after the big storm.  Conditions were fantastic.  Started by skinning just a mile up the Griffith Peak trailhead.  Did a couple mellow laps in low angle terrain, staying clear of any of the slide areas.  Snow was fairly stable, with only evidence of small slides near the mouth of the ravine, and just up against the cliffs.  Depth was between 120-140 cm in most spots.  In the wind-blown areas the top 2-3 inches was a little crusty with some soft powder below (not sugary).  But couldn't get anything to propagate even with significant stomping.  No snowpit/ECT, but we dug a small hand pit down a couple feet.  Below the crust snow was mostly fist to 4-finger hardness.  Then we skinned up the west facing ridge (skiers right, across from Echo cliff), and had a couple fantastic laps in the bowls above Rainbow Canyon (above the Kyle Canyon Summer Home area).  Finished with some nice long laps from the top of that west facing ridge all the way back to the Cathedral Falls picnic area.  We were the only ones up there until just after noon, when we saw a couple snowshoers.

Glad we we gave it a day or two after the storm to settle, and flush out a bit.  There is definitely a high potential for slides in that area, especially in the right conditions.  The entire bowl sits just below a gully that a big avalanche would spell unsurvivable if caught in.  Staying lower in the bowl, riding the shoulders and ridges, and assessing conditions throughout the day was the way to go.

Overall, a great area to play in the right conditions.  Be careful out there!

First of all - thank you everyone for the posts. This forum is the only place I have been able to find anything about BC skiing in the Mount Charleston Wilderness.

After 20+ years of driving by on I15 and craning my neck at the snow up there, I think this is the year to make an attempt on Mt Charleston given our unusually good Southwest snowpack. I would greatly appreciate any info, recommendations, or help that anyone is willing to give. I'm hoping to head out next weekend.

It would seem the best route to the summit of Charleston is to park at one of the trailheads in Kyle Canyon, climb to the ridge, and then skin the ridge to the summit? What is the best/safest way with the least exposure?

This year, what are the best lines from the summit areas?

Finally, when driving by on I15 are the big white faces you see Charleston Peak or Griffith Peak? Sometimes mountains can be deceiving from a distance!

Looking to stay safe, have fun exploring, and if I'm lucky get some decent skiing in. I'm Level 1 avy trained and always have a partner with me.

Lots of instability this year, watch your slope angles.  There was already a fatality this season.  Lee Canyon (the ski resort) has shut down at least 2 times for avalanche mitigation work (maybe more, I can't recall).

To my knowledge, there is no approach to the summit that doesn't cross some slide path.  Honestly, the summit is probably windblown and sun crusted.

Hey everyone I just moved to the area and am looking to take advantage of the great snow year so far. I’ve done done my AIARE 1 and rescue plus got quite a few years of experience in the backcountry. Always down for a quick tour or a bigger mission if conditions allow it!

Andrew Cushman wrote:

First of all - thank you everyone for the posts. This forum is the only place I have been able to find anything about BC skiing in the Mount Charleston Wilderness.

After 20+ years of driving by on I15 and craning my neck at the snow up there, I think this is the year to make an attempt on Mt Charleston given our unusually good Southwest snowpack. I would greatly appreciate any info, recommendations, or help that anyone is willing to give. I'm hoping to head out next weekend.

It would seem the best route to the summit of Charleston is to park at one of the trailheads in Kyle Canyon, climb to the ridge, and then skin the ridge to the summit? What is the best/safest way with the least exposure?

This year, what are the best lines from the summit areas?

Finally, when driving by on I15 are the big white faces you see Charleston Peak or Griffith Peak? Sometimes mountains can be deceiving from a distance!

Looking to stay safe, have fun exploring, and if I'm lucky get some decent skiing in. I'm Level 1 avy trained and always have a partner with me.

Planning on a summit attempt next weekend, when are you doing yours?

Daniel Bannon wrote:

Planning on a summit attempt next weekend, when are you doing yours?

Daniel, we were aiming for this Sunday but are postponing for better weather. It looks like Sunday will be cloudy, windy, and maybe even snowing a bit. Those ridges and summits are almost 12,000 feet and very exposed to the weather. We don't want to be up there in high wind or thick fog, especially where a fall and slide could send you into a remote canyon. So we're going to wait for a day with calmer wind and clear skies.

With the fresh snow some of the higher elevation, sheltered terrain might be good skiing, but after Saturday a summit attempt might be sketchy.

Many thanks to all previous posters in this thread. Does anyone have current conditions info on climbing Charleston Peak through Big Falls?

I can’t provide a specific report for Charleston via Big Falls but I skied a couple days in the vicinity last week. Snow coverage is fantastic, I would expect that in the absence of major winds most aspects should corn up but you might still find some settled powder (or breakable crust) on steep north aspects. Can’t comment on how the winds today affected things though. I attached a photo I took from Griffith of the southeast side of Charleston if that helps at all. If you’re going out there with skis I’m sure you’ll have a blast!

Anyone been out recently? I’m sure it got new snow yesterday. Looking to log uphill tomorrow but I’ve not been to Charleston before in the winter. If anyone has recs for something safe I’d be stoked to hear it!

With video

https://strava.app.link/cPQlE0MhlIb

Enjoyed the summits of both Charleston and Mummy last weekend, with some great spring snow as a bonus. Skiied (nearly) car to car on both, theres a lot of snow kicking around up there! Mostly was searching for corn, but there is a touch of lingering cold snow on shaded high-elevation aspects. The Spring Mountains are a gem! I can't wait to get back.

Charleston, 4/13: Mary Jane/Big Falls trailhead, up past Big Falls and onto the SE face of Charleston. 3.5 hours car to summit. Found snow to be transitioning from winter to spring condition, and there was some interesting soft/dry layers covered by hot spring slush. Some movement/instability related to that, but it was mostly isolated. GREAT SKI DESCENT, with some complex terrain up there. FYI the trailhead is technically closed after last years flooding, and Forest Service Ranger was there enforcing it later in the day. I just told her I had skiied around the "closed area", which is mainly the canyon bottom. Car also had a no-parking warning notice on it.

Mummy, 4/14: Parked near Deer Creek and headed up to the most east-facing chute, which you can see prominently from the bottom of the drive up Kyle Canyon. Wasn't sure what to expect near the top, but found easy boot packing up the softened spring snow. Next thing I knew I was at the summit 2 hours after leaving the car! Anyone have a name for this line? The skiing was better than Charleston, more wide open and more consistent snow texture - perfect corn. Top was steep AF and another maze of limestone cliffs. Get it before it melts out! Car-to-car on this one was 2.5 hours, a real treat before my drive back north.

Will Boyer wrote:

 FYI the trailhead is technically closed after last years flooding, and Forest Service Ranger was there enforcing it later in the day. I just told her I had skiied around the "closed area", which is mainly the canyon bottom. Car also had a no-parking warning notice on it.

Where were you parked at?

I'll be in the area this weekend and looking to ski tour if anyone is down to meet up and go in the Spring Mountains!