Devastating... and yet...

I had a chance to tour the burn area in Lamoille Canyon this morning, as the USFS is allowing very limited vehicle-only access to the area for the next couple of days, before closing it again to visitors.

It was devastating to see, and I was repeatedly in tears.

It was fascinating, as the bones of the canyon, and its history, were laid out and vulnerable.

It was powerful, and timeless, as if I were seeing the canyon for the first time.  I was often disoriented, as familiar landmarks became strange... or disappeared.

And it was stunningly beautiful, in an austere, moonscape way.

As you approach the canyon, the heroism of the firefighters is on display, as time after time, inch after inch, you can see where they fought back the fire, where they held the line, at roads and trails and the dozer line they created.

The juxtaposition of what remains of this gorgeous fall and the hideous scar from the fire is heartbreaking. In some places, the fire still makes the recent rain turn to steam.

Very quickly, it becomes apparent that this fire was a fury, not only killing the brush but erasing it from the moonscape it created.

Most of the lower canyon recreation sites burned.  Oh, they were able to protect the USFS picnic ground, and Thomas Canyon Recreation Area, too.  

But the climbing areas burned, and burned hot. The grasses and brush that stabilized the climbing trails are gone. The anchoring trees are gone. 

Sport Rocks

Dead Snag wall, with the namesake dead snag burned.

Colossus. 

Sunshine, an ice climb whose approach is now rubble.

Scout Camp, probably the most popular ice climb in the canyon, with its tree anchors gone. 
This photo also shows the Beaver Tail ski area, along with much of the route for the Talbot-Lamoille Trail.  

The trailhead for the Secret-Lamoille Trail is ravaged, and the first half mile of trail is denuded. The fire made runs at the northeast aspects of gullies farther along the trail, meaning future users will be in and out of burn areas for the first two-plus miles of their trip.

The trees and brush that stabilized the Y Chutes are gone.

The approach to Terminal Cancer got much easier,
as a lot of the heinous bushwhack at the base is gone.

It goes on and on. You get the picture. Think of a recreation site in the lower canyon, and it burned.

And yet...

And yet...

The Canyon has changed in my lifetime, several times. And now it has changed again. You can see the remnants of the Canyon's history now that once was lost to the trees.

Here, you see a bit of the old road up the canyon, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression.  When I was a child, the narrow, scary road was the only way a vehicle could get into the canyon.  I still remember how terrified I was when we drove through the Narrows... the road one skinny car wide, with no guard rail.

There, you see the remains of the old flume line, the foundations from the power generator, from the CCC barracks.

Pete's Cabin, there for all to see.

The fire slowed as it climbed uphill, and largely spent its fury by the time it reached Thomas Canyon.

And that's where they made us turn around.  Not safe, they said, even though that was the part of the canyon that didn't burn.

It was enough, though.  My heart and my eyes were full.

Even injured, the canyon was beautiful.  Majestic. The melted guard rails will no longer stop your car from plunging down the same steep cliffs that were there before. Mankind's nod to safety is fleeting.

The same stone sentinels soar overhead, framing a changing sky of clouds. The scars from the flood year are there, vulnerable, waiting to be ripped open again by the spring flows.

And the sound has changed.

The birdsong now echoes from the cliff faces, with no trees to stop the music.

The cliffs made sacred by time, and by the ashes of a friend,

stand guard while the mountains heal.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Pretty gut wrenching"

I spoke yesterday with a friend of mine whose family owns one of the historic cabins up Lamoille Canyon, and who was allowed in to visit the burn site over the weekend.

In his words, "it looks like a different place up there.  Pretty gut wrenching."

And that, folks, would be the understatement of the century.

Thankfully, only one of the historic cabins burned, but several of the other cabins lost sheds and other outbuildings.  And, based on the photo he sent me and on the aerial footage I've seen, there was a tremendous amount of tree loss through that part of the canyon and on down.  The leafy, shady canopy that made those cabins such a wonderful, private getaway is largely gone.

As always, there are silver linings to most catastrophes, and there are here, too.  As an enthusiastic backcountry skier, I'm happy that access to several lower-canyon runs just got a lot easier.  And, in a good snow year, they likely got a lot longer, too.  There is an historic trail in the burn area, the Talbot-Lamoille Trail, that has been extremely difficult to find in recent years.  With the brush removed by fire the tread should be a lot more apparent - this could be a great opportunity to locate and re-establish that old trail.

I'd trade that silver lining for my canyon back to where it was a week and a half ago any day, and twice on Sundays.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As of yesterday, the fire was 90% contained, with a perimeter expected to be completed by October 10th.  Total burn area 9,196 acres.  There are still 60 people working the fire - two hand crews and one aircraft, commanded by an Elko County local, Matt Petersen.  There is snow on the peaks now, we've had a couple of heavy rains, and the concern now is what the oncoming winter weather will do to the burn, and how the conditions are hampering efforts to effect repairs up there.

Where was all this rain two weeks ago?

I'm heading to a meeting tonight of the Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group to discuss canyon restoration and potential volunteer opportunities.  I'll let you know what I find.

Well, the CALENDAR says it's summer...

... however, the mountain says it's not. Quite.

I finally had a chance today to break away from my inhumane schedule and head for the hills. I've been wanting to throw some skis on my pack and see what's been going on for a while now.

What's going on is a lot of snow, a lot of water, and a lot of amazing beauty.




I checked the SnoTel site before I left this AM, and it said that it had gotten down to 42 degrees overnight at 7700'. That puts it at somewhat below freezing up higher, which made it a safe bet for reasonable skiing conditions. I left the trailhead at 6A, which was a pretty good choice timing-wise. The temperatures were enjoyable, the snow was still frozen and easy walking. I didn't even bother to put my skis on, just hiked up the frozen snow.

It was a snow hike just about from the trailhead. I left the trail about 200 yards in - water was running pretty much continuously down the trail and hiking up the snow was both easier and less damaging to the tread.

You could hear the roar of the creek, the singing birds, the silence of the snow. Breathtaking.




There is more than 100cm of snow at the Ruby Mountain Heli-ski snow stake, a few hundred yards above the trailhead.

About a half-mile in, in a flat snowy open space, I came upon an area where somebody had had a fire. Fine, as far as it went... until I looked more closely and realized that somebody had burned a snowmobile up there. They dragged the burnt carcass out but had left lots of little burned-up pieces in their wake. Seriously, it was funny as hell but come on, clean up after yourselves...

But I digress.

After a couple of hours hiking I got to the top of Liberty Peak, which I figured was an appropriate goal for the morning. It's clear that there is going to be decent summer skiing for a few weeks yet. It is just as clear that the Ruby Crest Trail and other high destinations are going to be snow trips for quite a while.

Here are Lake Peak, Wines Peak, Castle Lake, looking south-ish along the Crest Trail.




This is Fitzgerald and the cirque at the top of Box Canyon. Good destination for early risers.




It's not real obvious from below, but there's a huge crack in the ice in Lamoille Lake, the extent of which is very apparent from above. Probably a good idea to stay off the ice. Click on the photo to enlarge it and really see the crack.




The skiing was good for the end of June. The chute I picked to get into the Lake Shot was a little on the crunchy side - should have chosen one farther skier's left - but Sweet Thing really lived up to its name.






All in all, the canyon is going OFF right now. Waterfalls everywhere, a million flowers, new leaves slowly working their way uphill. If you're planning on hiking, though, plan on snow and start early if you're not into postholing.

So where the hell have you been lately?!?!?

Skiing, that's where.

Ruby Mountain Ski Days

Ruby Mountain Ski Days started out as nothing more than a place for me to upload photos. I and several of my friends used to post trip reports over on Telemark Tips - it was a great way to share photos, ideas, updates on conditions, etc. Unfortunately, the TTips photo server went down and if we wanted to post photos they had to be linked from a non-TTips url. Thus, Ruby Mountain Ski Days.

It's kind of taken on a life of its own as Google Analytics tells me that people are visiting pretty regularly. Don't know why, there are much better places out there to find local ski photos and info on conditions, including the website for Ruby Mountain Heli-Ski. But hey, if people are interested in lurking and watching the backcountry ski adventures of a slow 50-year-old woman, well, I'm not going to argue. I put it out there after all.

I will admit, though, that the pictures are pretty good.

++++++++++++++

Trail update - they're all covered with snow - duh! Bring your skis or snowshoes. ;) The road's closed at its usual winter closure place, just past Pete's Corner. The snow on the road is very whooped out from all the snowmobile traffic right now, which is usual for this time of year. Snowshoes are NOT necessary for a hike up the road right now. The snow is OK for XC skiing, as long as you don't mind dealing with the whoops.

You can also take your touring skis up Right Fork. The jeep tracks have enough coverage for short tours, and you can always make your way across the creek and through the willows up above the Scout Camp. Be aware that the climbers right wall does slide, so if you head up that way have an eye to avalanche conditions.

The first couple of miles of the Secret-Lamoille Trail are quite suitable for snowshoeing right now, and there have been snowshoe tracks on it on several occasions. A friend of mine told me recently that it was an excellent snowshoeing day trip. I've been focusing on skiing recently and haven't broken out the snowshoes, but on high avalanche danger days (like today) it's a good winter workout alternative. Might just head up there myself today. ;)

The old guide trail to Talbot Canyon

Several decades ago, somebody - and I couldn't tell you who - built a steep-ass trail from just short of Pete's Corner in Lamoille Canyon, near the Glacier Overlook, over the top of the ridge to intersect the Talbot Canyon trail. The trail is four miles long, and was built by and for some awfully tough folks - or, at least, folks riding awfully tough horses. It's a 30% grade for much of its length.

That trail was allowed to fade into the grass over the years, and these days it takes some looking, a GPS, and a good imagination to find it. The hunting guides used to keep it cleaned out, but since they have access from the homeowners at the base of Talbot Canyon these days, it doesn't look as if they've done any trail clearing since the mid-1990's. That said, the trail's there, and some friends of mine are working with me to make it easier to find.

There are some good reasons for re-establishing this trail. First and foremost, for skiers, it allows reasonably ready access to some truly marvelous ski terrain. Getting up there otherwise is an interminable bushwhack, but with the trail in place accessing that ridge becomes more realistic. Painful, but realistic.

Second, with construction moving slowly on the Secret-Lamoille trail project, brushing out this old trail will allow access to Talbot Canyon and Verdi Lake more quickly. It's eight miles from Pete's Corner to Verdi Lake on this trail - doable as a day hike or day ride if you're really fit, very reasonable as an overnight if you're less insane.

And, third, once they DO get the Lamoille to Talbot section of the Secret-Lamoille Trail project done, people will have the option of a really nice loop route. This trail isn't close to suitable for bikes, but for everybody else it'd be a nice, if strenuous, trip.

So far, we have it located and brushed out to about where it says "On Ground" on the map. We still have quite a ways to go, obviously. If we can get the trail brushed to the ridgeline before ski season, I'll be really happy.



It's not very likely that the old trail left the road where it shows on the map. This was a horse trail, and the official GPSed route isn't doable by horses in a few spots. It probably took off down canyon a few hundred feet.

Even though it's steep, the trail is worth doing. Some of the views from up there are amazing. Here are Mt. Gilbert and Terminal Cancer couloir from the trail.





It's clear that this route needs a lot more than brushing. Some of the old rock work is findable, as is some of the benching. A lot of it just needs about four people with pulaskis and mcclouds for a couple of weeks.

Pictures!

To heck with all these words - here are some pictures!

These are from Greg Mazu's blog - he is one of the trail designers working on the project, and laid out the absolutely exceptional route on the first segment (Lamoille Canyon to Talbot Canyon). He did the original layout in a December 2007 blizzard - amazing work, especially considering the ruggedness of the terrain.

Here's his blog.

And here's Greg up skiing with me near the first segment route - he's a quality guy in all respects.

While we're sharing pictures, here's Bill Wolf, a good friend who's managing the project for Great Basin Institute, having lunch on a GREAT ski day up above the first trail segment: