ruby mountains, nv

[jb]

Toward the end of last month I had a spare few hours to see the head of Lamoille Canyon. Very nice, somewhat comparable to Little Cottonwood but without the ski lifts. The forest is different, though. A mountain mahogany/aspen forest transitions abruptly to a straight limber pine community--no firs, spruces, or other conifers at all.

It's a 3 mile hike on trail to Liberty Pass at around 10,400 feet, the obvious gap in the first two pictures, and another easy few hundred feet to the top of the peak to the right. Dollar Lake is the second shot, Snow Lake Peak is the third, then the view south to Liberty Lake and beyond is the last couple. Well worth the time, and around a 4 hour drive from northern Utah. Tough light for photos, but I thought it was much more interesting than Great Basin National Park.

[shaggy125]

Very nice, I've always wonered what was up there on the drive to Sactown and Tahoe.

[stefan]

the 'best' powder andrew mclean has skied was up in the ruby mountains.

he tells a hilarious story about climbing a narrow chute of deep, pure fluff of the highest quality (not sure where). starts at the bottom ... and it's up to mid shin. as they keep climbing up this slot, the snow keeps getting deeper ... to their knees, waist, mid torso, shoulders ... so ultimately it's not only to the top of their heads ... but well overhead ... and they keep climbing. (and yes he had a sequence of slides to demonstrate this). it took them 6 hours to get to the top (supposedly). 3 other friends came later and got to the top in 3 hours catching them at the end. supposedly the best powder ever ... chute was narrow enough to look like skiing a slot canyon of powder ... does life get any better :haha:


jb ... great photos, thanks for sharing these. looks like a lovely area. beautiful
:2thumbs:


you mention only finding limber pines ... did you not find whitebark pines as well?

[cp0915]

Indeed, the Liberty Pass area of the Ruby Mountains is a wonderful place. More destinations, perhaps, than Great Basin NP, though Great Basin, I think, is more spectacular and varied.

[jb]

Didn't realize until now that whitebarks could be found in the Rubies, but, sure enough. I assumed they were all limber pine and didn't think to look closely. Good catch.