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Backcountry Skiing -Monument Peak to Gardnerville

The Vitals elev.-10,067 Ascent - 2,300 Descent - 5,100
Click here for Topo Map

1/05/05-It's not every year we get a chance to ski from Monument to Gardnerville but it looks like this year we'll be able to do it for the rest of the year. The base is excellent even down to the valley floor. The jeep road out may have coverage all year. While at the time of this trip access is not legal if your on a Heavenly ticket, it's still a fairly easy hike in to 5,000 feet of untracked freshies. The quickest entrance is from Stagecoach lodge. Head straight up the hill to Milky Way Bowl and up to the peak. The actual gate, if ever allowed, should be right above Gate A for Killebrew Canyon. You can enter the area from anywhere along the boundary line for either Killebrew or Mott Canyon, although if you're on a Heavenly ticket you must use the gates when access is allowed. Sadly, I have no action pictures for this tour since I ended up doing it alone. While entering the backcountry alone is not recommended, it can be extremely peaceful and rewarding. At the very least make sure people know where you are going. This tour describes the route when using Heavenly's lifts meant you were breaking the law by crossing the boundary line. That's no longer the case.
Once you're into the run you want to keep heading left as you head down. Starting from the peak you would ski down until you are below Boundary Glades of Killebrew Canyon. Once your past you head left and reach another face. You'll ski this for a little bit and head left again. This will place you under the Promised Land of Mott Canyon. Now pick a line and stick with it until it starts to flatten out. You want to make sure you cross the creek before you get too far down or you'll have to climb out of the gully. None of the above is written in stone. You can hang way out to the skiers right if you like, you'll just have to traverse farther back left at the end.

When entering the backcountry, proper precautions should be taken, including avalanche beacon and the know-how to use it, shovel, compass or GPS, friend, weather information, and common sense. Click here for thelatest avalanche advisory info. You can also find more info on our gear pages.

Ski Aware, It's Big out there.