Incline Peak

After a very slow start to the winter 2017/18 with very little precipitation, the Sierra Nevada received a lot of snow in the last weeks to reach an almost average snow-pack by now. This finally gave me the chance to open the ski tour season. This tour had to be short and sweet for many reasons and was also meant to find out what my fitness level would allow in the altitude range of 10000 ft.

I start the tour at the northern of two small pull-outs on the northwest side of Nevada Highway 431, located about 6 miles from the roundabout at Highway 28 in Incline Village. From the lot, I ski the very short downhill to Incline Lake (it’s worth putting your skins on at the car already). Once across Incline Lake, I continue up the valley east of Incline Peak, and get to the summit along the existing tracks following the north side of the prominent east buttress and reach the high-point from northeast.The view up there is phenomenal! 

After an extended break I ski down and enter the east buttress at around 9000 ft and then get back to the car by crossing the lake. The skiing and snow were excellent and for a minute I thought about going up to the peak a second time but ended up deciding against it and visit Kings Beach at Lake Tahoe instead.

Incline Peak can easily be combined with other Peaks in the area like Relay - or Rose Knob Peak to make the outing a little longer if wanted.