Ibex and Great Basin National Park (Camping & Climbing) April 13-15, 2018

-
This trip to Ibex was much better planned and executed in comparison to the trip I made out there in February (although that was a great scouting trip). We had three cars driving out this time with about 10 to 12 people. We headed out of Provo around 6pm, stopped in Delta for gas, then arrived just after 9pm. It was pretty windy but we found a fire ring  behind a huge boulder and set up our tents out of the wind.


The stars were great that night. Ibex is one of the darkest areas in the lower 48. We had a typical evening around the campfire. We had brought a dutch oven so the food was better than our usual fare.

Saturday morning the sun came up early and bright and we went for a sunrise drive heading South on the dry lake bed.

Panorama atop the knoll in the middle of the lake bed. Ibex off the to the far right.

       Going 125mph.... 
             
They have handicapped parking out here!            


We spent Saturday morning climbing over at Coral Crags on some great 5.6 to 5.10 climbs. We even tried out a 5.11b but none of us could hack it. Saturday afternoon we spent under the shade of the main buttress and did some bouldering over there.

Bouldering.

     
         
Sitting atop a nice 5.6
            
Sure is dusty out here!            


Friday night, two of the cars headed back to Provo. Me and my brother and sister in law stayed behind and camped the night at Ibex again. The wind had died down since a small front had moved in, so we just camped out on the lake bed.


Sunday, we drove out to Great Basin Nation Park. We were hoping to hike Wheeler peak, but all the gates to the upper part of the park were still closed and we were hoping of doing the shortest route to the summit. We poked around for a while then just drove back to Ibex.

                 


We headed back to Ibex to do one more climb. A solid multi-pitch 5.7 called "Too Cool for School." The climb was fabulous. Great belay ledges and exposure. Probably my favorite climb out at Ibex. Not for difficulty or awesome moves, but for the height and fun of multi-pitch climbing.


               


After we had rapped off the top down to the bottom, we packed everything up and headed home to Provo, UT. Another great weekend trip under my belt.
Location: Snake Creek Rd, Baker, NV 89311, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

McPheters Lake & Mt.Agassiz (Solo Backpacking) June 28-29, 2018

-
Image
This was my first solo backpacking trip! I had wanted to backpack to a lake in the Middle Basin for some time. I am part of a facebook group called High Uinta Lovers, and we share pictures and trip reports of excursions into the Uintas. A few of the other members had shared reports of coming up from Christmas Meadows and camping near Ryder Lake. I wanted to try something more direct and completely different. West side of the basin overlooking McPheters Lake Thursday I left Provo about 4pm and arrived at the Highline Trail head at around 5pm. I parked there and hiked directly up Hayden's Pass. Driving over Bald Mtn. Pass, looking at my route. There is no official marked trail up Hayden's Pass. Parked at the Highline Trail parking area, head northeast across the open meadows, then wander through the trees until you come to the base of the scree slope. Alternatively, follow the trail just to the South of the cabin and it wraps around the cabin and heads North and w...
Read more

Iceland! July 6-20, 2018

-
Image
     Earlier this year while in the middle of the winter/spring semester of college, I was living with one of my married brothers. Working almost full time while attending flight school full time had me stressed out and I did not have the time I wanted to make it out at least every other weekend or so. I was in the middle of a study session and just couldn't do it anymore. I wandered out to the living room where my brother and sister in law were relaxing after getting home from work. I expressed my stress and started talking about some trip ideas. The idea of going out of the country came up and excited me. I was 20 years old and had never been out of the country. We immediately pulled up Google and started searching for cheap flights. My sister in law had flown on WowAir before and we found round trip tickets to Iceland out of LAX for about $450! That sealed the deal and right then and there we bought the tickets for a 2 week trip in July. That motivated me for the rest ...
Read more

White Rock (Camping & Climbing) April 27-28, 2018

-
Image
There's nothing like a pre-finals week get away! With our last few finals for the semester looming in the coming week, one of my buddies and I decided on a weekend get away. It was late Friday night and we were both tired of studying. Literally on a whim, we packed up and left. It was 10pm, but that didn't phase us. I had had my eye on this awesome climb called Sputnik (5.10a) out at this place called White Rock. I'd never heard of it, and had never even been out to that area of Utah. Sunrise We drove for 3 hours out to the area. Apple Maps misguided me and had me drive down this awful un-graded road about 1 mile South of the actual graded White Rock access road. It was around midnight and was completely dark. We drove down this road in my poor little VW Jetta for about 30 minutes and had some close calls navigating the terrain. We ended up stopping because the road got worse and I knew we had to be on the wrong road. I opened the trusty Google Maps app and it re-ro...
Read more