Hike Currant Mountain and White Pine Range Traverse Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, NV

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Currant Mountain is a big peak with an impressive summit ridge. The standard route for the peak is garbage, so Jon and I decided to make a traverse of the range instead, tacking on a couple of Nevada 11ers. We roughly followed Scott Kruis' route, with a major alteration using a very fun ledge scramble, compliments of Chris Kerth. More on that later. Navigate here (38.94405, -115.36119) and turn left, then turn right here (38.92377, -115.37887). 2WD will likely have to park here (38.92479, -115.37846), adding an easy mile to the hike stats, and burlier vehicles than mine can probably drive another quarter mile from where we parked.

We set out along the old road as it switchbacked toward Currant Mountain, and then headed north. After wandering along the east slopes of the White Pine Range for a while, we left the road and headed west along the minor ridge running directly east from the summit of Duckwater Peak. This ridge was steep and sometimes a little loose, but rarely unpleasantly so. It also introduced some Class 2 limestone slabby elements. I recommend sticking to the crest as much as possible as the slopes on either side have more scree than the crest. The summit views from Duckwater Peak toward Currant Mountain were really exciting, and we left the summit shortly after getting there. Starting south along the ridge was easygoing at first, then the crest became slanted with limestone slabs covered in often loose rock, slowing progress for a while. We mostly stuck to the crest, but kept left or right of it and side-hilled instead if the rock outcrops became too annoying. There was a single major hump along the way to the base of Currant Mountain, but we didn't mind since it gave the best views of the day of our featured peak.

A social trail led up the scree from the base of Currant Mountain, and then we found ourselves on the west side of the ridge. I'd venture to guess staying along the crest is impossible, or at least quite technical. While staying west resulted in some gnarly side-hilling, it was only Class 2 and not as long as it appears. The social trail faded away and we just kept to the base of the limestone cliff face, dropping down in elevation when necessary, totaling around a loss of 200 feet. Finally we were at the base of Currant Mountain's northern ridge. It looked incredibly sketchy, so we wouldn't be attempting it. That was one option down, but we had two others. The first would be to descend farther and side-hill on garbage terrain and reascending from the west side of Currant Mountain. This would keep the route Class 2. The second option was to ascend to a notch above, where Chris reported finding a Class 3 limestone ledge that stretched just below the ridgeline. From below the ledge in question looked laughably scary, but we figured we'd try it. We ascended to a notch in the ridge where we were able to get to the start of the ledge without too much hassle. Getting here required some Class 3 scrambling on fun, solid limestone, followed by a short section of loose Class 2/2+ created from erosion coming down from the aforementioned notch.

Once on the ledge, it felt a lot more reasonable. The ledge stretched for a few hundred feet, and I couldn't believe such a cool feature existed. The exposure is certainly there, but we never pulled any more harder than Class 2/2+. There were ample handholds the entire way across the ledge, and the ledge created a small divet where we could stick our feet in as we progressed. I felt quite safe overall, despite my tendency to avoid unnecessary exposure. In fact, it was the highlight of the route and one of the most fun scrambles I've enjoyed in central Nevada. Good recommendation, Chris! Once we made it to the end of the ledge, easy Class 2 brought us up a short slope to yet another gorgeous feature, a rounded wannabe-knife-edge. Crossing this was trivial and at its end a massive boulder offers a Class 3 option to gain the summit of Currant Mountain. Jon naturally chose this route, but I kept left of the boulder and ascended to the peak on a Class 2 ramp. We were thrilled how well this route worked.

From the summit of Currant Mountain we countinued south toward White Pine Peak. The descent followed a steep limestone slab, and the only real obstacle was to keep left of a rock outcrop, but was no more than Class 2. After reaching the base of Currant Mountain along the ridgeline, the ridge continued to be interesting. We weaved around and over minor Class 2 limestone obstacles and had to drop down to a saddle. A steep, short section brought us from the saddle to a minor bump. This bump would be our descent ridge, but more on that shortly. Easy limestone walking got us from the bump to the summit of White Pine Peak.

Now it was time to get back somehow. This would require descending the standard route of Currant Mountain, but it didn't seem like any previous summitters had a route they preferred, so we got creative. We returned to the aforementioned bump and scoped the ridge, which would take us east. We noted a scary-looking shark fin lump of limestone that would stop farther ridge travel, and decided to get down to its base and then just pop off the ridge and head north. All of this worked perfectly fine, but it was steep and loose. I can see why people coming up to Currant from this general route/area would call Currant a bad peak. They're right, this route is awful. However, descending this way was pretty fast and painless so Jon and I agreed we really enjoyed the peak and traverse overall. Once down the steep crap we found ourselves in a small valley. I highly recommend not staying in the drainage, instead keeping to the left of it and descending through the forest. It will be tempting to drop out of the forest and head into the drainage multiple times, but don't. We found the forest here is always less rocky than the drainage and we got down quickly. Eventually we stumbled on the old dirt road we hiked in on and followed it back to the car.

PEAKS ON HIKE
Elevation (ft) / Prominence (ft)

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Duckwater Peak

11175 ft

455 rise

Currant Mountain

11513 ft

4575 rise

White Pine Peak

11360 ft

320 rise

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Starting up the old dirt road. Currant Mountain visible top center.

Continuing north along the dirt road along the eastern slope of the White Pine Range.

Close-up of Currant Mountain's east face. Wow.

Another View back along the road. The car is out of frame on the left.

Continuing along the road, headed north.

View back, some nice wildflowers.

We left the road and ascended the minor spur ridge above Jon's head, which leads directly to the summit of Duckwater Peak.

View back as we start up the ridge.

The terrain looks like this the majority of the way up this ridge.

View back into the trees, pretty steep.

Progress up the spur ridge. You can see the ridge crest above.

Class 2 slabs often along the crest.

Approaching the summit of Duckwater Peak.

Close-up toward Currant Mountain.

Duckwater Peak summit, view toward Currant Mountain.

Duckwater Peak summit, view north.

Along the ridge, headed south from Duckwater Peak.

Much of the terrain along this section of the ridge looks like this.

View back toward Duckwater Peak.

On a hump along the ridge on the way to Currant Mountain, visible ahead.

Close-up toward Currant Mountain.

View back along the ridgeline, Duckwater Peak top left.

Class 2 along the ridgeline.

Another shot back at our progress.

Approaching the base of Currant Mountain.

Currant Mountain is gorgeous from here. We ascended the scree ahead on an animal trail.

Animal trail up the scree.

View back along the ridge as we ascend the scree section.

The animal trail leads to the right of the ridge crest. Currant Mountain visible center. Getting there would first require some side-hilling.

Progress along the base of the limestone cliffs, close-up toward Currant Mountain.

View back at our side-hilling progress.

The terrain gets a bit more steep, but ample ledges keep it straightforward with some Class 2 sprinkled in. As you can see, it's possible to stay low and deal with garbage terrain and then ascend to Currant Mountain from the west. However, that would skip all the best, most beautiful stuff of the route.

Our goal is to get up to the ledge that's hard to see from here. For reference, the ledge begins between the snow patch in shadow and the snow patch in shade above. I recommend heading generally for the notch visible top left to get there.

View back as we ascend Class 2/2+ stuff toward the ledge.

Close-up of the ledges, some light Class 3.

Within the eroded, loose Class 2 gully created by the notch. See those snow patches? I referenced them a few photos ago.

View at the Class 2/3 moves to reach the ledge.

The Class 3 exposed ledge.

Close-up of Jon on the ledge.

Scariest section of the ledge traverse There are plenty of holds and I felt solid the whole time, always able to keep three points of contact. In fact, I scooted on my butt a couple of times just to add a butt point of contact.

View back along the ledge and the exposure.

Wider shot of our progress along the ledge.

Jon continuing ahead. It's a long, fun Class 3 ledge traverse.

Nearing the end.

End of the ledge, where a Class 2 slope (seen top left) leads to higher ground.

View back at the ledge traverse.

You can see our general side-hilling route beneath the cliffs in the center, followed by the Class 3 ledge traverse on the right in this photo. We were happy.

Just past the ledge and subsequent Class 2 slope, we came across this gorgeous rounded wannabe-knife-edge.

Close-up of the feature. At the end of the feature is a big boulder, Jon climbed around it on a Class 3 option. I kept left at the end and ascended on the ramp directly above Jon's head.

View back at the feature.

Class 3 option visible to the right of Jon, who is on the summit. I chose the Class 2 ramp option, which is where I took this photo from.

Summit of Currant Mountain, view south toward White Pine Peak.

Descending from Currant Mountain, this rock outcrop was avoidable on the left (Class 2).

Pretty limestone slabs as we descended from Currant Mountain. White Pine Peak visible center.

Close-up of the minor Class 2 obstacles along the ridgeline.

View back toward Currant Mountain as we weave around and over some Class 2 obstacles.

White Pine Peak ahead, but first a drop to its saddle.

View back toward Currant Mountain as we ascend the short steep section from White Pine Peak's saddle.

More class 2 stuff to navigate around. The limestone slabs are fun.

Jon on the Class 2 stuff.

White Pine Peak ahead on the right.

Easy walking to the summit, Currant Mountain visible top left. We would be returning to the hump above Jon's head after getting the summit and descend via its ridge on the right in this photo.

White Pine Peak summit, view south.

On the previously mentioned hump, headed down the ridge. You can see a shark fin on the right, which is what the ridge we're on would turn into.

We dropped left off the ridge just before it introduced scrambling and the shark fin. It's steep and unpleasant.

View back up the steep descent from the ridge.

Within the drainage below. I highly recommend keeping left within the trees and not descending directly down the drainage.

Descending on easier terrain within the trees.

View back up as we descend.

Forest walking.

It's easy-going with no bushwhacking.

We made it back to the road, view back up toward the traverse.

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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!