Hike Thomas Peak, Full House Peak, Snow Lake Peak, Mount Fitzgerald Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, NV

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Thomas Peak, Full House Peak, Snow Lake Peak, Mount Fitzgerald GPX Track

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Five years ago my friend Shawn and I hiked to a bunch of the lakes in the Ruby Mountains Wilderness. At the time I didn't know much about peakbagging, so we had set out to just see all the beauty the area had to offer. I returned with Chris to tackle the peaks surrounding that original loop: Thomas Peak, Full House Peak, Snow Lake Peak, and Mount Fitzgerald. We were now seeing the lakes from above rather than up-close, so it was fun to see a new perspective and also to be surprised by how little I actually remember from my last visit.

We started out from the end of Lamoille Canyon Scenic Byway and headed up the Island Lake Trail. A few switchbacks and some initial nice views and we were up in short time, where we scoped out the route to Thomas Peak to the northwest. Leaving the trail, we beelined our route up the slope toward an obvious weakness in the cliffs above. Class 2 got us to this spot, where we scrambled up a section of Class 2+ to reach the steeper slope above. Here there are two options (I left both on my attached map). Going left leads to a Class 2+ chute with some loose rock, while keeping to the right switchbacks on a Class 2 ramp system. Both lead to the summit. We were surprised to find someone else on the summit, but even more so when it was someone I knew, Marko. He joined us for the next peak.

After backtracking from Thomas Peak, we descended a bit and traversed a talus field beneath the southern cliffs of Thomas Peak, then ascended to the saddle separating Thomas Peak from Full House Peak. Class 2/2+ brought us along the ridgeline (or just left of it) to just below the summit of Full House Peak, where the ridge became scary-looking and we instead found a wrap-around Class 2 ledge on the left (east) side of the summit, which got us up with minimal effort.

Ahead we could see Snow Lake Peak, our next summit. This guy has been nagging me for a while because it's been reported as the hardest Nevada 11,000' peak, and it certainly looks quite dangerous in photos. Chris, as usual, had little concern about the potential hazards (after all, we had helmets so it's fine!). The goal was to reach the peak's west ridge and navigate ledges that wrap around the peak. We determined the best course of action would be to wrap around the southern side of the peak to get over there since the north slopes looked pretty steep and would require a lot of extra vertical loss. We continued along Full House Peak's southern ridge and when the terrain was clearly about to become treacherous, we dropped to the left using a Class 2 gully. This was the right choice, since the ridge did turn into an impassable drop. Now below the ridge, the traverse to Snow Lake Peak's southern ridge required a bunch of boulder-hopping, but you could minimize it a bit by dropping a bit more and choosing a more clear path. Now on the southern ridge of Snow Lake Peak, we laughed at the face we were supposedly going to be climbing, a mess of loose rock just above us. Fortunately Bob Burd left some good beta behind that helped us feel confident there was in fact a route. We continued wrapping around Snow Lake Peak to its west ridge, where Mount Fitzgerald came into view in the distance, a nice-looking summit that we'd get to after.

You may notice two lines very close together on my attached map near the Snow Lake Peak summit. The northern one assumes you go all the way to the ridge crest, where a series of loose, steep Class 2+ and 3 moves lead up the north face of Snow Lake Peak to the base of the first crux. This option adds exposure and danger where there doesn't need to be any. Instead, before getting all the way to the west ridge crest, head up the southwest slope and follow a mostly hidden ledge that wraps around on Class 2 terrain and leads to the base of the first crux. Once here, we nervously inspected the rock, which was mostly solid. About 50 feet of Class 3+ led up blocky moves and then through a chute, followed by a bit more Class 2/3 onto a grassy ledge. Just to the right we saw a cool-looking keyhole that Bob's beta said we should go through. Now we were on the southwest side of the peak and a fortuitous ledge wrapped us farther south (Class 2). Be careful, though, because this ledge continues for a few hundred additional feet and reaches the east side of the peak and it will be tempting to continue there, but this leads to an extremely exposed Class 5 ridge option. Instead, when the ledge opens up a bit into a rocky slope and before it continues along the southeast side, head north up the slope. Starting with some low Class 3, the slope leads up to a dihedral, which you can recognize by a massive flat rock just above that forms the right side of the dihedral. We picked our way up blocky, fun Class 3+ moves, the exposure becoming more severe by the second. A Class 4 move about halfway up which required some thought had us second-guessing if this was the correct route, but past this the dihedral/chute eased up a bit. Class 2/3 continued for another 50 feet or so and we were at the summit of Snow Lake Peak. We 'whoooo'ed at each other in high-pitched voices as we are prone to do after being stressed in the mountains, then enjoyed the views from this unlikely summit.

On the way down the upper crux section, the Class 4 didn't seem to give us any trouble, but a Class move below it did since I'd forgotten about a massive crack I couldn't see from above. Try to remember your hand placements on the way up, since they seem to disappear on the way down. After backtracking from Snow Lake Peak and using the much better ramp option I described earlier, we set off toward Mount Fitzgerald. This final summit for the day has two points, but apparently the southern one is slightly taller. Not really knowing what to expect, we followed the ridge crest from Snow Lake Peak to Mount Fitzgerald's east ridge. Along the way there were some cool slabby granite sections and Class 2. From the peak's base we stuck just left of the cliffy crest and ascended in zig-zag fashion up fun Class 2/3 moves to gain the northern summit. A pleasant stroll followed by a surprisingly cool, though short, knife-edge (exposed Class 2/3) led to the true high point.

After returning to the south ridge of Snow Lake Peak, we dropped east, the goal being to reach the Lamoille Stock Trail. We didn't realize there'd be a long slabby cliff that would force us to traverse quite a bit to the east, preventing a direct descent. After getting below the cliff, we had some minor bushwhacking in order to reach the trail, which we followed back to the trailhead.

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

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Thomas Peak

11320 ft

1080 rise

Full House Peak

11120 ft

360 rise

Snow Lake Peak

11137 ft

337 rise

Mount Fitzgerald

11215 ft

615 rise

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Starting along the Island Lake Trail.

View back into Lamoille Canyon.

Approaching Island Lake. In the center of this photo you can see the saddle separating Thomas Peak and Full House Peak that we'd be going to later.

Looking back at Island Lake as we ascend to Thomas Peak.

Thomas Peak's summit is located to the right of the pinnacle in the center of this photo. We headed toward it.

View back as we ascend away from Island Lake.

The weakness, seen center. The Class 2+ chute route starts near that pinnacle, while the Class 2 ledge switchback heads off to the right. both routes use the center weakness though.

View back at our progress as we head up the steep slope.

We headed up the Class 2+ chute.

Chute to reach Thomas Peak.

Thomas Peak summit, view toward Full House Peak (left), Snow Lake Peak (left of center), and Mount Fitzgerald (right).

Descending from Thomas Peak, we headed toward the center of this photo to avoid the cliffs on the right. Full House Peak is next.

After descending and avoiding the cliff, we re-ascended to the saddle of Thomas and Full House.

Looking back at our Class 2 talus traverse (right).

Class 2 up Full House Peak's ridge.

Looking back toward the saddle. There were some Class 2+ sections.

Avoiding the sketchy summit ridge, keeping to a ledge on the left. Class 2 got us up from here.

Full House Peak summit, view toward Mount Gilbert and Ruby Dome.

Full House Peak, view toward Snow Lake Peak and Mount Fitzgerald. We headed down along the south ridge, seen left.

The ridge got crazy, so we bailed via this slope/gully on the left.

Class 2 boulder-hopping traverse to wrap around the south side of Snow Lake Peak.

Emerging on the southwest side of Snow Lake Peak, Mount Fitzgerald seen in the distance.

Snow Lake below.

If you get here, the actual western ridge crest of Snow Lake Peak, you went too far. As you can see on the left it's very steep and loose. I recommend the ledge option instead.

This is the kind of crap you'll have to deal with if you take the west ridge crest instead of the ledge system.

Rather than head to the western ridge crest (seen left) go up this slope and locate a hidden ledge (above Chris).

View back at the Class 2 ledge alternative.

The ledge wraps around and leads to the first crux.

Either way, this is the start of the first crux. Class 3+.

Chris entering a chute higher up on the crux.

View down at the first half of the crux.

Final bit of Class 3 to get to the grassy ledge above.

Just to the right is this lovely keyhole.

Past the keyhole, a nice Class 2 ledge continues around the southwest side of Snow Lake Peak.

View back toward the keyhole (center).

If you see this, you've gone too far. This leads to scary stuff.

Look for this face. The flat rock right of center serves as the indicator for the dihedral you'll want to go up.

Chris starting up the second crux section, Class 4.

Close-up of the hardest move, roughly halfway up.

A shot back at the Class 4 move.

Final bit of Class 2/3 to gain the summit.

View of the crux section (left). Snow Lake seen top right far below.

Snow Lake Peak summit, view toward Full House Peak.

Snow Lake Peak summit, view toward Mount Fitzgerald.

View back toward Snow Lake Peak.

Delightful little traverse over to the base of Mount Fitzgerald.

Just left of the crest, the terrain goes at Class 2/3, with one definite Class 3 move.

View at the ascent up Mount Fitzgerald.

Northern summit, view to the southern one.

Chris along a narrower section before the knife-edge.

Chris on the knife-edge, southern summit seen ahead.

Mount Fitzgerald summit, view toward Ruby Dome.

Mount Fitzgerald summit, view south toward Liberty Peak and Wines Peak.

Heading back toward Snow Lake Peak's south ridge.

We dropped east from Snow Lake Peak's south ridge, a nice grassy slope.

We wanted to go directly down to the Lamoille Stock Trail, but a cliff forced us a traverse a bit.

After avoiding the cliff, we scrambled past it when there was a Class 2 option.

Minor bushwhacking to get to the trail.

View back up at Snow Lake Peak after our descent.

Along the Lamoille Pack Trail, heading back to the trailhead.

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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!