Hike Ireteba Peaks Traverse Ireteba Peaks Wilderness BLM, NV

Feb 01, 2023 — I'd already hiked the Ireteba Peaks High Point, but doing a north to south traverse of this small, local sub-range feels more fulfilling. Prompted by Austin's sudden longing for that post-hike high that he's slacked off on working for, we went for this traverse sort of on a whim. Normally the high point of the Irebeteba Peaks is approached from the west, but we came in from the north in order to start with the northern peaks I hadn't done yet. Our issue was that we didn't have a second vehicle to set up a shuttle, so after the traverse we were still required to return through the open desert to get back to the car, a fact we somehow ignored until well into the day. The crest is rocky and undulating enough that doing this as an out-and-back would have been tedious and certainly slower than making it a loop. If you have the ability to turn this into a one way hike you might want to consider it, though doing so means missing out on a lovely granitic wonderland tacked on the end.

Assuming you plan on doing the traverse and subsequent return the way we did it, I recommend reaching the trailhead by using the graded Nelson Cutoff Road. If coming from the south, leave the highway here (35.61019, -114.91997) and then turn east at this junction onto a powerline road (35.66231, -114.88625). If coming from the north, the road might be a bit spicy for passenger cars at the pass. Once on the powerline road, you'll probably want at least some clearance after the first mile and onward to the saddle where we parked.

Although Tule Spring Peak isn't really part of the Ireteba Peaks ridge, it was a short jaunt away and made sense to tack on as a warm-up. A short gradual slope led to some brief Class 2 talus to gain the summit. Already we got nice views of the Colorado River, which would follow us for the entire traverse. From this vanatage point, we also had a bonus overlook toward the colorful Eldorado Wilderness north of Nelson NV.

Back at the car, we started south along a dirt road, leaving it to ascend on a sandy slope. It was lightly brushy, but nothing that made me regret not wearing pants. Ahead was a false summit that appeared to be a big cluster of boulders. We were quickly introduced to some granitic scrambling, and soon we reached the base of the false summit, choosing to side-hill on the right to hopefully save some time. I normally advocate for just following the ridge rather than sidehill when possible, but in this case it seemed like we would have been moving much more slowly up high. Irebeteba Peaks North came into view just ahead, but the terrain to reach it was overall pretty bouldery. The northern peaks of the little range are certainly more tedious than the southern portion. After some Class 2 and a bit of dawdling in an attempt to take horribly disheveled selfies in the wind, we reached some fun Class 2/2+ scrambling in order to gain the summit. 

Getting from Irebeteba Peaks North over to our next objective, Peak 5030, was probably the most effort required for the day. There was a significant drop and regain, plus the granite was clustered more aggressively and kept the going a bit slower than we anticipated it might. A few fun Class 2 sections kept it interesting and we eventually made our way to Peak 5030's summit. The views were comparable to the rest of the ridge, so we pressed on. Some brief Class 2 brought us down the first part of Peak 5030's south ridge, followed by a quick and sandy slope to the saddle below.

Iretebeba Peaks High Point was still quite a bit awway, but the terrain eased up significantly past here and we carried on much more quickly. While the ridge was a little lumpy, we didn't have anything to worry about in terms of danger or difficulty, eventually reaching the standard route most use to reach the summit. From here was a steep slope leading to a Class 2+ summit block scramble. Until this point we actually hadn't intended to continue farther south along the ridge, but I looked lustfully at Irebetba Peaks South and Austin could see the sparkle in my eyes. Though only an unranked summit, I felt we simply had to go over to it to feel like we did a full traverse. Irebeteba Peaks South was once improperly deemed the high point after all, so that added to my rationale for continuing on. Austin doesn't care about such nonsense, but was fine to add more exercise to the day and obliged.

An extended stretch of Class 2 met us on the way down from Ireteba Peaks, sort of unexpectedly. It wasn't too long-lasting, and by now our blood was pumping well enough that we could fly past the obstacles more efficiently. There were a couple of minor bumps that we ascended most of the way up since they were along the ridgeline, the undulations tacking on a bunch more vertical gain. After enjoying the views from the lumpy southern summit, we finally realized it was time to return. Neither of us was keen on repeating the lumpy ridgeline. Instead we spent a minute inspected the little ridgey slopes to the west, deciding which looked the best for our descent to the desert floor below. It turned out that none of the nearest options were ideal because they'd require a substantial mileage addition since none trended northwest. Plus we'd have to arc around all of these humps later on to avoid the abundant drainages that formed them. So instead we backtracked over the previous two ridgeline bumps and took a lower-angle ridgey slope painlessly down.

Once in a wash below, we followed it west until our topo map made it clear the drainages had mostly dispersed and we could more easily head north through mostly flat and open desert. After a few miles of hiking adjacent to the Ireteba Peaks, we started ascending around the range's northwestern toe, which dumped us into a section of pretty granite. The sunset lit the rocks up nicely and we followed a wash, a dirtbike trail, and then open desert until we made our way back to the car. The boudlers weren't clustered thickly enough to cause any annoyance or required scrambling. We hiked through a drainage between two monolithic granitic structures at one point shortly before reaching the car, a highlight of this small area.