2026 Challenge Recap

Day 1 - Shingle Peak

The first day of the challenge found us in the Far South Egan Wilderness where we would be climbing Shingle Peak.

Part of the group arrived the prior evening and setup camp at the corral near the start of the route. Others filtered in later in the night, around sunrise, and couple later in the morning.

Not only was this gonna be the highest peak of the challenge, it would also be the biggest hike. To make matters worse, it was also the hottest day of the challenge.

14 climbers found their way to this summit on day 1 and one other caught up by climbing it the following day.

With the high heat, the majority of the participants decided to head over for a soak at Hot Creek Hot Springs, which is an oasis of 82-degree, crystal clear water in the desert. A few climbers attacked some bonus peaks including Sean Casserly, the birthday boy Maxton Caplanides, Brett Marciasini, and Arthur Marciasini. The challenge was officially underway!

Day 1 Participants and Peaks:

Shingle Peak: Bob Cable, Maxton Caplanides, Sean Casserly, Keith Christensen, Dagwood & The Carson Pack, Jay Dolan, Dean Gaudet, Mihai Giurgiulescu, Toinette Hartshorne, Craig Jagow, Arthur Marciasini, Brett Marciasini, Dagmar Platzer, Andrew Riser, Craig Barlow (Next Day)

Patterson Benchmark: Bob Sumner, Marc Belanger

Peak 6344: Maxton Caplanides

Peak 6243: Maxton Caplanides, Brett Marciasini, Arthur Marciasini, Sean Casserly

Peak 8969: Sean Casserly

Day 2 - Silver Benchmark

We drove over to the South Schell Range and setup camp near a spring. We had quite the turnout for this camp which turned out to be comfortable and accommodating for such a large group.

The next morning we started out for Silver Benchmark. Most everyone made it a point to get out of camp early to try and beat heat. The largest faction of the group hit the trail by 6 am under nice conditions. This hike followed a road up to the saddle where we all broke off towards the peak. The South Schells are far different terrain than the High Schells further north, but the terrain is pretty. We found some light class 2+ scrambles and a gorgeous ridge walk with exquisite views of the area. It kind of had the vibe of a mini Notch Peak (Utah).

We ended up with 18 on the summit of this peak! Another 6 added the nearby P1K Peak 7748 as a bonus for the day. This one was more of a slog and a hot slog at that.

Sean Casserly and Keith Christensen headed towards a big bonus prize in Dutch John Mountain and some others departed for other objectives in the state.

This night we would camp at Kixmiller Summit in preparation for the next day’s hike up Grassy Mountain. We also hosted our pot luck dinner that included hot dogs, soup, salad, chips n dip, and desserts. Thank you to everyone who contributed some goodies! We will definitely keep this as part of next year’s challenge.

Day 2 Participants and Peaks:

Silver Benchmark: Marc Belanger, Maxton Caplanides, Sean Casserly, Keith Christensen, Dagwood & The Carson Pack, Jay Dolan, Dean Gaudet, Mihai Giurgiulescu, Toinette Hartshorne, Craig Jagow, Arthur Marciasini, Brett Marciasini, Dagmar Platzer, Andrew Riser, Craig Barlow, Eric Kassan, Stacey Kassan, Gabriel VanDyke

Peak 7748: Bob Cable, Marc Belanger, Toinette Hartshorne, Brett Marciasini, Arthur Marciasini, Gabriel VanDyke.

Dutch John Mountain: Sean Casserly, Keith Christensen

Peak 7494: Sean Casserly

Peak 7078: Sean Casserly

Day 3 - Grassy Mountain

From Kixmiller Summit, the main group headed up Grassy Mountain. One group went after Mount Grafton and others went across the road for Horseshoe Benchmark.

Grassy Mountain was a fairly easy hike with an easy section of class 3 and then a chill ridge walk all the way to the summit. All in all, 12 people found their way to this seldom climbed summit on this day! If only this peak was a few feet taller and had 2k status.

After Grassy, one Toinette, Brett, and Arthur went for Dutch John Mountain, Bob conquered Horseshoe Benchmark, and while Daryn and Kathy topped out on Patterson Benchmark. Meanwhile, Sean Casserly was racking up the points with a run up Mount Grafton from the south. Scott and Dagwood finished Grafton and came back to tag Grassy in the afternoon capping a big day.

We all met up at Patterson Pass Campground for great conversation and dinner.

Day 3 Participants & Peaks:

Grassy Montain: Bob Cable, Sean Casserly, Dagwood & The Carson Pack, Dean Gaudet, Toinette Hartshorne, Arthur Marciasini, Brett Marciasini, Dagmar Platzer, Andrew Riser, Craig Barlow, Scott Kelley, Kathy Rich.

Mount Grafton: Maxton Caplanides, Sean Casserly, Dagwood & The Carson Pack, Scott Kelley

Horseshoe Benchmark: Bob Cable, Daryn Dodge, Eric Kassan.

Dutch John Mountain: Toinette Hartshorne, Brett Marciasini, Arthur Marciasini

Peak 7422: Daryn Dodge

Patterson Benchmark: Daryn Dodge, Kathy Rich

Peak 10214: Sean Casserly

Day 4 - Mount Montezuma

The final day of the challenge and everyone was ready to hike by 6 am as the remaining group set out for Mount Montezuma from Patterson Pass. We had 10 climbers set out for this one. PeakBagger only had 6 known ascents, so this was probably the most people to ever stand on this one at once!

This seldom climbed peak had very little beta. We knew it was short, steep, and had a knife edge ridge to gain the summit. It was every bit of that!

This turned out to be the coolest peak of the challenge with a spicy scramble and great views. There was one exposed class 3 move required to gain purchase, but the rest of the ridge went at exposed class 2.

This is definitely one worth checking out.

After the climb, we all departed and headed our separate ways. Dagwood and his pack decided to make a move for 3rd place and climbed Dutch John Mountain as a big bonus. Dutch John ended up being a highly sought after bonus peak as I figured it would. Six participants bagged it over the weekend.
With first place fairly secure, Sean Casserly started for home and wrapped up the weekend as the first champion of the Great Basin Challenge. Way to go Sean! What made it more impressive is he found the time to do other peaks outside of the challenge zone making for a full and productive weekend in Eastern Nevada!

Day 4 Participants & Peaks:

Mount Montezuma: Bob Cable, Sean Casserly, Dagwood & The Carson Pack, Toinette Hartshorne, Arthur Marciasini, Brett Marciasini, Craig Barlow, Scott Kelley, Kathy Rich, Daryn Dodge.

Dutch John Mountain: Dagwood & The Carson Pack