The Paiutes called it Nuvagantu, “where snow sits”. In the winter, it’s the place to go skiing in Las Vegas. In summer, we call it a welcome respite from the Mojave Desert’s relentless heat… Mount Charleston. At 11,916 feet (3,632m), it is the highest mountain in southern Nevada’s Spring Mountains and the fourth highest mountain in the state. Snow-covered for six months of the year or more, it looms over the Las Vegas Valley as a prominent feature of the western horizon, visible from the Strip and, on clear days, our front yard.