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www.turns-all-year.com TAY telemark skiing photos: Earl Peak, Navaho Peak, Teanaway River North Fork Turns All Year: Ski Trip Photo Galleries This is a gallery of Teanaway telemark skiing photos. Thumbnail images on this page can be clicked to view the full-sized photos, and lead into a slide show sequence for the gallery. The photos are from a backcountry skiing loop trip to Navaho Peak and Earl Peak in the east central Washington Cascades, ascending via Stafford Creek and exiting via Bean Creek. Beautiful weather and a good snowpack provided for excellent spring corn snow skiing. < Previous  Browse Galleries  Next >    or    Search Galleries List Galleries by:     General Location     Detailed Location     Month     Date   Navaho Peak-Earl Peak loop, North Fork Teanaway, Wenatchee National Forest, Washington, May 10, 2006    (Click any of the photos to view large versions) Hiking the Stafford Creek Road Hiking along the Stafford Creek trail Booting near 5000 feet to start skinning Skinning the lower slopes of Navaho Peak Upper Stafford Creek basin and east side of Earl Peak Mount Stuart from Navaho Peak Charles and David take in the view from Navaho Peak David skiing Navaho Peak Andy skiing Navaho Peak Andy skiing Navaho Peak David skiing Navaho Peak Telemark skiing Navaho Peak David skiing Navaho Peak Telemark skiing Navaho Peak Andy skiing Navaho Peak David skiing Navaho Peak Skinning in upper Stafford Creek basin toward Earl Peak Skinning toward Earl Peak, with sun halo rainbow Bean Peak with Fortune Mountain and Ingalls Peak Mount Stuart from Earl Peak, with Volcanic Neck Colchuck Peak and Dragontail Peak from Earl Peak Navaho Peak and Three Brothers from Earl Peak David near the top of the Earl Peak west face run David skiing Earl Peak David skiing corn snow on Earl Peak David skiing Earl Peak ÊLooking up the gully run on Earl Peak's west face Telemark skiing Earl Peak Unusual perspective David skiing in the lower west face gulley of Earl Peak David skiing corn snow on Earl Peak West face of Earl Peak from near Bean Creek Necessary toil at the end of a great day Photos by Andy Palunas and Charles Eldridge Backcountry skiing trip report: May 10, 2006, Navaho Peak-Earl Peak loop, North Fork Teanaway, Wenatchee National Forest, Washington    With the end of yet another period of low freezing levels, David, Andy, and I were expecting good skiing conditions, and we weren't disappointed. Though snow patches started on the N. Fork Teanaway road about where Silas reported last weekend, in David's big-wheeled, high-clearance 4Runner, we were able to drive to the tree across the Beverly Creek road. We stashed a bike, cooler with beer and salsa, and bag of shoes and chips in the woods, then drove back to the Stafford Creek road. We were able to drive to within a 5 minute walk to the trailhead, and parked by Larry's car.    There was a lot more snow on the trail than when I did Navaho Peak two years ago, but not continuous for quite a while. When we got to the confluence of Stafford Creek and "Little Navaho Creek", we climbed a little more then crossed to the west of the latter (saw Larry's tent on its nice looking perch). The snow was solid and just softening on top, so we continued booting northward up a steeper slope to the top of a 5200 foot shoulder. Much better coverage than two years ago. Skinned right toward the summit of Navaho through the glades and increasing firn spiegel, reaching the top around 1:30. It was pretty chilly on top, with some wind out of the west. We got hold of Larry and John by radio, had some snacks, took in the great views, then started down. Very nice fast snow for the first ~1200 feet, though more tracked up to skier's left (toward the Blaze) and we trended skier's right. Below 6000 feet the snow became a little slower, and around 5600 feet we started traversing west, reaching a nice little slope leading down into the Stafford Creek basin.    At the bottom, 5300 feet, Andy decided that he probably didn't have enough energy to do Earl, so he headed back down Stafford Creek to get the car and drive it back as far as he could, without getting stuck, toward the bike by Beverly Creek. David and I skinned west toward Earl Peak through the upper Stafford Creek basin - I'd never been there and it is a beautiful place. We made it to the top of Earl Peak at 4:30, having only taken an hour to climb the 1700 feet, wierd because it didn't seem like we were moving especially fast. John's tracks down the east side of Earl from the day before looked nice amid the widespread firn spiegel. It was so pleasant on top of Earl Peak that we ended hanging out for an hour; the wind had lessened and become easterly, and the light on all the peaks was enchanting. We started down the west face of Earl Peak at 5:30, first skiing about 50vf down the south ridge, then traversing (short carry, then skiing) over to the top of the main gully. There was better coverage than two years ago, and the snow was absolutely perfect for this steeper run, 2-3 inches softened over solid snow. David and I leapfrogged down, giving me a chance to take a lot of photos in the great late afternoon light.    We crossed to skier's right of Bean Creek at the bottom, but then when we came to the first avalanche chute used the debris bridge to cross back to skier's left of the creek (south side), having decided to try that route out to avoid having to cross Bean Creek down lower. This might have saved us some wet boots, but as reported by some last weekend, the route was not without its problems, mainly some dirty hard snow, tight trees in places, and the need for several short climbs to stay out of the creek cut. When we were pretty sure the trail had crossed back and was below us, we switched to booting (should had done so a little earlier) and descended to the creek. The walk from there was nice as it was still mostly snow, and we had only a 10 minute walk from the trailhead to the tree across the road (still quite a few snow patches, though no huge humps). Only problem, the tree was no longer across the road! At first we thought that someone had cleared it, but closer inspection suggested that the tree had broken off on its own accord and rolled to the side of the road. Then came the most difficult part of the trip, finding where Andy had hidden the cooler and bag of shoes and chips (we forgot to ask him before we separated). He had done a good job but we did find the goods. David then headed down the road on his bike and I bundled up for what I thought could be a long wait, but in about 15 minutes David and Andy reappeared in the car. An easy conclusion to a fantastic trip, and Andy earned himself a new title, designated shuttle driver.    Charles < Previous  Browse Galleries  Next >    or    Search Galleries List Galleries by:     General Location     Detailed Location     Month     Date ©2007 Turns All Year LLC, www.turns-all-year.com