November 29, 2009, Navaho Peak

Today I skied up and down Navaho Peak, accessing it via the Stafford Creek trail. The road is drivable to the trailhead if you are willing to 4x4 a bit and have pretty good ground clearance. I arrived at the trailhead to find a group getting ready to snowshoe up Navaho. After debating clothing options and mentally preparing myself to put on my ski boots I set off, following snowshoe tracks up the trail. The lower sections were quite crusty thanks to the rain and re-freezing. There were a few bare spots on the trail but none of them were large enough to warrant removing skis. As I skied higher and approached the freezing line from the last recip, the snow surface softened considerably. The snow got better and better the further I ascened, mostly consisting of sun softened powder, well consolidated and easy to skin up. The clouds began to break as I reached the saddle between Navaho Peak and Three Brothers. I ascended the ridge to Navaho's summit, following the snowshoe tracks closely most of the way.

I enjoyed a nice 20 minute break on the summit, wrapping myself in my down puffy, facing the sun and taking in a pleasure that is often all too absent in Seattle. I watched the clouds drift over the ridges and swirl around the peaks. Unfortunately I didn't get the full on "money shot" of Stuart I was hoping for. I pulled off my skins and clicked in for the ride down. I was just happy to be skiing, and wouldn't have been too dissapointed if the snow wasn't great. Thankfully it was!  The south face of Navaho is a mix of forest and small open  glades.  would have liked to rip down this a bit faster, but I skied short sections, checking my speed and watching carefully for obstacles in the early season snow pack. Thankfully the coverage up at this elevation was really good and I didn't hit a thing. Once arriving back to the valley bottom and the trail out, I was very pleased to see the snow had softened up considerably. The ski out on the trail was quite easy, a nice surprise since I was expecting a crusty and uneven bobsled run on skis.

Over 4,000 of vertical, up and down, only taking the skis off a couple of times...a big win for November in my book!