7/9/2017 Route: Niwot Ridge / Airplane Gully Posted On: 7/11/2017, By: cloudkicker Info: We ascended Niwot Ridge and descended Airplane Gully. Leading up to treeline there were a few thinning snow patches that were very easy to avoid. Above treeline and on the ridge, the route was entirely dry. We stayed ridge proper to spice things up a little bit. The route was dry all the way to the Navajo summit! Midway down airplane gully the route had a little bit of iced over snow remaining. We took great care and bypassed it on its west side. Note: airplane gully is INCREDIBLY loose, probably the loosest route I've ever encountered. I slipped and fell a few feet coming down the gully. Luckily, the only injury I sustained was a little bit of bleeding on my left forearm. Still some snow between the base of Airplane Gully and Lake Isabelle. Made for a few short (fun) glissades... but if your route ascends this way be prepared for a snow slog leading to a loose and dangerous scree slog. |
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6/16/2017 Route: Traverse from Apache Posted On: 6/16/2017, By: RWinters Info: See Apache report. Traversed from Apache to climb Navajo. The chimney has a couple of sections of ice. We needed crampons and axes to make the short, icey section. We descended Airplane Gully, which is melting out fast. There is only snow for about half of it. |
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6/23/2016 Route: Navajo Glacier - North Face Posted On: 6/24/2016, By: pbakwin Info: Excellent conditions for this climb right now. The trail is very wet. Mostly snow from Lake Isabelle on up. Navajo Glacier is in great shape - easy cramponing. Snow ends right at the top of the glacier, then it's more or less dry rock on up to the summit. This is really one of the better routes on a 13er in the IPW, I think. Only my 3rd or 4th climb of Navajo, but it's really a good peak with a beautiful & airy summit! |
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8/2/2014 Route: Navajo Snowfield/North Face Posted On: 8/4/2014, By: AlexeyD Info: The snowfield is finally starting to transition to neve, though no ice to speak of yet. I placed a picket just to test it out, and it was like hammering in a giant nail - took a while, and felt absolutely bomber. Surface softened up in the sun just enough to make unroped ascent pretty secure, but crampons and axe are definitely a must, and a second tool didn‘t feel out of place (although experience snow climbers can probably manage without). The North Face is deeply shaded, and had a number of patches of black ice on the ledges, one of which I managed to slip on. There‘s also a fair bit of loose rock and detached blocks. Be careful - especially if soloing! The "crux" crack has a fixed thread around a chockstone just below the exit move. The webbing looks pretty old and manky; this is more of a routefinding aid at this point. Once above the crux, you get to a sort of notch; from there, head right and you‘ll see a few cairns and something of a use trail leading to a 3rd class route to the summit. For the Airplane Gully descent, we couldn‘t find the "third class trail on the north side" of the summit pyramid referred to in the Summitpost description, but did find a blocky, 50 or so-foot 3rd/4th class chimney leading to a use trail. This way is very straightforward (basically just head down from the summit straight toward the Navajo-Niwot saddle), and reasonable enough. Be sure not to descend the very first gully that you see coming to the saddle; the correct gully is just behind the little knob after the saddle‘s low point, and has visible wreckage in it. One note about starting the North Face: easiest way to get to the base of the route is to stay on the snowfield until you‘re on the left (east) side of Dicker‘s Peck. Some descriptions suggest going around the south side, but this requires considerably more effort. Lastly, we witnessed a helicopter rescue on our hike out, between Lake Isabelle and the unnamed, snowbound lake at about 11,400‘. Hope whoever was involved is OK! |
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6/21/2014 Route: Navajo Snowfield Posted On: 6/23/2014, By: Goat9 Info: Navajo Snowfield is in full snow climbing condition. Brainard Lake Road gate is open, but then closed at the day use area by Brainard Lake itself. There are snow drifts in the Long Lake parking lot. The trail is snow covered immediately after the start of the trail at Long Lake and covered most of the way in. |
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7/1/2012 Route: 13er combo Posted On: 7/2/2012, By: Monster5 Info: Approach: Dry or muddy trail. At the snowfield below the upper headwall, the dry trail switchbacks up to the right. With traction/axe, one could just go straight through the snowfield. Snow: Several hundred feet available to the Navajo/Apache saddle (big group climbed it yesterday), in the Apache couloir (discontinuous above cliffbands - dry talus above), and in Queen's Way (dry talus up top). Airplane looked pretty dry with one or two minor patches. Not sure what the standard dry route is up Apache, but we went just right of Apache couloir and found scree, brief 4th class, and then talus hopping. One could also go beneath the Navajo snowfield and contour right (class 2+?). The Apache-Navajo-Niwot ridges are dry. One group took a 5.easy variation up Navajo from the Apache saddle (?). The crux chimneys are also dry and in good shape. Dicker's is dry, as are the talus slogs to forbidden fruit. |
