This past weekend, Jen and I decided to go check out the mountains. With all the running in the spring, and the biking in the summer, we haven’t spend much time in the mountains, so it seemed long overdue. We decided for the closest big mountains to boulder: the Indian Peaks. Specifically, we were aiming for Navajo Peak, and possibly Isabelle Glacier.
Weather wise, we had picked the better day of the weekend; that is, according to the forecast. While the sun was out, we were surprised by the fierce winds the white tops on the pictures below bear witness of. That was not part of the forecasts we had read, but that’s the deal with the mountains. You never quite know what you will get.
From the early morning, despite of the strong winds, our destination, Najavo Peak, was out of sight, completely engulfed in clouds. The clouds would blow in from the west, and then dissipate somewhere after having passed over the peaks.
As it got later in the morning, the clouds finally started to leave gaps between them, and we got a few glimpses of the mountain peaks. We could even see the moon setting behind the mountains.
Navajo Peak, our destination, can be seen on the picture below in the upper left corner.
Traversing the snowfields was quick and efficient, but as soon as we hit the screefield traveling got a bit slower as we had to scramble up over rocks and steep cliffs.
Decision point. After quite a bit of climbing and scrambling we reached a plateau from which the plan was to scramble up Airplane Gully (an airplane crashed here more than 50 years ago) and then along the ridge to the summit. The gully however was a bit more loose and steep than we had hoped for, so we decided to not proceed. We had not brought helmets, and it seemed too risky to try and climb up here without them. Next time!
Instead of going for Navajo Peak we decided to check out Isabelle Glacier. The way to the Isabelle Glacier entailed a bit of down climbing and a then a traverse across several small ridges. The surrounding peaks were impressive. The picture below shows Shoshoni peak with a cool frozen lake in the front.
There was quite a bit more fresh snow in the mountains than I had expected.
The top of Isabelle Glacier. Very skiable. Even before we hiked up here we had discussed bringing skis, but decided on making the summit of Navajo Peak the purpose of the day. Now we wished we had brought the skis!
Here is Jen on the Isabelle Glacier.
At the bottom of the glacier, there’s a small icy lake. In the summer time there are icebergs floating around here. Probably the only icebergs in all of Colorado!
Having reached the Isabelle Glacier it was time for a quick lunch before heading back down again.
Back down lower the snow had melted and revealed all the green vegetation we didn’t see in the morning. Navajo Peak in the background. We will be back!
Check out all of the pictures here.
pretty awesome..looks very much like glacier national park we just went to except..temp was in upper 70′s and not much snow yet…glaciers are disappearing ..by 2020 all glaciers will be gone from the park..
Climb looks really good..and close to your house…