Tod Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Trip: Mt. Stuart - Stuart Glacier Couloir Date: 4/13/2008 Trip Report: It was a busy few days on Stuart. Here's another TR of the great conditions found on Stuart.... On Saturday morning we (JB, Greg and myself) set out to do a two day climb of Stuart Glacier Couloir. We made a semi leisurely start to our day with the idea that we would enjoy the day and make camp near the base of the Sherpa Glacier. Sunday morning we set out from camp skinning up towards the Stuart Glacier. Unfortunately, shortly after starting out, Greg had to turn around due to some equipment issues; from the base of the North Ridge on it was just JB and I. Booting up the Stuart Glacier with the couloir in sight. After we rounded the corner from the North Ridge the snow became soft and we put the skis back on and continued up the glacier and over the bergschrund. The Stuart Glacier Couloir was a bit of a powder slog at times, though the three ice steps were pretty fun. This is the third and easiest ice step. The first one was ~80 degrees and 10'-15' The West Ridge was a bit tedious; not much different than climbing it in the summer (discontinuous route with ledges and to many left/right/up/down options). The routefinding wasn't too bad, though drytooling on front point with skis definitely added a new flavor to climbing on the West Ridge. Per the standard route we followed the ridge for a short traverse on the south side then made a short climb (60' feet?) and crossed over to a ledge/ramp system on the north side. Looking back to the West Ridge notch. We followed north side traverse for about 160-200'. At this point we finally pulled the rope out and started protecting a few spots that required a bit more effort. Once we crossed back over to the south side at the small notch below the summit tower we made the easy down and across traverse. One more long tedious and meandering pitch up (via short class 4/5 ledges & blocks) put us on the summit. We made the quick traverse over to the false summit and put our boards together and skied down to the Sherpa Glacier Couloir. There were plenty of boot and ski tracks all around this side of the summit (see other TR's: nice job guys, good climbing and skiing). Skiing down the Sherpa was great powder, but the last few hundred feet quickly turned to heavy deep glop. Regardless the conditions up higher (particularly the upper Sherpa Glacier and Couloir) were fantastic. The parting shot of Dragontail while skiing out the trail to the car. Gear Notes: *Ice Tools and Crampons were needed for the couloir. *We used some minimal rock pro for the West Ridge (#1, #2 and a couple of nuts) plus a few large slings for slinging horns. *Splits for the skiing in and snowboarding down Approach Notes: There are some great tracks up towards the Sherpa/Ice Cliff area. The established trail oddly sets off from the main trail at the first meadow just after passing the Colchuck Trail. It crosses the creek and follows the south side of the Mountaineer Creek. Regardless it is a great track right now and avoids the boulders pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Coolio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanl Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 That is a PHENOMENAL trip, in my opinion. Really, really cool. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telemarker Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 (edited) I agree. Nice trip! Adam and I chatted with Greg for a bit before we continued on. Geeze, Stuart was skied out over the weekend, eh? Edited April 17, 2008 by telemarker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spicoli11 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Way to represent!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tod Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Thanks! Yeah, I was surprised that Stuart went from little to no activity to suddenly 3 groups converging on 3 different trips. Pretty cool that we all took advantage of some great condidtions.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweatinoutliquor Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Well done guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonathanjarrett Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 What do people think is the prognosis on SGC still being "in" over Memorial Day Weekend? Lot of snow this winter, but really hot over the last couple of days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevbone Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 Rad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrgo Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 There is sooo much snow this winter... a couple of days in the 90s will hardly make a dent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmilingWhiteKnuckles Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 (edited) bonathanjarrett, I was up in the region Saturday and was surprised at how cool it was during the early am hours (1-5am). The snow remained very firm in the morning and was great for traveling early. I saw evidence of one huge slide north of Mt. Cashmere*, but other than that and wet slides above the Ice Cliff Glacier, I didn't see much. So what I'm getting at is that (having done the SGC route in June) this route might still be in good shape--especially if it cools off this week at night. My one recommendation is to hit the couloir before the sun hits that east facing upper snow slope (which may be in the neighborhood of 8am)... *too elaborate a bit, this slide was on a roughly SE aspect on a smaller mountain to the north, across the valley from Mt. Cashmere. Look like it ran way down and scraped some earth... Edited May 19, 2008 by SmilingWhiteKnuckles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonathanjarrett Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Thanks. That was very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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