[TR] Mount Stuart - Upper North Ridge 8/12/2013

[N Dahlstrom]

Trip: Mount Stuart - Upper North Ridge

 

Date: 8/12/2013

 

Trip Report:

My friend Sam and I climbed the upper North Ridge of Mount Stuart 8/12-8/13 of 2013. We met at Snoqualmie Pass at about noon on the 12th and drove up to the Esmerelda Basin trailhead. After sorting out gear we probably started hiking at about 2:30 or 3 pm. The trail is good and goes pretty quick all the way up to Lake Ingalls.

 

Our first view of the objective.

 

We hiked around the lake on the left (west) side and continued up the west shoulder of Stuart. We then dropped down to the boulder field under the West face.

 

The West face I believe?

 

We then headed up to Goat Pass.

 

There were many clouds blowing around but we trusted the weather report that said the following day was going to be crystal.

 

Goats at the pass.

 

Some more goats.

 

We had opted not to bring a stove so we ate some meat and cheese snacks for dinner and took in the beautiful evening.

 

 

The goats were very curious about us and would get very close.

 

There were numerous bivy platforms to choose from with rock walls already built up to protect from against the wind. As soon as the sun went down though the wind died and the mosquitos come out in force. They were bad.

 

Sad about the mosquito onslaught.

 

We zipped up our bivy sacks like body bags and listened to the little demons try to bite through the fabric.

 

We got up as soon as there was light and immediately began the walk across the snowfield and glacier. We needed to find running water badly because we had no stove to melt snow. Luckily there was a rock island in the glacier with a good stream of running water next to it.

 

Eating breakfast and filling our bottles at sunrise

 

There were some large crevasses above and below the entrance to the gully that accesses the North ridge. It does get a little steep and we were both glad to have crampons on our approach shoes.

 

The gully was steep and a little loose but not too bad and we felt safe and didn't break out the rope. Once we made it to the notch in the ridge we changed over to climbing mode.

 

Taking a break and getting ready to climb.

 

We kept our approach shoes on and simulclimbed with a 60m half rope doubled over. This worked well and we were able to cover ground relatively quickly.

 

Taking a break after some cracky slab climbing.

 

Sam making a face or maybe talking?

 

Me with some sling-bling. The more slings you bring, the longer your simulpitches will be.

 

It was some great, exposed ridge climbing.

 

We put on our rock shoes for the crux pitches. This is the first of the two 5.9s. We also hauled our bags on this one and the next. Both were quite fun and the 30m limit of our doubled over half rope was no problem.

 

Some views from towards the top of the route.

 

We topped out sometime in the early afternoon.

 

On the summit of Mount Stuart. Wonder if anyone driving I-90 was looking at us while we were up there?

 

View of Ingalls Peak.

 

Summit snacks.

 

The descent was not executed entirely without mistake. We tried to go down too early before fully crossing the little ridge below the false summit and had to backtrack back up and then down. After that it was mostly straightforward with numerous tracks all seeming to lead in approximately the same direction. I was worried that we would hit the Ingalls Creek trail and not know if we were East or West of the Longs Pass intersection, but as it happened we stumbled onto the trail and realized the sign for Longs Pass was literally right in front of us. After that we knew it wasn't going to be an "epic".

 

At this point we now know that we are going to make it home relatively early that night.

 

Panorama from Longs Pass.

 

Final shot of Mount Stuart.

 

Gear Notes:

Medium alpine rack with lots of slings for simulclimbing. one #4.

Used approach shoes with crampons and light axes for glacier. seemed ok to us.

Climbed mostly with approach shoes and enjoyed that, but also liked having climbing shoes for the few crux pitches.

 

 

Approach Notes:

The normal Ingalls Lake to Goat Pass way. Was not really difficult to follow from the beta that's already out there.

Edited April 11, 2014 by N Dahlstrom

[Bronco]

Nice TR, makes me look forward to warm rock this summer!

 

Old guy tip - get a $5 head-net for camp. It weighs next to nothing and although dorky, your partners will be jealous.

 

Cigars are pretty effective repellent as well.

[N Dahlstrom]

Ha, thanks for the tip.