daylward Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Trip: Mt. Stuart - Girth Pillar attempt, Ice Cliff Ridge actual Date: 6/2/2007 Trip Report: The notes of Tim Matsui (slightly edited with his permission): Dan Aylward, Dylan Johnson, Chad Kellogg and I were going to do the Girth Pillar on Stuart. We were debating access via the N Ridge notch, straight up the Ice Cliff, or, as Dan thought from some Scurlock pix, we might be able to hop over the ridge between the Ice Cliff and Sherpa Glaciers and then traverse into the upper Ice Cliff or rap in. From the ridge crest (snow over slabs gave us easy access from the Sherpa) we saw the Girth was drippy wet, the 'schrund on the Ice Cliff couloir (and easy access to the approach rock pitches for the Girth) was looking difficult, all the hangfire cornices and rock and ice fall down into the basin made us alter our plans. For those of you interested in the Girth, here are some pictures that show its condition at the moment: We climbed the rock of the Ice Cliff Ridge, Chad and I turning the eastern corner and finding gorgeous, well featured Stuart Range granite complete with chicken heads, splitter cracks, slabs and steep corners. There was quite a bit of rock fall. small stuff (nalgene-sized) to coffee table sized. most of it was spontaneous although, with the gentlest of touches, Chad accidentally pulled an (est.) 1000lb block down; i was fairly sheltered but sprayed with shrapnel. it bounced down the line Dylan and Dan had passed through only minutes earlier. The snow slopes were pretty gloppy and prone to sloughing earlier in the day. Chad and Dan got to play a little dodge-em before we reached the dry rock. We heard the ice cliff go and heard some other large rockfall from our ridge and from the NE Face of Stuart. Dan and Dylan chose the shaded, snowy, and wetter northwest aspect of the ridge and had what sounded like wet 5.10R while Chad and I had more pleasant and sunny 5.8/5.9. We also witnessed some potentially killer sloughs down the ice cliff glacier couloir and I saw one down our descent couloir. Fortunately things settled down by the time we headed down it. We postholed to the summit, searched for my lost gloves, then descended the Sherpa. The bugs and visions of burgers down at the FF Rockfest camp had us jogging down the trail not long after. I would highly recommend this route for a fun, shorter N Ridge type climb. Apparently it's been done from the toe of the ridge at about 5.9. For the Girth, I would not recommend the approach we took until the cornices drop. The left side of the ice cliff, from the top of stuart, looks good to go right now but, again, beware the cornices; you would rap in right beneath a big one. The girth could use a little more warm weather to melt out...and by then maybe negotiating the bergschrund will be better. In spite of our 1.30 start, it was a hot day and a lot of snow on route made things wet (we even did some aiding on 5.8 terrain). ahh...alpine climbing. Here's some more shots: http://www.timmatsui.com/fs.shtml?media/20070602_STUART/index.htm Gear Notes: Standard alpine rock rack to 2 inches for the upper part of the Ice Cliff Ridge. Approach Notes: The Sherpa Glacier approach to the Girth Pillar seems to be a feasible way of getting there - just ascend the Sherpa glacier, pop over the Ice Cliff ridge below the upper headwall (involves a little low fifth class climbing and perhaps a rappel), and traverse across the upper ice cliff to the lower pitches of the Girth. It would avoid objective hazard of the Ice Cliff itself, although it might be threatened by its own cornices sometimes (such as at the time of this writing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekend_Climberz Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Those youthful days of dodgeball sound like they paid off. Great pics :tup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Very cool! Thanks for the TR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 We were debating access via the N Ridge notch, straight up the Ice Cliff, or, as Dan thought from some Scurlock pix, we might be able to hop over the ridge between the Ice Cliff and Sherpa Glaciers and then traverse into the upper Ice Cliff or rap in. Be warned... any approach to the girth besides climbing the ice cliff itself and writing a TR about it will only result in one being skinned alive and burned at the stake on this here poleclimbers.com :laf: Thanks for the pics... looks like she still has a few weeks to go especially with this weeks weather pattern... any pics of the climbing on the ice cliff ridge (I believe Beckey calls it Ice Cliff Arete)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daylward Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Be warned... any approach to the girth besides climbing the ice cliff itself and writing a TR about it will only result in one being skinned alive and burned at the stake on this here poleclimbers.com :laf: Sorry man, everyone's gotta start on an equal playing field if it's going to be a fair game! Thanks for the pics... looks like she still has a few weeks to go especially with this weeks weather pattern... any pics of the climbing on the ice cliff ridge (I believe Beckey calls it Ice Cliff Arete)? These are other pics of the day, including climbing on the Ice Cliff Ridge: http://www.timmatsui.com/fs.shtml?media/20070602_STUART/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlpineMonkey Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 (edited) Thats sweet how you guys were able to salvage the trip with the arete. Not a lot of people climb that thing, but it does have some fun spots indeed. The pillar starts shaping up nice in late June, with the Ice Cliff being relatively safe. Edited June 5, 2007 by AlpineMonkey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Be warned... any approach to the girth besides climbing the ice cliff itself and writing a TR about it will only result in one being skinned alive and burned at the stake on this here poleclimbers.com :laf: other tried n' true techniques to garner shit: a) discuss any snaplinks ye might find on yer route b) mention amount of outdoor retail experience ye might have c) dither about the quality of yer wind-resistant apparel d) use the expression "stumptown!" in more than 90% of yer posts to all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adventureboy Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 (edited) how was the descent? looks like just getting to the base would be a pretty serious chore. could you use the same descent if youclimbed the girthpillar? Edited June 6, 2007 by Adventureboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daylward Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 how was the descent? looks like just getting to the base would be a pretty serious chore. could you use the same descent if youclimbed the girthpillar? After ditching our extra stuff near the top of our route, we scrambled to the true summit of Stuart, then retraced our steps back down to our stuff. We descended the Sherpa glacier, which was a casual glissade, though a couple of glide cracks were starting to open up in the couloir. The entrance to the Sherpa couloir from the top is very near the top of the Ice Cliff ridge; pretty obvious if you're paying attention. And yes, that descent is quite feasible for the Girth Pillar or even North Ridge as well, assuming you want to go back down towards Leavenworth rather than Ingall's/Teannaway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 the sherpa becomes increasingly scary as the summer sets in though - eventually requires boots/crampons/axe and rappelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daylward Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 the sherpa becomes increasingly scary as the summer sets in though - eventually requires boots/crampons/axe and rappelling I agree; it certainly gets more difficult as time goes on - I've always descended the Cascadian when doing Stuart in late season conditions so I haven't personally been on the Sherpa at that time of year, but I've heard some stories from others that didn't sound pretty. Nonetheless, if you're headed back towards Leavenworth, it's still pretty much the easiest descent that direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I descended the Sherpa in September years ago, it wasn't fun. We had no crampons, and the gully was an inch of slub over rock hard snow. We rapped the whole thing. There was one set of slings, all red and all with the same initials. Each anchor was totally bogus, but a solid sling anchor was within three feet of each bunk rap sling so we just relocated them. Sometimes it took a little excavation with a nut tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adventureboy Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 beta abounds! sweetness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I descended the Sherpa in September years ago, it wasn't fun. We had no crampons, and the gully was an inch of slub over rock hard snow. We rapped the whole thing. There was one set of slings, all red and all with the same initials. Each anchor was totally bogus, but a solid sling anchor was within three feet of each bunk rap sling so we just relocated them. Sometimes it took a little excavation with a nut tool. Oooh, oooooh, spill, what were the initials of the bumbly who couldn't set anchors? Was it, say, RCC? EM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 It's been awhile, but I think they were DB. Who would we be poking fun at if it was RCC or EM? I must need another cup of coffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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