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Trip: Mt. Stuart NE Face - "Always the Cowboy, Never the Cow" Trip Date: 01/24/2026 Trip Report: Mt. Stuart “Always the Cowboy, Never the Cow” January high pressure is almost always a given. Whether its three days or a week one can usually count on a high pressure system showing up sometime in January. This year it decided to consume a large portion of the month. Great for climbers! With freezing levels reaching well above 10,000ft for multiple days. Washington winter was looking canceled. After a week of warm weather, the cold finally returned. With clear skies and cold temperatures in the forecast climbing conditions were lining up. On Tuesday I got a text from Michael asking if I was free last weekend to go check out Mt. Stuart. He pitched a winter ascent of the DNR which I quickly counter offered with the idea of a line to the left of Girth Pillar we both had looked at before. Steph Abegg had posted a summit photo from Colchuck on Instagram and way in the back it showed the NE face of Stuart. One could see the face was covered in ice and that there was a sliver of white just to the left of the Girth Pillar. Not certain of conditions but excited for the potential we decided to go take a look. After a spree of texts we came up with a plan and started reaching out to friends for beta and gear. Michael was able to acquire a sled from Sam Duke (shout out Sam!) so we could zip our way up the closed forrest service road to the trailhead. The stars were aligning for a rare Washington winter climbing window. We met in Leavenworth Friday morning caffeinated and hungry. We quickly sorted gear and headed to the trailhead. Michael powered up the sled which gave a loud burp and rumbled to life. We gingerly made our way up to the trailhead as neither of us had ridden on a snowmachine, eek! But we kept it on the road. We left the Stuart Lake trailhead around 10am and were happy to find a nicely packed trail all the way to the mountaineer’s creek turn off. The warm weather had consolidated much of the snow making for mellow boot travel once we stepped off the main trail. It took us about four hours to make our way to a bivy spot near the end of the sherpa glacier drainage. We set up camp underneath a boulder settling in making jokes and discussing a wide range of subjects to occupy our time before tucking into the tent. Oh he's a wanderer! Just a wanderer! NE face looking fat! At 4am our alarm clock rang and we slowly rolled out of bed. After a slow start of brewing up and eating breakfast we packed our bags leaving camp around 5:30. We made our way up to the ice cliff glacier finding passage along the right side of the ice cliff via ice and snow covered slabs. After getting onto the glacier we could see how much ice was covering the NE face… it was historic conditions! After roping up to cross the glacier we navigated our way underneath the face. At this point the wind had woken up and began biting at any part of skin we had exposed. This would make for a chilly morning. Big Mike getting ready to get Shrundy! Sunrise on the NE face! The bergshrund crossing was looking questionable. It appeared that crossing this shrund may provide a serious challenge in the future as the options were slim. Michael made his way over a narrow snow bridge finding Neve and ice on the other side. Once across we simuled our way up a few runnels of ice eventually making our first belay below a rock step. After reaching the belay I took the rack and set off on my first lead. I made my way up this rock step placing the #4 in a very nice crack working my way into some delicate feet with good tool sticks. Once I mantled this problem I moved my way into another 20m ice runnel. Topping out I came into a snow slope that lead to the streak of ice we had been ogling ever since we saw the face. I belayed up Michael and at this point the wind had made its presence well known. It made for parka and puffy pant belays necessary. Photo: Michael Telstad First Rock Step After a hasty transition Michael took off into what appeared to be the steepest section of the route which we broke up into two pitches. Michael led a really fun ice flow with stemming and good sticks into a shallow snow slope and put me on belay. As he brought me up we were chatting how much type one fun this would be if the wind would just die down. Looking up I was excited that this was my lead. It looked like the most exciting pitch of the route. It was a left facing dihedral with a smear of ice running down the left side. I started up aiming for the corner to our left. The trickiest part was getting through a thinnest part of the smear using small rock edges and delicate front points on the thin ice. This lead into the steepest ice on the route which was challenging to navigate due to the verticality and irregular ice flow. After topping out the smear I found a rock outcropping and belayed Michael up. When he reached the belay I could see in his eyes he had been blessed by the screaming barfie fairy. After a minute of arm swings and groans he took the rack starting up the next section of ice and snow runnels. Photo: Michael Telstad The flow that started it all Photo: Michael Telstad Getting the goods! Michael led us up another rope length with some simul climbing taking us to the upper snow slopes. From here we chose the path of least resistance taking a right leaning snow ramp that we saw would take us to the sub summit. From the photo it looked straight forward. Funny enough it ended up being some of the slowest climbing on the whole route. The snow ramp we saw was actually a very narrow band of snow that was a strange consolidation requiring multiple kicks to make a secure step. This ended up being some blue collar toe bashing over the next hour or so. Bashing my way across this ledge in one long simul-block we eventually made it to an anchor where the ramp turned into a snow field leading us to the sub summit. Michael later told me he was annoyed with how long I was taking until he came around the corner and then realized the reason for my slow lead. He proceeded to thank me for the steps I had painstakingly made. Almost There! Topping out the sub summit we popped onto the sunny south side and took a snack break. We ditched packs and ran up to the summit snapped a few photos and headed down. We walked and down climbed our way to the sherpa glacier descent exit. Front pointing our way down the sherpa glacier we eventually made our way back to camp sometime around 6pm. I don’t quite remember what time. Obligatory Summit Selfie Sunset Selfie. Back at camp we ate our de-hys, listened to music and hopped into our tent. The next morning we walked out following our tracks through the mountaineer’s creek drainage. We were psyched on what we had climbed but our excitement also laid in what might come next for the NE face of Stuart. Our Camp We believe our route climbs a direct start to the ’86 Girth Pillar Left completed by Mark Beibe and Charlie Hampson which was done as an aid climb in Octobe. We climbed this completely free following ice, snow and neve with a few mixed sections. Thus it was not quite a new route but definitely a first ascent in this style. We chose the name “Always the Cowboy, Never the Cow” after a CMAT lyric from the song “I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!”. This was due to the blue collar climbing and the feeling of being cowboys out in the wild wrangling ice. Photo: John Scurlock “Always the Cowboy, Never the Cow” AI5 M5 FA: Michael Telstad and Tucker Merrill Gear Notes: Alpine rack to #4, nuts, screws. Approach Notes: Mountaineers creek to Ice cliff glacier

Thanks for that info Dustin. We’ll find a good next life phase for these ropes.

Hello, If you don't find other ways to repurpose your ropes, Sterling Ropes has a recycling program. There is a dropoff box at Ascent Outdoors on Elliott Ave in Seattle (photo). Below is a close up photo of the information on the box. NOTE: Sterling's recycling program only accepts dynamic ropes, so if your 5mm cord is static, it would not be eligible for this program. It's great you're trying to find a way to repurpose your ropes! DTS

I would not get on it with a bunch of fresh snow. Too much overhead hazard and a smooth, icy layer to slide on.

Word on the street is the Black Spuder on Hood is in good nick.

Board doesn’t yet support heics. Can convert them to jpg. Note to self: check on status of this. edit: no plans for support. Only Safari renders them. Other browsers do not. So it’s not a forum thing, it’s Apple doing their thing. best I could do is have the board auto convert them to jpg on upload or something, but that isn’t happening anytime soon.

Disclaimer: if you're looking for beta, you'll probably be disappointed by this TR. If youre looking for an emo introspection on soloing, then perhaps you’ll be amused… I awoke without an alarm on Tuesday morning. I stumbled around and gathered my things. Two skinny 30m cords, ice tools, crampons, one ice screw, 2 carabiners, some snacks.. I loaded my pack and headed up to the pass around 8am. I left from a nearly vacant lot at 8:40; not exactly an alpine start. But with freezing levels down to 500ft and clouds in the forecast, I wasn’t too worried about timing. I skinned up the thinnest approach to Source Lake I have ever seen in February, my skis sliding out from under more than I would’ve liked. My normal skins for these skis are having glue issues, so I used 77mm skins on my 95mm skis, not ideal.. As I skinned, I thought back to the last time I attempted this route, which was 9 years prior with my college girlfriend. We drove down from Bellingham and accidentally climbed a full pitch up Bryant Peak before realizing that we were climbing the wrong mountain. Hopefully today will go a bit better, I thought to myself. As I skinned through the valley, the morning fog lay like a wet blanket. Cold, wet, quiet. I skinned up from Source Lake; there was about an inch of snow in the skinner, which made the skinning a bit nicer than the ice down low. I caught a glimpse of Chair through the trees as I crested above the fog. Dang it. Looks like no ice on the upper pitch. Oh well, maybe it wasnt meant to be. I can still take a look at the North Face, or maybe climb the lower pitches of the NE Butt, then bail. I passed a few other skiers. I was actually enjoying being alone with my thoughts, so I moved quickly, eager to get back to some silence. I finally got up into the sun and was fully free of the fog. I felt the humidity drop and my sweat start to dry, one of the best feelings. The feeling was short-lived. I booted up the thumb tack to the ridge where clouds had again blown in and brought light snow. Above the fog... View of the route. I meandered along the ridge and finally got a view of the North Face, no good, no ice, just snow on rock. Not today. I ended up at the base of the NE Buttress of Chair without even really stopping to consider if and why. I looked up, and the rocks above had a smear of ice that looked fun to climb. As I transitioned from skinning to climbing, I briefly pondered my options and how I was feeling. Soloing requires confidence. But too much confidence will get anyone into trouble. It's a delicate balancing act. Today, I had the confidence. I started up. The ice was thin. Ranging from a quarter inch to 2 inches in “fat” spots. The movement of climbing sub-vertical ice and rock is addictive. Delicate taps with the tools, finding edges for the crampon mono points, ice and rock, perfectly mixed. Nothing feels better than flowing through that terrain. Soon enough, I had “flowed” my way into a pickle. I looked up and realized I had blown past a ramp to the left I should have taken. Above was vertical rock that I had no business touching, so I awkwardly scraped my way down a bit and transitioned left over the ridge. I was not psyched about this little blunder. The downclimb had some scary moves that I did not enjoy. I contemplated bailing. Confidence gone. I knew the upper pitch wasn't in any way, what's the point? This is all so contrived… The thin climbing right off the bat, not much ice but it was good. I continued moving upward through ice and rock and got back into the flow on this slightly easier terrain. The ice was mostly an eggshell over powder on rock. The movement was a 50/50 split between scraping tools or ‘pons looking for a positive edge out of sight beneath the snow, or gentle sticks in snice. I topped out the lower pitch feeling good. I looked up at the upper “ice” pitch with no ice, and I looked at the trees to my right that I could rap down and be done. Oh well, I’ll just keep going up. I’m curious if this middle snow slope is skiable anyway. Eggshell ice over rock. Looking up at the "ice" pitch on the right and the ramp I took (but would not recommend) on the left. I booted up the snow slope, moving quickly. Only a few inches of boot pen made for efficient movement. As I approached the upper step, I considered taking the plum line that had a few ice smears, or traversing out left to what appeared to be lower-angle snow and rock. At this point, I felt like I was way off the deck and had already made one mistake, so I took what I perceived to be the easy option to the left. I climbed out of the steep snow into the steeper rock and quickly regretted my decision. No ice, very few positive edges, not ideal. I scraped my way up it, crampons skittering on smooth rock; it felt a bit harrowing. There was one lone tree at the top of these rocks, and when I finally grabbed a branch, I breathed a sigh of relief. I pulled myself up over the tree and booted to the top, relieved to be done with the climb. I wandered around the top, went to the true summit, and looked for my descent. Nothing looked like the photos I had looked at. Eventually, I found the correct gully based on a dead tree at the top, which I recognized from a photo. The correct gully was a little bit back down the climbing route from the summit(s). The descent gully was nearly dry, and I face-in down-climbed down nearly the whole thing. It was slow and tedious, and a few spots felt about as thoughtful as the route up, except there were a few smears of solid ice yielding good sticks in this gully, unlike most of the route up. I got down to the rap station and joined my 2 30m cords for a 30m rap. I finished the rap and thought that what I had just rapped seemed a lot easier to down climb than what I had down climbed to get to the rap anchor… Up the final slope. Looking down the descent gully. A slow transition at the bottom of the descent gully ensued. Coil ropes, harness off, crampons off, skins off, skis on, boots locked, finally ready to ski. The ski down yielded a few good turns. Hop turns up high with dust on crust and rather flat light. Down lower, the snow got softer and deeper, and the light improved. A few good turns later, I was into the skied-out refrozen debris over Source Lake. I boogied down that and enjoyed the icy luge back to the car. C2C was 4:20. Would be fun to try to go fast in better conditions! A few nice turns on the exit. A few parting thoughts. I really wanted to do some technical climbing and forced it a bit. The solo headspace pendulum of caution vs confidence was a bit tilted toward confidence today. We shall recalibrate a bit moving forward and try to find the elusive balance. This route probably needs more freeze-thaw after getting baked in the hot sun for weeks. It sure does have a lot of south for being the supposed “NE” Butt.

Polish was almost fully formed when I was skiing up there in November. I reckon it's in great shape if you can get up there. Can always ski up via the Easton and leave skis at the col to grab on the way down. Sled necks groom the first few miles of the trail.

TL;DR - It's forecasted to snow continuously for the foreseeable future, so unless you're coming here to ski, I recommend staying home or going elsewhere. The gist of the season so far is that north faces above 6,500ft are in great shape. Everything below that is out or unreliable. Access is hard because so many roads washed out in the storm, Cascade River Road somehow being the exception. Dragontail and most other routes in the Enchantments are notably NOT in this season. The north side of Stuart is however in great shape. Before it started snowing again, The NE ice couloir on Eldorado was reportedly in phenomenal condition. All of this is dependent on a warm dry spell leading into a cold high pressure system allowing for the snowpack to solidify. If you don't see this, it's not worth it.

Looks like the weather is getting active so hard to say if you'll find anything to do on a big peak in 10 days. I'd bring skis, just in case, and check back in next week.

Hello, Utah based climber here looking to make a trip to a volcano for a winter ascent of some ice and rock route. Can anyone suggest something that might be in right now that has WI3 or steeper ice. I am not familiar with the current conditions out there but am aware your winter like ours has been very warm with little precip (seem good for alpine ice). For example I was looking at dragontail peak and the triple colouirs route with the thought that it might be in early, but have no idea. The current summit temp is in the negatives so perhaps not. Any ideas? Thanks, Nick 5039871358

$750 plus shipping from 99508. Never worn outside. New with tags. Get them now and train for AK season! jakegano@gmail.com

Sent you a PM.

It's basement cleanout time, and with my "hardman" days a thing of the past, I have ropes to repurpose. (Don't you just hate that verb?) Yeah, I've read about the standard solutions; rope mats, dog leashes, etc. Any other brilliant suggestions, or does anyone want to adopt one of these? They are old, 10+ years, but generally have very low use and have been stored in ideal conditions; away from chemicals/corrosives, cool, dark, moderate humidity. But still, maybe not what you'd want to trust with your life. From Lt to Rt: Oldest of the batch, a 9mm scrambler's 30m twin rope Pull cord, 5mm I believe, 70m+ length. I got this to go with the Duodess and used it maybe once. It would still be fine for a lifetime's worth of high-vis tat! Mammut Duodess 10mm (?) x 70m. Awesome rope, very little use. Set of Mammut half ropes; 9mm x 60m. Mostly used for ice climbing, no known issues.

Yeah, it was cool to see you out there Joseph! We ran into some spooky wind slabs right below the ice cliff and bailed early on, got to climb some of the water ice lower in the valley though. Didn't see any gear, sorry dude! We lost your booter on the way up and the way back lol.

Shoot; missed that one. Thx Jason

The Glacier Creek road is washed out way low....like fully gone just above the bridge. I don't think hardly anyone is going up there these days.

Conor! It was nice running into you on your approach towards Stuart, how did your climb go? NE Face was looking filled in quite nicely. Also if you found some brooks running shoes and multiple ski straps, lmk lol

Anyone been up there lately; how's it looking?

Hi all, beginner mountain climber here really into mountaineering. Looking to climb mt hood some time this spring and would like to go with an experienced lead on the trip. Anyone climbing some time in April or May and willing to have me tag along?

Just imagine if you could zoom into the full res originals on a good monitor! The new camera and glass that I splurged on this winter has been a bit of a revelation. I should have done this glass upgrade 20 years ago but it took that long to wear down the Finance Minister!

Holy `@#%@#$!` the detail in these pictures is freaking amazing.

Not really desired to post up eBay auctions, we would prefer it being offered just to our community then if it doesn’t sell put it on eBay. This is just to prevent non-community members from spamming us with their auctions to drive up bidding. we want this to be a place where people interact meaningfully rather than as a spam dumping ground. since it’s already here you can leave it but that’s the message. I can see you’re not just a spam account.

Thinning out my unused gear pile. Not sure if this allowed. https://ebay.us/m/T1MocB Auction starting at $9.99, Buy it now $29. New in package, not even tried on. Has always been stored in cool, dry conditions. Bought multiple sizes hoping that one of them will fit & of course I didn’t return this in time. Marketed for women, but it’s really unisex. **Go with measurements, not marketing** This is genuinely an all-purpose harness, in my personal experience. Product Info for Black Diamond Primrose Harness LARGE Waist: 84-91 cm / 33-36 inches ….. Legs: 61-71 cm / 24-28 inches For all-around climbers who know that time spent fiddling with leg loops and adjusting a pinching waist belt is time wasted, the Black Diamond Primrose delivers a time-saving design for all styles of climbing. A pre-threaded Speed Adjust waistbelt buckle saves time and eliminates error when tying in, while Dual Core Construction puts an emphasis on comfort, even when you're posted up at a hanging belay. TrakFIT leg-loops easily adjust for cool fall days at the crag or blazing summer days on long multi-pitches, and four pressure-molded gear loops and a haul loop make this Black Diamond's most popular all-rounder. Features of Black Diamond Primrose Harness: Pre-threaded Speed Adjust waistbelt buckle Bullhorn-shaped waistbelt built using Dual Core Construction Patent-pending trakFIT adjustment for easy leg loop customization Adjustable rear elastic riser Four pressure-molded gear loops Haul loop WEIGHT (G) 410 g GEAR LOOPS 4 Gear loops ICE CLIP SLOTS No, 0 BELAY / TIE-IN One Loop WAIST BUCKLE TYPE Manual Doubleback LEG BUCKLE TYPE Quick Adjust DROP SEAT Yes HAUL LOOP Yes (12kN) SIZE Waist: 84-91 cm / 33.1-35.8 in Legs: 61-71 cm / 24-28 in