Trip: Mt Stuart-NW Face Couloir -
Date: 6/11/2011
Trip Report:
NW Face ice couloir/1984 route / "the Eighties Testpiece"
2006 report from Craig under thin conditions
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Always on the look out for great alpine ice climbs, I was hoping the elements for this route on Stuart were in place. first the route must be in shape, and the road should be open to the trailhead. A trip report on Stuart Glacier Couloir-cc.com settled these issues for me, all that was left was to find a willing participant or two. Tom and Daniel were looking forward to extending their ice season. None of us could believe a big ice climb could still be in in mid June. Heavy packs were loaded with every weapon in the arsenal: Pins, pickets, screws, cams, stoppers, etc. Snowshoes were handy getting us to the only dry place to sleep,: a large boulder. Tom took the only flat spot so I piled up avy debris for a flat, dry spot. A cold night led to a 3:00 am wake -up. It was going to be a full day of exciting mountaineering. The start of the climb didnt quite connect. It took a long reach to connect to some pretty unstable ice ribbons. After that, the traverse right was exciting, ending in a steep, short chimney. The other interesting leads were the pitch to get around the Great Gendarme, and the spicy mixed top out around the summit cornice. It ended up being an awesome outing. We did the climb in 4 blocks with some looong simo-soloing. We reveled in the stellar climbing, exposure and ultimately stunning summit. This is a route that should see much more traffic. It is a gem.
Special thanks to Jim Nelson at pro Mt Sports for beta and gear.
Video pending, check back
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Approach Notes:
Mteers Creek