Jerm

Were you the guys in the Tacoma that got stuck? We did it in a Ranger, slipped a bit on the way in (wet) but it was dry coming out and easy. A come-along and ratchet straps would be good insurance...

1. Both times I did Ingalls I went the non-traditional route and camped on the west side, at Lake Ann and Van Epps Pass (which can be driven to in a 4wd vehicle with reasonable clearance, car based SUVs probably wouldn't want to try though). From the pass, it is a 30-40 minute flat walk to Lake Ann and a nice campsite, then another 45 min - hour up a faint trail to the base of the S ridge. 2. West Ridge of Stuart fits that bill, although most of the climbing is sub-5th. Maybe 3-5 roped 5th class pitches total. The upper North Ridge (bypassing the Gendarme) is 5.7 or easier (mostly easier) and a better route IMO. A approach via Teanaway and Ingalls, then bivy at Goat Pass or base of NW Buttress (for access to water), followed by Upper N Ridge->Cascadian->Longs might work for you. You'll want crampons and an ice axe for the Stuart Glacier though. 3. East Ridge of Ingalls is also fun. Much longer than the South Ridge (which is really only 2 pitches), a few harder moves, and nice exposure. Really only one or two spots with 5.7 moves -- the beginning, and near the end. The rest is 5.easy and 4th class so it is a great route to simul climb.

Nice work guys. I think we've now seen all approach/descent variations to this route this summer, and I think it's more or less clear that none of them are really stand out as best. If you ignore the extra driving, your combo sounds pretty good!

LJT is the one on the left. West Horn is the one on the right. I think the NW Buttress can be reached by going around West Horn on the large set of ledges you can see about 1/3 of the way down the ridge toward LJT. You reach it by going up that gully you can see above the righthand snow patch. We descended to LJT via a rap from the rib just beyond the middle of the lefthand snow patch.

The NW Butt is pretty direct, just go straight down the gully below it. Aside from some schwackage around the bog, there is a great trail all the way out to and around Stuart Lake.

As of now, you dont need cramps or ice axe to go that way. You might have a short section or two to cross, but nothing requiring an axe or crampons. Only bring that stuff if you intend to descend the Sherpa or cross teh Stuart Glacier to the upper NR (most only bring an axe for that, but you could get away with a stick or trekking poles if it is warm).

Also, FWIW, that green line can easily be done as two pitches (with a 60m, 50 might be a tad shy), one from the bush to where the green/blue split, then another to where they join. That also gives you more comfortable belays, both are on big ledges.

1 -- yes. I think the initial pitches are actually as good or better than the Gendarme and doing them allows you do bring less gear (no ice axe, cramps, etc). 2 --- I've done both. I thought the crack off to the right was dirty and not so fun, although I had to traverse back left at the top so maybe I went one crack too far right. The left hand crack, while harder and scarier, is a better, cleaner line. Takes small cams and nuts well. About halfway up, instead of sticking with the crack, reach right and there is another crack to the right that makes the going easier. This pitch comes after the 5.8 slot pitch (which is obvious) and starts from a ledge with an old dead tree on it. The wider crack is out of view up and right, in view from that belay is a very thin crack that peters out, straight up, and another that continues up and slightly left. The left one is the best IMO. I would put it at solid 5.9, definitely harder than the Gendarme pitches, maybe even a 10a in some circles.

Nice work. I was wondering about you guys being on Stuart in Sunday's crappy weather. It poured over on this side, Static Poiint was a washout for us. I think there are two ways to LJ tower, one goes up a steeper chimney on the far right side of that gully (bunch of slings at the top of it), the other goes more up the middle (two parallel chimneys) and is easier.

Climb: Mount Stuart-Complete North Ridge Date of Climb: 7/22/2006 Trip Report: We approached via Mountaineer Creek, which was nice fast and easy compared to the slog up from Ingalls. Only tricky part was finding the route through the woods after turning off the Stuart Lake trail. The turnoff was flagged at the first switchback leading to Stuart Lake, but the trail quickly peters out, with a faint track going down toward the main creek, and another going across. We went across and found the route again at a log crossing the creek coming from Stuart Lake. This led to a cairned route across the base of talus slopes (big blocks, stable for the most part). There is apparently a better route along the stream, but we stuck to what we had rather than waste time bushwhacking. We eventually hit the other route near some waterfalls below a hanging vally just below treeline, then followed a nice path through flat woods to the base of the Ice Cliff moraine. All in all, a great way to get to the route with minimal fuss and aggravation, although you end up adding to the agony of descent (more on that...). The route: We linked pitches and managed to do the lower section in 4 rope lengths, then switched to simul-climbing at the knife edge where the lower west variation joins. We found the crack pitch above the 5.8 slot to be the hardest, kinda flared and a bit awkward, but well protected. On our last (failed) attempt we had bypassed this via easier but dirty terrain to the right. Simul climbing increased our speed by several orders of magnitude, and we were at the notch early. Rather than press on, we chilled out, melted water (there was plenty of snow nearby), and did what we could to enjoy a beautiful sunset while being devoured by mosquitoes. Also at the notch were Rob and Jeff, who crossed the glacier and arrived just after we did. After a fitful night fighting bugs, watching a party climb by headlamp high above, and little sleep, we set out around 6 in a cloud of insects. Simul-climbing as fast as we could, we lost the bugs somewhere around pitch 5, crossed some cool knife edges, and arrived at the Gendarme around 8:30, I think. We decided to haul our packs up the first 2 Gendarme pitches, which kinda sucked (especially on the second one).It was nice to climb unhindered though, and our fears of scary laybacking and offwidthing turned out to be unfounded. Both pitches were pretty fun. From a notch above the Gendarme there was one more unexpected short-but-hard crack and then more simul climbing to the top, which we reached just before noon. None of the descent options particularly appealed to us, but after lots of hemming and hawing, we decided on the West Ridge, figuring the traffic it gets would make it easier to follow. We made about 7 single rope rappels along the route, and I know others will want details so here's how it went: Downclimb south from the the summit to a small bivy. Turn right over the south rib and either downclimb a short crack to an exposed rap station at a block (we used green rap slings with rings), or set a rappel higher up that gets you here. Rap down and right (to climbers left, our 60m single rope just barely reached) to the end of a ledge that you can walk/climb across to a notch in West Ridge ("tiny notch" on Beckey topo). Downclimb ridge for 50 feet or so to a rap station below a block. One rap to big ledge (bivies), and another to ledges above the main West Ridge Notch. Downclimb down gully, and traverse right, looking for ledges to take you toward Long John Tower. Cross talus slope and walk behind crescent shaped snow patch on the third large ledge system you can see below the West Horn. Find a rap station on the rib beyond this, two raps from here (we added a second station, downclimb to a horn to get to it) get you to the bottom of a gully, follow a goat trail up this gully and across ledges (short belly crawl) to the LJT notch. From the notch, go down and sligthly right to a set of shallow chimneys, we downclimbed half of the one on the left (climbers right) to a horn and did another rappel there. Downclimb ledges down and right (snow here) until you can climb over into the adjacent gully to the north. Downclimb this gully past two notches on your right. When you see some sandy tree ledges to the right (just past a small smooth headwall), follow them right and make a rap from a tree into the next gully, then cross through the second notch below that rap to the lower west ridge and 2nd class terrain. From here it is obvious, just walk down the ridge. With all the head scratching, rap threading, and lunch eating we did it took us almost 6 hours to get down to the ridge this way, but if you can find the raps and are quick with your downclimbing it could probably be done in 4 hours or less (summit to Stuart->Goat Pass path). After we refilled our water at snowpatches on the NW "rock glacier" we popped some vitamin I and sprinted as best we could up to Goat Pass. From there some boot skiing along the moraine got us into another mosquito hell, and we pretty much ran down the gully below the Stuart Glacier (muddy and loose in places). If you take this descent, MAKE SURE you go down the big canyon/gully you can see extending below the NW Buttress, everything else cliffs out. We did not know this and got lucky with our chouice. In the gully, we stayed to the left and followed talus as low as we could. A rough trail took us along the west edge of the meadow/bog. We lost it a bunch, but usually found it soon after by heading uphill a bit. Soon after the bog it crosses a river, and from there on it was smooth sailing all the way to the TH. We finally got down around midnight, and stopped only once along the way to pull pebbles out of our shoes. Gear Notes: 9.1mm x 60m rope. Normal rack up to 4", some extra slings and 4 rap rings. Bivy gear. Approach Notes: See TR.

We brought a #4 WC Friend and a #4 BD Camalot, and felt the BD wasn't really needed. The fixed cam was clippable, I think there is a sling on it, and I believe you can get smaller gear in horizontals near the base of the crack.

I was up there on Sat/Sun and there was snow to melt at the notch. A couple small patches, they may be gone after this weeks heat, but there was a large patch just the other side of the notch that should still be there. There was also a patch at the bivy in the notch just before the slab pitch that leads to the knife edge below the Gendarme (on the west side of the ridge). Glacier was in good shape, minimal crevasses, the party we met had crossed in tennis shoes without cramps (but with ice axes). BRING A BUG SCREEN

Yeah that was us! We got a little confused crossing over to Long John Tower, but the rest was straightforward, just long. The mosquitoes were deadly going down the gully below the Stuart Glacier, we basically ran from there to the TH!

I just did it with a 15 degree bag this past weekend (14k freezing levels). WAY too warm. If I had to do it again with the same weather I would have just brought a fleece bag and a simple bug tent of some kind. If the temps in Seattle are pushing 90, dont worry so much about keeping warm, worry about being EATEN ALIVE. Bring a bug net, or 10 gallons of DEET.

As I attempted to sleep at the bug infested notch, I watched three headlamps high on the North Ridge in the wee hours (maybe 1-2 AM?). At first it looked like you guys were trying to descend the Northwest Face, then finally went up? We saw you ~8:30 a few pitches above the notch (must've just missed you, we were coming up the lower ridge) and then I flashed my camera at you a few times later that night. Just wondering what happened, problems rapping below the Gendarme in the dark? It looked like one of your headlamps was failing.

We just descended the West Ridge on Sunday ... it took a long time (5-6 hours, but that includes an extended lunch break) but still probably shorter than it would have taken us to do Cascadian and then walk back around (we needed to get back around to Stuart Lake/ Mtneer Creek TH). If we had to do it again, now knowing the route and where the rappels are, I think we could go from the summit to near Stuart Pass in ~4 hours. If you go up West Ridge, you'll see where some of the raps are, so it could work for you as well. We made ~7 raps in total, although some of those we probbaly could have walked/downclimbed around. There are nice bivies in the last gully before LJT with snow nearby, if you wanted to try an up-and-over. But the route would require such a small rack it might be better to just camp at Ingalls and roundtrip it from there if you have the time. Whatever you do, bring DEET and/or some kind of bugnet (this coming from a New Englander), the skeeters are hideous up there!

I heard you guys below us on Mon morning ... we were attempting the full ridge as well and ended up falling WAY short of our planned bivy at the base of the upper. We ended up on a tiny platform about 7 pitches up the lower, just past where the lower west variation joins (just past a short knife-edge section). Of course, we found huge spacious bivies just one pitch further the next morning... Anyway, we bailed at the base of the upper, seeing as our speed to that point would have meant an unplanned extra day on the hill. This decision meant a Stuart Glacier crossing with just trekking poles and self arrest grips, so we grabbed a set of sharp sticks (thanks to whoever left em) and placed a few deadman anchors at the sketchier spots. A good thing too, the western part was hard and we both went for a short ride. Maybe you saw us inching our way across? We made our approach via an less conventional route. We drove a pickup (nothing modified, just a Ranger) up the Fortune Creek Jeep Trail to near Van Epps Pass (forest rd 4W301 or 302.. I think) and hiked in around the north side of Ingalls. Crossing the scree on that slope made that route less than optimal, but on the way back we went up and over the notch between N-S Ingalls and made it from Ingalls Lake to the car in 1.5 hours ... but keep in mind, we are slow punters. On the map, this way is the shortest to the base of the ridge, about a mile shorter than the trail from the North Fork, but with more off-trail boulder hopping.