bigeo

Thanks for the details on your route low in the basin. Did you use your snowshoes for that part, or only when you got above the cliff bands?

I skied The Slot with a friend on Monday and found conditions pretty much as you described except the only ice was at the very top. After the dog leg, it was soft pack and spindrift powder; great skiing. There were tracks in the coulouir on Mon. from a group that had skied it Saturday (TR on TAY), but they were barely visible. That group was also responsible for the boot track up to the ridge which we made good use of. Didn't see any signs of ice on the N. side of Snoqualmie. Unless winter returns, I would say the NYG is out for the season.

This TR sets a new standard. Was planning to do Slesse this weekend, but my partners not yet healed leg wound from Stuart NR caused us to put it off two weeks. Having all that beta you provide, especially the diagram of the logging roads and the very detailed account of the descent should make it worth the wait. Thanks.

Planning on doing this route on the weekend of Sept. 15/16. Wondering if anyone else had the same thing in mind and we could work something out with cars. Are the roads to the approach and descent in reasonable shape?

Honest, we didn't send those rocks down to scare you off. Wondered what happened to you two. We were hoping you weren't bivied somewhere on the route Sat. night. I am now a firm believer in the Mts.Creek approach if your are going to do the CNR. I would probably give the Sherpa Gl. descent a go earlier in the season, but coming down via Sherpa pass worked fine for us.

Did the N ridge this weekend. We bivied at the top and had snow and poor vis. on Sunday morning. In spite of that, the descent went reasonably smoothly. We descended to about 6200' before making our way back up to the Sherpa/Argonaut Col. I think that is the key to this descent: get down and E. far enough so you can see your route up to the pass, rather than trying to traverse high. We were able to skirt what is left of the snowfield on the N. side of the pass and the descent down the scree and talus was quick and easy. Following the valley bottom down along the creek wasn't bad; there was even a trail at times. We intersected the Stuart Lk trail below the first switchback, missing all that boulder hopping we did on the approach. Summit to car took 9 1/2 hours in spite of slow going on snow covered rock and in poor vis. near the top. While this is longer than descending the the cascadian, it seems like a better option for the complete NR considering we didn't need axes or pons and the time saved on the approach. P.S. Watch out for viscious downed logs. http://picasaweb.google.com/funhaugs2000/NRidgeStuartAug07/photo?authkey=v2QfIuuZgMw#5103464987931309058

I only have a 50% average for finding my way up the W Ridge, and the failure came after the success, so getting down it seems iffy. Thanks for the input.

Planning to do the complete NR next weekend and would like to do something other than Ingall's in, Cascadian out, for a change. Mt's Creek in sounds reasonable, but I assume the Sherpa gl. descent would be a bad choice this late in the season. A friend of mine said he has descended by traversing on the south side and climbing back up to Sherpa Pass and then going down the Mt's Creek (S. fork?) drainage gully. Looks ok on the map. Anybody done this?

Thanks for the update. Anyone interested in arranging a shuttle for next weekend?

wow, I finally register on cascadewankers and ask a question and I get slammed. But hey, I got a response, with useful info at that. I don't know why Nelson pushes the heli thing, unless he gets a kickback or maybe he's a STNB. Now, about that bridge, or do real men swim across?

Was planning on doing the NE Buttress on Sept 9/10, so any updates would be appreciated

Planning on doing this sept 9/10. Any recent beta on conditions, road access (bridge out?). Also, anyone heading that way interested in arranging a shuttle from the Slesse mt trailhead to wherever you park closest to the NE Butt access. Or, anyone know any detail ($) on being choppered in and maybe interested in sharing a ride with 2 of us?