Josh Stuart

Our team of 3 started from the car parked at mountaineer creek trail head at 10:30 AM. We hiked the Stuart Lake trail for about three miles, until we reached the start of a dim climbers trail marked by several pieces of white tape or the left(south side) of the trail. We followed a series of dim deer trails, flags, and carrons for about two miles until we reached the base of the Sherpa Glacier where we camped. The way is fairly well marked but I wouldn't suggest trying it without having a map and compass as the trail markers disappear at times. And the bug are HORRIBLE so don't leave the car without bug spray or a net. We left camp at 4am and started climbing the Sherpa Glacier, no crampons were necessary. We rope up mid-way through the glacier due to minimal crevasses but mainly due to the steep terrain. The top of the Glacier meets the standard "walk-off" route, which is where we intercepted the ridge. We then scrambled up class 3-4 rock on the south side of the false summit so reach the real summit at about 10:30am. Clouds started to roll in shortly after so we snapped a few pics and headed down. Snow on steep slopes gave-way under one of us and he slid about 50 ft on the way down and was able to stop himself on a rock ledge. He ended up with a dislocated finger but it could have been alot worse. He was a little weary from the slide so we rappelled and belayed him down much of the route. Hail and lightning storms on the descend convinced us to head out and back to the car early and to opp out of spending another night on the mountain. We got back to the car at about 7pm. Total trip time: 33.5 hours, with 6 hrs of sleep and lots of breaks