Cecil

Thanks for the pics Doug!!

Trip: Mount Stuart - West Ridge Date: 8/23/2013 Trip Report: After being shut down on the North Ridge a few weeks ago, and not being able to find a partner for my mid-week days off for a return ascent(no thanks to my previous partners'(Luke and Audrey) 9-5 schedule), I settled on soloing the West Ridge. Because it wasn't on the 50 classic climbs' list, I first thought of it as a consolation prize. I was wrong. It may not of had the great gendarme but it was still my proudest climb yet. I set out at 0245 on Thursday morning knowing that I'd reach "the business" just as the sun was rising giving me maximum amount of daylight. I filled up my dromedary with 3 liters of water from Ingalls Lake where I almost shat myself when I turned around from the lake to face off with a goat about 8 feet away perched on a rock. At first site it looked like White Fang, hence the shat, but then I soon realized he was just looking for a sodium filled nightcap and posed no threat. It was about 5 in the morning so I gave him a golden shower instead. Jk. I reached the west ridge about 0600. I started around the right side to see a blue bag hanging from a tree. My first thought was "sweet... booty" then a take a few more steps over some boulders and find a fellow climber rousing from the night's bivvy. We talked, he says he's always wanted to do the West Ridge, but didn't feel up to soloing the 5th class sections. I gladly offer up my leading services and offered to share my 3 liters of water (he had 1). It didn't take me long to get a "lets do it" out of him. I was happy for the company. Plus Doug is 59 and has been climbing the majority of his life, so I was excited to learn and share the experience with a veteran. We both got our beta from Eric T's TR (thanks!) from 8/6/13 so we were on the same page. Although it became very clear that I hadn't studied it nearly as much as Doug because he had a much better understanding of the route. We assessed our gear: he had a belay device, 2 or 3 slings, a 8.2 mm 50 meter?? rope. I had 2 slings, 4 nuts, 4 cams and a 7.7 mm 50 meter rope. We were good to go. We roped up maybe three pitches for some steep climbing, but mainly scrambled up 3rd and 4th class rock to the top. There was plenty of exposure on the south and north face. We reached the summit at 1430 to be greeted with amazing views, excitement, and two airplane bottles of booze (thank you btw). After a quick swig of rumpleminze we knew we had a long road back so we took to the east ridge around 1500. The descent was well marked by cairns and I was warned by Luke to keep on the east ridge because there is a trail marked by cairns that will lead you down the wrong gully too soon. Even with the warning I still went down it and had to back-track a hundred feet or so back up to the route. Additionally, I had borrowed a GPS with the descent route which made it both easier and harder. Easier because it was certain that the route would get us back to the car, but harder because whoever set the route was basing it on the most direct route over Longs pass which saved on distance, but not on time and energy. Doug was very apprehensive and didn't understand why we weren't going straight down to the valley where delicious creek water was awaiting. In hindsight, that's exactly what we should have done. Either way we made it to the creek further up the valley where I pounded about 1.5 liters and filled up another 3 for the rest of our trip back. It was dark, we spoke about bivvying, but Doug said he had 4 IPAs at the car and that was enough motivation to keep me moving up Longs Pass. We arrived at the car around 0100. I was soooo exhausted (going on 5 hrs of sleep in 3 days) I only had ONE of Doug's IPAs. Also, a special thanks to Luke for insisting that I take his GPS, emergency trancevier, and 7.7 rope if I needed to rappell. A special thanks to Doug for the route finding, company, and IPA! And a special thanks to Eric and Dan who successfully climbed the North ridge route the day after me and picked up my size 0.5 cam I had lost on the descent. It's a small wonderful world this climbing community! Gear Notes: 4 mid sized nuts, 0.5, 0.75 cams, and a rope Approach Notes: I90 to 970 to Teanaway north Fork road. Start at Teanaway trailhead and keep an eye out for the Ingalls lake trail about a quarter mile on your right.