dave schultz

Jason - Good info, thanks. I didn't realize the extent that they were previously here in the PNW pre-1950. I knew they were here, and to some extent still are, but I was making my references to the last 50 or so years where they have very low populations, and didn't receive the publicity and population recovery of the Canadian Rockies and Yellowstone region (TONS of books about those regions and the bear recovery/attack aspects). Again, it will be interesting to see the direction the government agencies decide to go when it's time for them to make a decision.

Every other danger is more real, but one bad experience with a bear has resulted in a horrible phobia that simply doesn't come into play here in PNW because there are so very few of them. I'm not a fan of ridding them off, but here where they aren't preveleant and haven't been for many years (if ever) it seems against nature to bring them back in - especially when they are doing well at other areas. Let's face it, the Wyoming and Canadian bears are in not in any danger of loosing population anymore - why attempt to establish a population that was not ever largely established and that was not lost due to human encroachment.

I'm not a fan of bringing them back to the North Cascades; their presence in Wyoming and Canada has been a big reason I have not done much in those areas during the summer months. It will be interesting to see how this thing plays out over the next several years, and hopefully their option of no action prevails.

They were left around the Tatoosh base. Describe them to me and I will describe where they were stashed. Or you can contact Sunny at 713-677-4436 and describe them to him, he will be at Index tomorrow and can help you out. Thanks, Dave

"I don't care who you are, that's funny"

Looking to go on 20th and 21st (summit) or 21st and 22nd (summit). Let me know if you you're around and interested, casual pace.

Nearly perfect condition, older model, used maybe 3 or 4 days total. Current model retails about $650 on backcountry.com on sale for $450; looking to get $350 for this nearly perfect jacket. Prefer local pickup in the Everett/Seattle area. Thanks, Dave

Bump. Still looking. Could also do a late-season Rainier trip, or other objectives as long as the destination is between Everett and Florida ...

Trip: North Cascades - Nooksack Tower / Price Glacier Date: 6-10 August 2014 Trip Report: My friend Ken from South Carolina, who I had met in 2011 when I first started climbing, was originally planning a guided week-long trip to the North Cascades. Some of his plans fell through, and he ended up deciding to not go guided but instead partner up with me for a week, and save some coin in the process. We went back and forth on route options and ultimately decided that if we had no weather issues we would go after Nooksack Tower, Price Glacier to Shuksan, and Baker’s North Ridge. When he arrived at 11pm on August 5th (Tuesday) the weather was predicted to be perfect every day in the forecast with no end in sight - we were stoked. We planned on four days and one fluff day for the first two objectives with a car re-supply at Artist Point and two days for Baker. My feet from Olympus in a day were still pretty thrashed, but felt good enough to hike and actually improved on day two and three; otherwise we both were in great shape and ready. Early on the 6th (Wednesday) we sorted gear and packed our kits: five days of food and all the rock and ice gear for Nooksack and Price. With the weather window we decided to go sans tent, and if it rained we would have a one-way wet ticket back to the trailhead. We drove up to Heliotrope TH and stashed a bike to ride back down to the road at the end of the trip to hitch a ride back to Artist Point to recover my truck. We then got our backcountry permits and drove to the Nooksack TH and dropped all the gear and Ken off. I drove to Artist Point and dropped the truck and biked back down to the Nooksack TH. We started the hike in around 1:30pm – a little later than I thought we would start, and a LOT later than I wanted to start, but with Ken’s super late arrival it was what we had to work through. We found the infamous log crossing without too much trouble (I walked, Ken butt-scooted) and moved up the slope onto the ridge north of Price Lake. We were hoping to make it to the saddle below Nooksack Tower but time didn’t allow, and we were forced to bivy on the last section of rock along the ridge, leaving about 0.75 miles of glacier travel plus the climb up the couloir to the start of the route. The 7th (Thursday) we got up fairly early, but wanted some light for the glacier crossing – this put us behind schedule, but we also knew we had our day of fluff and had no problem working into it. We made fairly fast movement through the crevasses and stashed one of our five pickets, all of our trekking poles, most of our ice screws, and a bunch of other heavy useless items (GPS, extra batteries, big fuel canister, etc) in a protected spot below the shrund. We worked our way up the couloir to the top where we got our last resupply of running water and around noon I led a short snow/ice pitch up and transitioned onto the rock and began working up and right. At this point I knew we would be bivying at some point on the route (thus burning our fluff day). I led a second steep pitch, and then Ken led two blocks of simul-climbing up and leftward, passing what appeared to be a prominent notch. At this notch we had fantastic views of the Price, and I decided to see if I dropped my phone whether we would find it on the Price (more later). Ken actually took a small fall on his third lead when some of the rock broke away near chest level, having no injury we were extremely lucky. He came down, and I climbed through the nasty section, and then it was three more long pitches to the summit. During these pitches I mistakenly dropped my stash of pitons, which initially was thought as an “oh shit” moment since I don’t have them, but then was relieved because I didn’t need them and they were heavy (more later). We summited shortly before sunset and signed the register (which was amazing to read though, having been placed there I think in the ‘80s and JasonG’s being the last entry and only a couple entries per year with some years having no entries at all). Without seeing a single acceptable bivy site on the way up, we started moving the summit rocks around and actually set up two very comfy spots (fortunately there were lots of really small rocks to make a nice semi-flat/smooth platform, that we then padded with the rope, clothes, and anything else); I literary slept on top of the register with my sleeping pad partially hanging over an edge with who knows how much vertical relief below. Needless to say we both slept roped in and extremely well, had amazing views of sunrise at probably the most amazing bivy site I’ve ever been on. On the 8th (Friday) we got up and were not in any exceptional hurry to get down as we had all day and were not going to start Price until the following day. We made at least ten rappels on the rock, backing up where needed and adding several biners to the stations only had one single small rappel ring. On our 2nd rappel one of our two ropes took a rock fall that nearly severed it. We were able to butterfly knot the rope and continues to make full 60m rappels when we were in terrain that allowed passing the knot around the rappel device, otherwise we did some shorter rappels or used the broken rope as a tag line. We dropped back onto the snow about 100 vertical feet below the top of the couloir and made three 60m rappels off snow bollards back to the easy snow below the final shrund. We were soon at the saddle, feeling great, with lots of running water and great bivy sites. We were in bed early in anticipation for a big day on the Price. The 9th (Saturday) we got up fairly early, roped up and moving out onto the Price around 6am. We traversed from the saddle into the lower section of the Price without gaining or loosing much elevation. I led two long pitches in and around the lower highly fractured and broken sections of ice to an area just below from what our photos indicated to be a huge snowfield. I then led one enormous running belay (probably between 6 and 8 rope lengths) to a safe section. I recollected the gear and led anther long running belay (probably 4 rope lengths) through the middle gut of the icefield, winding its way in and around lots of broken glacial ice (even through an ice tunnel) ending in another safe spot – we climbed this section extremely fast due to the highly dangerous objective hazard in the area. It was three or four more sections of simuling (some short, one really long) that led us to the lower of the two final bergschrund. I led a wandering pitch down and into the lower shrund that popped us out above and on the right side of the snow field between the two shrunds, and led us to the final one. Of note, we never found my phone, bummer – there were lots of good pictures on it. The final shrund was impassable and was a huge “WTF now” moment, essentially what I had feared the whole time. The ramp that we had seen and planned on taking was guarded by a large open crevasse with approximately 35 feet of about 100-degree disgusting, rotten, holed nasty glacial snow/ice – not interested in climbing that. We looked at the options: 1) turn back 2) climb the rock on the right side which looked steep and not easy plus in the shooting gallery of shit from above and then regain the snow field 3) climb the rock immediately left of the ramp which looked climbable up high, but was guarded by the same steep and not well protectable rock down below and gain access to the ramp or 4) move far left and climb through a funky ice section and up a very steep snow slope (about 70+ degrees) to gain access to rock which would then hopefully deposit up on the snowfield somewhere above. Considering I had no pitons; we chose option four, and it worked out well and as hoped (with pitons I might have more thoroughly investigated option 2 or 3 as they would been able to protect the transition and initial moves up to the blockier terrain above). It ended up being a full 60m rope length of ice and snow to a pretty good anchor in the snow just below the rock. I then led one pitch up the mixed ice, snow, and rock gully and transitioned onto the rock and traversed rightward along more undesirable and forgettable rock to what appeared to be the only adequate anchor site where I set up and anchor and brought Ken up. We had reached the upped shrund around 230pm or so, but had then burned a lot of time while looking around at options and then actually climbing the two pitches to this point; and it was here while I was maximizing efficiency by taking the gear back from Ken that we found the quote of the trip. Me: “my hand has never been as close to another man’s dick while he was peeing” as I was pulling gear from his harness while he was facing away from me pissing. We both still laugh at that scene. The next rock pitch was pretty straightforward and even enjoyable and led up back to the snow and ultimately the Crystal Glacier. We traversed across the Crystal Glacier and bivyed along the NE ridge of the summit, for our first night without running water and we melted about 5 liters of water for what ended up being a pretty late night. We also had to improvise our bivy sites here as there no evidence of prior overnighters, my spot was slightly exposed with about 1000 feet of immediate vertical relief just to my north onto the Hanging Glacier. The 10th (Sunday) we woke up fairly leisurely around 530am and were off by 7am. I led two pitches starting from the east side of the summit pyramid onto the SE corner route (the beginning was crappy, but then developed into good climbing) to a belay on the main route from which Ken led basically one simul pitch to the summit. While on our way up we did notice quite a shit-show developing on the descent, additionally there was a guided party in front of us and a twosome. We took the obligatory summit shot (first summit I have been on with a flag instead of a register) and then starting going down. We had a long way to go to Artist Point and didn’t want to get screwed by the epic that was unfolding on the descent. We ended up doing one rappel, which while pulling the rope dislodged a rock, which made me decide that the rappels are just not going to be fast and safe enough, thus we downclimbed everything. One the way down we discovered it was a group of ELEVEN plus whoever else was caught behind them (guide, twosome, etc), who were waiting to get through a single rappel station. Small rant to follow: ELEVEN people are too many to bring on a climb, it’s the weekend, we expect it to be busy, but to bring that many people on a popular route with one group is dangerous. The hazard to downclimb solo was so much less (and faster) than waiting for that line to punch through. I really felt sorry for the guide who was moving fast and smooth with his two clients but ended up getting stuck there without the ability to get past and had to endure what probably felt like an eternity of time to get past it. Of all of the dangers we faced on the five days, this was the most frustrating because it’s avoidable and there’s not much you can do to avoid it if you’re stuck in it. Please don’t bring that many people on a popular route or go on a Wednesday when you don’t have that maybe people out there. There were several other parties behind us that were all continuing to pile up on the shit-down descent. Rant complete. We descended Fisher Chimney and made the trek out. It sucked. Our feet were smoked from the descent (or the five days of climbing/hiking and from Olympus) and it was probably the most pain they had ever endured. We ended up scrapping Mt Baker’s North Ridge for another time and instead got $30 of Jack In The Box at 11pm in Bellingham and with a 5-HR ENERGY made a quick ride back to Everett after picking up two bikes from two trailheads. Final thoughts: Not making the saddle on the first day cost us a tremendous amount of time, but since we had planned for a fluff day (specifically for the uncertainty of Nooksack Tower) it worked out just fine. Future parties with this objective must make the saddle or begin the glacier travel and couloir ascent very early and in the dark in order to avoid an epic descent or bivy on route. There are no bivy spots along the route, but now there are two excellent spots on the summit, in case you’re interested. There is a free iPhone on the Price Glacier somewhere, it’s got some good pics and some phone numbers in case you find it, I’d like it back. Reward upon delivery. We ended up going through middle of the gut of the Price Glacier. We had seen that the route would also go up the left side, hugging pretty far left. This would have been longer (liner distance) plus would have added a lot of slow dangerous steep traversing terrain, not to mention it might not have even gone. We had planned on going left, but then saw was looked to be a weakness in the middle and opted for that over what might have been a more sure bet on the left, and took us in the middle. While it was extremely fun, I think the most fun of the route, it was also the probably the most dangerous with lots of broken, fractured, overhanging, and unstable snow and ice blocks everywhere. We saw and heard none of this move while we observed on the approach, while on Nooksack, or on the climb, and we climbed through it very, very fast and set up a belay in a safe spot. Food for thought for discussion or for any future climbers. The bivy on the NE ridge of the summit pyramid was stupid. My misinterpretation of the map and lack of prior experience and understanding of the Shuksan Massif led me to believe we were in a different area than we actually were, and we wasted a lot of time/energy on that bivy. It ended up being a neat place, and went along the same lines of our trip, but we thought we picked a good spot and we flat out didn’t. The massive cluster on the descent is documented above. Our feet were smoked, but the traverse along the Ptarmigan Ridge to the base of the NR of Baker would be a great approach (maybe longer and more complicated than from Heliotrope) and it would have been awesome to have traverse from the Nooksack TH to Heliotrope TH. Has anyone done this or heard of this being done? I also think the NR of Baker would almost be a letdown after Nooksack and Price, so I don’t feel we really missed out on too much. We had mammal issues on the summit of Nooksack Tower and on the NE side of the summit pyramid – amazingly those are the two areas where there were probably few if any previous overnight stays… On Nooksack Tower something ate part of my sunglasses – WTF. I would like to thank Ken for flying out from SC and bringing with him enough experience and ignorance to agree to the aggressive itinerary that I laid out and being sporty enough to make it happen. I would also like to thank JasonG for his TR from last year for inspiring me to go after this and providing lots of good beta; as well as all the other folks who have written about the Price Glacier and Nooksack Tower routes as I reviewed probably everything I could find on the internet about the two routes. Gear: -Single rack 0.3 to 3 camalots. Used all. -3x 13, 16, 19cm ice screws and a 22cm screw for v-threads. Used all. -2x 9.2mm 60m ropes. Used both, both are retired after this trip due to core shots on one and simply aged and acceralted use, I was very surprised the amount of abuse the ropes took on Nooksack Tower. The broken rope made for fun training weight on the rest of the climb. -4x pitons (3 KBs and 1 LA), used all, then dropped, would have liked to have had later. -About 8 nuts, used most. -We ended up leaving a lot of our neutrino cam racking biners on the rappel stations on the descent. -I used duel vertical front point cyborg crampons, Ken used sabertooths – both seemed find with no issued. I would agure for the snow/ice aluminum would have been fine but the rock sections would have eaten up the aluminum point. -I had a 30 degree down bag with a half pad and Ken had a 20 degree bag with a full pad. -No tent, no bivy sack, none required. -We each had one whippet, one lightweight trekking pole, and two technical tools and in every condition of travel we had an ideal combination of the above items. -Shorts made the approach on day one and descent after Fisher Chimney more enjoyable. Some weird numbers: FA for Price and Nooksack were in ’45 and ’46 (both by Fred Beckey). If both routes average 1.5 ascents per year that’s about less than 100 ascents of each route, compare that to -Over 500 people who have been in “space” and 24 who have left earth’s orbit. -Over 4000 have summitted Everest (over 200 have perished on Everest) -246 have summitted K2 -157 have summitted Annapurna. It’s awesome to have this set of objectives in our backyard. Photo’s are being edited and will be added later, if someone finds my phone we can get those pics on here too …

Cool story. I really enjoy reading about people's very cool way to make an ordinary trip extraordinary and one to always remember. Way to go.

Thanks Dan - you think duel verticals would still have been insufficient in the conditions you found, thus requiring horizontals?

Anyone been up there yet this year, or have a recent pic of the Price? Heading in Wednesday for a double-header, Nooksack on Thursday and Price on Friday. I'm torn between my lightweight summer mountaineering boots with steel horizontal front-points, or my insulated boots with steel vertical mono-points. The monos will climb rock better, but they might royally suck on the snow/snice/ice, depending on the actual conditions ... what do people think about the best option? TIA Dave

Don't loose all hope. Back in May someone found a phone a put it on my friends windshield thinking it was lost that day and it was ours ... turns out the phone was lost in January along the trail to the Tooth and it worked fine even after being buried for several months in the snow/rain. The owner had already replaced it, but did get all the pics and contacts, etc back a few months later ...

Road trip from Seattle to Yosemite and/or Desert SW. I've got from 29 Sept through about 10-12 October. I'll be continuing to Florida, so you will need a return flight. I'd have most/all the required gear, so your return baggage could be pretty light.

We rappeled off Sahale and traversed well below Boston and straight-lined to Buckner. We then skinned/booted over to Sharkfin Col and moved over to Mount Torment for the TFT. It's interested you needed lots of layer changes and transitions. Did you find the temps wildly variable? I seem to remember starting with my layering and it was good for the whole day (but you where there several days after us). Not sure what transitions you were doing, seemed straightforward enough that just boots, crampons, and a tool were all that was required. I had vertical mono-points in preparation for the TFT, but horizantal front points would have been better.

I did it in ski boots and steel crampons - maybe you can do it in tennies and aluminum crampons... try it and let us know how it works out!

Nice write up. I agree that Buckner lacked any real technical challenge except for the choke point on the descent. I think I may have passed you on your way up the trail on the 4th. I was probably the only person descending the trail with skis on my pack. Ryan and I climbed, and I skied the NF on the 2nd and that was no doubt our bootpack en route to the summit. I'm glad it was reused by someone! In the current conditions on the Sharkfin Col I think a 30m rope would have worked to rap down onto the north side. We reached the Boston Glacier by traversing below Boston from Sahale, but downclimbed snow for quite a ways before making the traverse, we probably did it wrong but found nothing harder than 4th class on the traverse.

Trip: Sahale-Buckner-TFT Date: 1-4 July 2014 Trip Report: I move out of the PNW in a couple months and really only have one or two more weekends left, so I took some time off from work and got lucky with a great weather window and great partner to knock off two of the remaining to-dos: Buckner ski descent and TFT. Ryan and I got our permits on July 1st (Tuesday) in Marblemount, the ranger there tells us that there is a party on the TFT today (being Tuesday), we think that is a good sign as we won’t be the first and there should be a track of at least where someone else went. We then make our way to the Cascade Pass parking lot. I would be on skis (which rock shoes in my pack) and Ryan would be on foot (no rock shoes). We started mid-morning and made decent time to Cascade Pass and Sahale, which we didn’t expect to need to summit in order to get around to Boston Glacier. The traverse down around Boston was uneventful and we made good time getting onto the Boston Glacier. We stopped for the night below one of the rock islands on Buckner’s NF. The snow was very soft and I was unsure if I was going to still go for the ski descent the next morning. Wednesday morning we summit Buckner just before 8am and the snow had firmed up just enough, and the upper slopes of Buckner provided a good test area for verifying stability and conditions for the ski descent. Everything went fine and I was able to ski from the summit to the lower skier’s right section of the NF, hugging skier’s right. We transitioned back to glacier travel mode, I initially booted until we reached a low point, and then once we starting climbing back up I transitioned back to skinning. We traversed over to the Sharkfin Col where we did some pack hauling shenanigans to get up the col and down onto the other side. I transitioned to skiing for the down and right descent and then skinned to the entrance of the West Ridge Couloir where I cached my skis, skins, poles, and permit and then booted and met Ryan who was en route to Torment’s South Ridge Couloir. We started made some water and then started climbing the couloir at about 6pm on Wednesday and made it to a nice bivy ledge after about 4 or 5 pitches. We were treated with sensational views and an amazing sunset. We rose early on Thursday in order to bite off as much of the traverse as we could that day. We bagged Torment after about 90 minutes of simul climbing and soloing. The register there was really old, and it was very cool to flip through the pages to see and recognize some of the names, unfortunately it also made it hard to logically add our names to the list. We didn’t see any other dates from 2014 on it. It was then an easy downclimb, rappel, and traverse to the rappel station off Torment onto the N Side glaciers. This is where the expected difficulties began. We did not see a super obvious route to get across the shrund, but could see a couple options, and we confident that at least one of them would work. We also did not see any foot print or other evidence of the party that had supposedly already done the route. We ended up rappelling into, around, and finally out of a moat. Then we built a snow bollard and rappelled into and out of the final shrund onto the snow field we needed to get back onto the rock section. We did a rising traverse on the north side of the ridge on rock back up to one of the snow fields at the ridge crest, which we crossed and then crossed some rock on the south side, back to a snow gully, back up to the crest. Here we ran into another route finding challenge. The snow was very warm and soft and we did not want to get too committed to the really warm and potentially unstable steep north side slopes, but the rock on the south side looked too hard to climb, but there was one weakness of what appeared to be climbable rock, but we couldn’t tell where it was going to go once it wrapped around the corner. After a setting up a snow bollard belay, a descent into the moat, and stemming on the snow and rock, we were able climb the rock up and around the corner and it eventually deposited us near the top of the ridge with only about 75-100 feet of steep snow to traverse regain the ridge crest back on rock. We then moved along the ridge, and made two rappels to arrive at the south side ledge system, again avoiding some of the north facing snow and bypassing a large section of rock. We traversed low angled snow and pitched out one section of rock to regain the ridge crest around the halfway mark which I believe is the standard bivy site. We arrived pretty early and were able to enjoy setting our bivy and making dinner with lots of daylight and were asleep before it got dark. Again, no signs of previous parties on the route. Friday was a leisurely wake up and we were off just after 6am. We made pretty fast (relative) time to the West Ridge Notch. We stashed our gear, made some water, and I traded my ski boots and crampons for rock shoes. We summated Forbidden and were back at the notch in four hours. On our descent we encountered a pair of climbers, the first people we had seen since the parking lot at Cascade Pass, they were nice enough and gave us great directions to get back out of Boston Basin – thanks. After a quick descent on skis, Ryan tooking a bit longer, we did the final shwack out on foot and was thankfull we didn’t have to deal with the Boston Basin trail on the way in – as it was super frustrating in ski boots with skis on my pack. In total I think we pitched out and simul climbed around 25 pitches and completed around 20 rappels. I used my ski boots and crampons for the entire traverse, except for the West Ridge. Ryan used his boots for the entire circuit. I had never been in the Boston Basin, I don't know if we had good or bad conditions. Certainly they were early season with a lot more snow than normal. Comments about what the conditions look like, for better or for worse would be good for me to hear / know and would probably be helpful for those who are aspiring to get on this route. Gear Notes: 7 cams (2 C3, .4 – 2 C4, and a bigger metolious master cam) about 8 nuts 2 tricams 3 pitons (only used on the Boston traverse) about 18 total slings TLT5s (that now look even worse) and mono point crampons La Sportiva boots that are now retired and horizantal front point crampons We each had a single ice screw (never needed, mine never even came out of my pack). We left 3 or 4 biners on various rappel stations and created one station for the rappel in to / out of the moat after getting off of Torment. Approach Notes: We approached via Sahale Arm and exited via Boston Basin Trail (skies suck on the Boston Basin Trail). The green line is our route. We initially tried traversing higher up, but got blocked. We downclimbed more snow and then found a better traverse across. The green is the ski descent. Red circle is our bivy site. Ryan hauling his pack up the Sharkfin Col. There was a snow chimney / offwidth in the way making it incredibly insecure. I followed with my skis on my pack with the comfort of a belay. This is the view from around the 4th or 5th pitch on the South Ridge. This was our second night out. This is the rappel from Torment onto the glaciers on the north side. This shows the route from the rappel off of Torment. The rappels are in red (dashed is behind the snow) and the traverse across snow back to rock and climbing up and around the buttress is in green (dashed is around the backside). The rappel from the snow bollard after rappelling in, around, and out of the moat. This placed on the snow we needed to be on to continue traversing. This is looking back at the rappel from Torment (in red), then the rappel behind the moat (in dashed red), the snow bollard rappel (in red) and then out path on the snow (in dashed green). This shows where our buttress traverse deposited us. We traverses the snow and I went out on the snow to continue traversing, but did not like the conditions and felt we would be safer seeking a rock alternative. We climbed up in right and then made a short rappel and then climbed back up to the higher snow saddle. We then climbed the rock up and around the corner and across the higher snow field to gain the ridge crest. The vertical red line show about where we rappelled to south side ledges. In the top left you can see a red circle – that is the saddle where we spent the third night. This is the moat and rock corner, above and right was what looked like much harder rock, and the snow traverse was still undesirable. This is the view from the saddle about halfway along the traverse. Our Third night.

Completed the traverse today. It's doable right now. Ranger at marblemount said someone was on the traverse Tuesday, but we saw no evidence of any previous party at all even on Torment.

I have Friday (6/27) afternoon through Tuesday (7/8) morning off. Looking for partner(s) for day trips or overnights during that 10 day stretch. My top two would be Ptarmigan Ridge and TFT if conditions are in. Other options are Wine Spires, Liberty Crack, Slesse, Prusik, Squamish, Coleman Headwall, Buckner or other Boston Basin routes, or anything you might be trying to climb.

Haven't been on TFT or Boston Basin, ever. But the rock route on Stuart seemed fairly snow free on the actual climbing, and there was a fair amount of snow in gulleys and depressions, etc. I think it would be good climbing. I would be sure to bring sturdy boots and be prepared for a lot of climbing in crampons, perhaps bring rock shoes for some insurance in case you need to climb something harder. If you are comfortable or willing to climb in the mixed rock/snow conditions I think this weekend and next should be perfectly fine. The longer you wait, the more snow free it will be. The approach and nasty loose shit should be kept to a minimum thanks to the snow ... so it should be good. I'm thinking about it this weekend ... Dave

Trip: Mt Stuart - NW Buttress Date: 5/24/2014 - 5/26/2014 Trip Report: This past weekend Haireball and I climbed the NW Buttress on Stuart to the Upper West Ridge. Left trailhead around noon Saturday, topped out Sunday mid-afternoon, and back to the car early Monday afternoon. Conditions on the Buttress were great, not very much loose rock, gulleys all filled with snow, surprisingly simple and straightforward route finding. Fairly common and consistent rap tat and should be considered a viable descent option for N Ridge parties approaching from the north. Upper West Ridge were also pretty good, not too much snow. Fun blocky rock climbing in boots and crampons. Weather significantly deteriorated once we reached the ridge, and climbed most of it with very low visibility with blowing snow and wind. Descent over to the Sherpa Glacier was easy, conditions on the descent were also good. Shrund is opening up, but still easily passable on climbers right. Get out there and get some alpine rock this weekend! Sunrise from our first bivy. Typical gulley. It would usually be a long section of simul climbing, ending near a technical section. This is looking down near the completion of a simul climb stretch. Stuart's Lower N Ridge - go get it! Gear Notes: We had a moderate alpine rack and never needed much of it.

Looking for a partner for the weekend. I think alpine rock routes would be good, skiing on the east side or Boston Basin would also be a good option. Open to cragging or other ideas. Day trip or overnight both work. Dave

The wonders of google are 9 days old ... I think ships sail across the pacific in less time ... To add, on the 10th there was a large tree blocking the road at mile 19, I doubt it's been moved, I doubt they did it on the 11th, and hard to believe it could be moved in one day (though I'd love recent proof otherwise).

I don't think the alpine rock route in the Enchantments will be too snow covered, but perhaps more likely too cold to really be enjoyable. SW Rib was climbed on SEWS last weekend ... this weekend should have less snow, especially in the Enchantments.