Daphne H

I knew there had to be an easier way!! well, now I know for next time, thanks for the beta Don't follow the cairns! Yes, after crossing the one branch of the creek coming from Stuart Lake shortly after leaving the main trail, you pretty much stay near the other fork of Mountaineers creek the whole way from the main trail. Stay on the west side of the creek, but within sight of it.

6:45 is insane... i don't think i could do the approach alone in that time, let alone the entire thing!

Ahh ok that makes sense! Trip reports we were reading were saying that Sherpa glacier looked ok, so I was a bit surprised to see that mess!

thanks! we figured there had to be an easier way, but the cairns suggested otherwise... where do you drop to the creek? Just cross it once you leave the hikers path, and follow it immediately?

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Complete North Ridge with Gendarme Date: 8/6/2016 Trip Report: Following in the wake of my recent successes climbing in the North Cascades and the Bugaboos, I decided I was ready to challenge something a bit harder. My partner was keen on climbing the complete north ridge of Stuart, and the weather was looking amazing for the weekend, so on Friday evening, I found myself yet again on another 4+ hour drive down to Leavenworth from Vancouver. There are already a number of detailed trip reports and topos on the complete north ridge of Stuart, so this will just be some photos and comments on the condition of the route. We approached from the Stuart Lake trailhead, expecting to follow Steph Abegg's descent path down Sherpa Pass or the Sherpa Glacier(as outlined in her trip report). We heard about 6 avalanches over the course of our ascent on day 1, and there were numerous human eating crevasses strewn across the glacier, so we quickly ruled out the north side for our descent path and decided we'd descend via the Cascadian Couloir. Crevasses on Sherpa glacier We had a bit of trouble picking up the actual trail when we turned off onto the climber's trail. I definitely would recommend spending some time trying to follow the trail instead of just bushwhacking straight up and over the hill, as we ended up lost and trying to find our way for much longer than we needed to. Turnoff onto the climber's trail. It's easy to miss due to deadfall. There was quite a bit of boulder hopping when we finally picked up the trail. We were expecting to be right next to the creek, but we ended up way above it, so there wasn't a lot of water available. The talus fields were endless - every time we left one and went back into the forest, we would emerge at another. One of the endless talus fields When we got to the base of the route, I found that one of my climbing shoes had fallen off my pack and I was left with only the right shoe. I tried to climb the first few pitches in my left hiking boot, but found it way too difficult. Luckily my partner was up to the challenge of climbing the entire route in his approach shoe, so this is what we ended up with: BEST PARTNER EVER!!! His feet are much bigger than mine, so it was a bit interesting adjusting to clown feet, but definitely better than hiking boots If anyone approaches from the North, and sees a left foot Miura, please take a picture and let me know I'd love to see how that little guy is doing. There are still a couple of patches of snow at the base of the route, and it isn't in direct sunlight for a lot of the day, so it's easy to melt water to bring up with you if you don't want to lug it all the way up to the base. Otherwise there is a bit of running water nearby. I could see it from the ascent but I didn't bother going over to check it out, so I don't know how easy it is to get to. The first three pitches were definitely noticeably harder than the rest of the route, and we pitched them out (especially because of our shoe situation). The third pitch, the 5.9 "tight hand" crack, looked much easier than it was, because the crack flares a bit so gives the impression that it's wider than it actually is. The remainder of the ridge was pretty fun, with a couple of moves up to mid 5th class, but mostly 4th class. Our objective was to get to the Gendarme by sunset, bivy, and then summit early the next day. We came across a gorgeous bivy spot where (I think) the upper north ridge meets the complete north ridge, and it was too good to pass up, so we decided to set up camp there for the night. There are still a couple of snow patches left over there that we were able to melt water for. There's also a rap anchor just off to the west, so you can rap down to the glacier and get some water, or just climb down and back up (I didn't do this, but it looked well worn, and like it was 4th class) Sunrise from the bivy. PC: Bertin Wong enjoying a cup of McDonalds coffee in the morning! PC: Bertin Wong We had a gorgeous view of the night sky, the milky way, and a ton of constellations. Pikachu enjoyed the view too PC: Bertin Wong The next day, we were pleased to find that we weren't actually that far from the Gendarme. Due to our shoe situation, we weren't entirely sure if we were going to climb it or not, but when we got there we figured that we might as well. The first pitch was definitely one of my favourites on the entire route, so I'm glad we did. I wasn't a huge fan of the offwidth though. My partner commented that although the #4 cam stuck in the offwidth still looks solid, the cord hanging off it looks like it's in pretty rough shape, so may not last much longer, and may be pretty hard to clip in the near future. The really fun slab with crack. We didn't actually see or hear any other people until we hit the summit, and the teams we did run into all ascended via the Cascadian Couloir. This was a pleasant surprise, as we were expecting the route to be a highway on this gorgeous weekend. Summit Selfie! Descending down the Cascadian Couloir was relatively straightforward. There were numerous cairns leading us across the ridge, contouring around the south ridge. We were tempted a couple of times by Ulrich's couloir, but following trip reports that we'd printed out, continued following the cairns and were thankfully able to avoid getting cliffed out on Ulrich. We just kept on going until we figured we must be at Cascadian, and then went a bit further. As other trip reports stated, you can't see Cascadian Couloir from the summit of Stuart - you have to actually head east and go over the south ridge before it's visible, and it definitely looks a lot more mellow than Ulrich (and Ulrich looks pretty good from the summit of Stuart). There was a bit of snow left in the couloir, but we were able to avoid all but about 15ft of it. There is also a rap ring right above the snow, so that patch can be avoided if desired by rapping over it. The bootprints are pretty distinct so we didn't need crampons or axes to pass over this. The 15 ft of snow that you have to cross. There's more skiers left, so if you want to avoid the talus, you can go down the snow instead, but it's definitely avoidable. Looking down at Cascadian Couloir. Go right. Following previous trip reports, we stuck skiers right when we reached a plateau. There are tons of cairns, so we just kept on following the cairns. Eventually the cairns bring you into a distinct gully, with a path going off to the right. You can go down the gully, or you can take the path. We took the path, and it brought us through meadows, into a path that splits into three (left, straight down, right), and all three of those paths bring you back down to the hikers trail. The route from the trail to the top of Stuart Pass is pretty straightforward. It got pretty windy on top of both passes - definitely bring a windbreaker. We also made sure to fill up on water before we started ascending the ridge to the pass - this was a good idea because we didn't come across another water source until we dropped Goat Pass and made it to the valley on the other side. Bundled up on top of Stuart Pass After dropping down from Stuart Pass, we saw footprints leading across the snow, so followed that. After some boulder hopping, we ascended the scree to the top of the flat ridge on the other side. There's a ton of footprints and a pretty distinct path. Because we didn't anticipate taking the Cascadian Couloir down, we ended up taking longer than expected and ran out of food and water. We met an awesome group of hikers at Stuart Lake, who kindly offered us their food and water, which was very much appreciated. Thanks so much Lindsay, Dave, and Briton! Food! Final view of Stuart Lake before descending back down to the car The final couple of miles were easy, but absolutely painful and tedious. We descended to the cars from the lake in about 1.5 hours, and drove off to Leavenworth to enjoy a lazy day of bratwurst and coffee. Gear Notes: -double rack to #2, single #3 -nuts (didn't use) -2x micro traxion and 1x tibloc for simul climbing -crampons (we needed them for unavoidable snow in our descent in the dark, but I'm pretty sure you can avoid snow descending Goat pass) -ice axe (same as crampons) -60m rope (probably could have used a 30, with a small amount of simul climbing on pitch 2 of the Gendarme) - 4 slings - 6 alpine draws - half zlites each Approach Notes: We approached from the Stuart Lake trailhead. Easy trail to an unmarked turnoff (see pictures). From there, we lost the trail due to deadfall and bushwhacked over a hill. We dropped down the other side along rocky ledges, and continued bushwhacking towards Stuart until we picked up a trail leading across talus fields. Definitely would try approaching from the south next time. Longer, but the trail is much easier.

Last weekend, I used hiking boots and strap on crampons, my partner used approach shoes with strap on crampons, and our third used full out mountaineering boots and crampons. Partner and I used climbing shoes for the climb up Torment and Forbidden, but hiking/approach shoes for the rest. Third used mountaineering boots the whole way. As Dave says... you can probably climb it in anything.

Nice running into you guys my friend is pretty comfortable on snow so built an ice axe anchor for us to rappel off of, and then downclimbed while on belay. I heard there is tat somewhere that you can rappel off of, but I couldn't find it.

we heard there was one in the schrund, but none of us were willing to rap in to confirm.

Two of us used hiking / approach shoes and the third used mountaineering boots (he was expecting to have to kick steps, as we'd recently read a report where the climbers mentioned that they had to do some front pointing). My crampons were strap ons (BD neves) and worked just fine. I think mountaineering boots would have been overkill for me, but that would depend on the snow conditions / weather. My friend in the mountaineering boots used them for the entire route. I climbed Torment and Forbidden in climbing shoes and did the remainder of the ridge in my boots, and feel that I could have done the entire route in boots.

Trip: Mount Torment and Forbidden Peak - Torment Forbidden Traverse Date: 7/30/2016 Trip Report: We completed the traverse in two days on July 30-31. I had difficulty finding recent condition reports when preparing for the trip, so wanted to share some information here. We arrived at the glacier at about 11:30am on Saturday morning, a ridiculously warm day even at that elevation. The glacier crossing was pretty mellow - a few crevasses and a moat at the notch, but these were easily navigable. The snow was pretty soft and slushy (maybe due to the time of day) so crampons were not absolutely necessary, but nice to have. Glacier Crossing Crevasses We used Steph Abegg's trip report and topos for route finding, and they were spot on. From the summit of Torment, we dropped about 30m down the south face to some grassy ledges, and then traversed east towards the large, noticeable notch. From the notch, there are two rap anchors. Using the anchors to the east allows you to rappel across the large moat below, avoiding having to climb out of it. Rappelling into the moat From here, we downclimbed / rappelled past a bergschrund. There were numerous open crevasses below, but again, easily navigable. Bergschrund From here, we traversed to the east again, towards the ledge system, which was slightly snow covered but not icy (again, likely due to the warm weather and time of day). We climbed up towards the snow patch, and were able to walk around the snow rather than through it. This led us to the steep snow section of the traverse. This was again, in very good condition. The snow was stable and bootpack from a previous party was visible. From the saddle, we dropped down to the south again, towards another series of grassy ledges. These ledges brought us past two snow patches to an excellent bivy spot on the south side of the ridge. A headwall to the north and several rock barriers around the site protected us from the wind, and we had a great view into Boston Basin. We decided to settle here for the night, just a bit more than halfway through the traverse. The site comfortably fit three of us, and likely would have had room for another party. Route we took to the bivy site View from Bivy Note that water was very difficult to find on the route until this point. We had figured that we'd be able to fill up while on the glacier on the north of the ridge; however, there wasn't a lot of easily accessible snow melt. We actually weren't able to refill our water until the first snow patch on the south side of the ridge, after the steep snow traverse, so plan accordingly or be prepared to melt snow while on the glacier. We started the next morning at about 8am, and the remainder of the route was an enjoyable scramble to Forbidden Peak, with the ridge widening into the "sidewalk in the sky". At this point, we found a set of rappel anchors, and rappelled off the south side to (more) grassy ledges. From here, we traversed east until we reached the notch that starts the west ridge of Forbidden. Although the west ridge route generally stays to the north of the ridge, we climbed slightly to the south of the ridge or right on top of it, and found that the friction was amazing / moves were generally 4th to low 5th class. As noted by several trip reports prior to mine, the general theme was, if the terrain got too difficult, generally stepping off to the north helped ease the terrain off a bit. The ridge was entirely socked in to the south From the summit of Forbidden, we downclimbed / made a few rappels on the north side of the route. Once we got back down to the notch, we downclimbed the gully about 30m, until we found the first rappel anchors skier's right. From there, the majority of the anchors were on skiers left of the gully. I would estimate that no rappel went more than 20m, and the majority of them were quite a bit shorter, about 10m. The final rappel before you drop off into the snow (so second to last rappel) is a bit of a rope stretcher, and we had to downclimb the last few moves of the gully, so beware of that if you have a 60m rope. The descent on the snow was fine - there were a few areas where running water had exposed the rock face underneath, but the descent was simple and crampons were not used. Glacier on the descent from Forbidden Peak Some additional pictures from the traverse: Forbidden Peak from the summit of Torment Sunrise from Bivy Summit selfie! Gear Notes: 60m 8.5mm rope 12 alpine draws 2 ice screws (not used) single rack to #3 single set of nuts (not used) Ice axe and crampons