[TR] Mt. Stuart - Stuart Glacier Couloir 05/05/2019

[kmfoerster]

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Stuart Glacier Couloir

Trip Date: 05/05/2019

Trip Report:

 

 

My friend and I Climbed the Stuart Glacier Couloir on Sunday. Rode bikes up to the trail head. Theres just a 100' long patch of snow near the trailhead now. Hiked in early and the approach wasn't terrible booting. Followed the summer approach trail. Plenty of cairns to go off of when the going gets snowy. Camped at 5400' and woke up early Sunday morning. The snow on the way up to the couloir was firm enough that just your crampon points would sink in. The rest of the snow on the route stayed consistently firm as well. The bergschrund was easily crossed via bridges on climbers right. The constriction in the couloir was in great shape with thick ice. Mostly 60 degrees with a couple short vertical/near vertical bulges.

 

 

Got to the west ridge notch around 7am and started working our way along the west ridge. On the ridge the ledges and gullies were snowy. The rock on route was mostly bare with patches of ice and ice in the cracks. I thought this made for interesting climbing as you would need your tools for a bit and then want to stow your gloves and tools for some sections. Really fun climbing on the the north side traverse pitch and the following twin cracks pitch out of the tiny notch.

 

 

This was a fun outing on an awesome route. I thought the climbing was easier but more fun than what we encountered on triple couloirs this year. In these conditions I'd give the route a WI2/M3+/5.6 rating.

 

 

Gear Notes:
cams to 2", assortments of pins, set of stoppers, 2 13cm ice screws, a picket (dead weight as usual, snow was conducive to vertically placed pickets but there was other pro available)

Approach Notes:
Road is still gated at Bridge Creek campground. Bikes for the road. Booted in and out. Approach was way less miserable on the way in.

[tanstaafl]

Quote

Approach was way less miserable on the way in.

God isn't that the truth. 

Nice work on the climb!

[JonParker]

Awesome! Saw your headlamps when I woke up for the ICG.

For what it’s worth I found the booting totally miserable both the way there and back