MysticNacho Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 Looking for some more info on the N. Ridge of Mount Stuart. We're planning to do a carryover and I don't want to carry in leather boots for the glacier approach if I don't have to. Is it bad enough to use crampons? Or can we get away with tennies and an axe? Quote
erik Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 KINDA STEEP AND ICY IN PLACES CROSS EARLY TO ATTEMPT TO AVOID ROCKFALL WEAR YOUR POONS ON YOUR TENNIS SHOES. JUST GET BOOTS YOU CAN CLIMB IN. Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 I recomend sneakers with harpoons and a walking stick. Others disagree but i disagree with the fucking fucked fucker disagreeers. Do you disagree? Quote
MysticNacho Posted July 3, 2003 Author Posted July 3, 2003 I've got cramp-o-matics. I'd have to either borrow crampons or duct tape them to my feet. And actually, I wore a hole through my leathers the last time I used them. A freakin' hole! They were only nine months old. And I'm definitely not going to lug my big ol' plastics up there. I've got size 12 feet man. Quote
MysticNacho Posted July 3, 2003 Author Posted July 3, 2003 Cpt.Caveman said: I recomend sneakers with harpoons and a walking stick. Others disagree but i disagree with the fucking fucked fucker disagreeers. Do you disagree? That was my original plan, only with an axe. Quote
allthumbs Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 Cpt.Caveman said: I recomend sneakers with harpoons and a walking stick. Others disagree but i disagree with the fucking fucked fucker disagreeers. Do you disagree? fuck you Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 MysticNacho said: I've got cramp-o-matics. I'd have to either borrow crampons or duct tape them to my feet. And actually, I wore a hole through my leathers the last time I used them. A freakin' hole! They were only nine months old. And I'm definitely not going to lug my big ol' plastics up there. I've got size 12 feet man. Borrow some harpoons that fit on sneakers. There is absolutely no reason to carry big ass boots up there. Your fucking fucked sneakers may slide around on the snow. Quote
Ade Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 Take a couple of shopping bags to put over your sneakers before you put your crampons on. This will 1) make you look silly, 2) keep your shoes dry so that you don't have to do the hike out with wet feet. Quote
MysticNacho Posted July 3, 2003 Author Posted July 3, 2003 Ade said: Take a couple of shopping bags to put over your sneakers before you put your crampons on. This will 1) make you look silly, 2) keep your shoes dry so that you don't have to do the hike out with wet feet. That would look great with my shorts over poly-pro! Quote
j_b Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 i am not sure how this'd fit in your plan but if you do the full north ridge approaching from goat pass, you certainly would not need boots or ice axe. Quote
Greg_W Posted July 3, 2003 Posted July 3, 2003 Cpt.Caveman said: Apply Honey Bucket sticker to helmet! You'll get yours as a member of "Team HoneyBucket" this weekend. Quote
MysticNacho Posted July 4, 2003 Author Posted July 4, 2003 So what kind of condition is the ridge in... anyone know? Snow/ice on the ridge? Quote
Squid Posted July 4, 2003 Posted July 4, 2003 Nacho- I just got great beta on Stuart- It's totally unclimbable. Stay home and drink beer this weekend. It should be in shape next weekend, when I can short-haul your ass up the thing. Quote
MysticNacho Posted July 4, 2003 Author Posted July 4, 2003 Unfortunately, Squid, I am committed to some tame camping trip on Lake Chelan. I will drink beers, ogle the wildlife with a wary and ever watchful and twitching eye, and dream of spending the sunny days in the alpine. Quote
Ade Posted July 5, 2003 Posted July 5, 2003 j_b said: i am not sure how this'd fit in your plan but if you do the full north ridge approaching from goat pass, you certainly would not need boots or ice axe. You will have to descend about a thousand feet of snow to the base of the ridge. The snow level is still at around 5400' on the North side of Stuart. If after climbing the ridge you plan to return to the TH by the Cascadian/Longs Pass then the Cascadian is still snow from the false summit for a long way (we did not use this descent so I don't know how far down the snow goes). The ridge itself looked to be pretty much snow free as of last weekend. Quote
j_b Posted July 7, 2003 Posted July 7, 2003 good point Ade. i should have been more cautionary with my comment. Quote
johnny Posted July 9, 2003 Posted July 9, 2003 Can you sleeze by without crampons on the traverse between Goat Pass and the ridge? In approach shoes? Also, anybody bivy on the summit? I was there 20 years ago....that was pre-wake-n-bake so my memory is a bit fuzzy....are there any good spots up there or should one plan to nap down lower? Quote
Matt Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 Dr. Jay and I climbed the North Ridge of Stuart this week. Fantastic climb! I want to go back and do it again! Highlights include: Steep snow and mixed 4th class going up the bypass off the Stuart glacier 5.fun climbing up the ridge! sleeping high in the mountains on a perfect ledge! (luckily I had a bug net for my head as the morning mosquitos were hungry!) Waking up and getting on the Gendarme! Killer exposure on a very friendly offwidth! small pack and the perfect amount of foot and gear bluebird skies the whole way! Stashed beer in the river near the car so we had cold ones waiting for us when we got back! Footwear beta: I wore trail runners for the approach and put crampons on for the glacier and had comfy rock shoes for the route. Definitely would not have felt comfortable without the crampons as both of us slipped and self arrested on the Stuart Glacier. I'm sure the effortlessly cool Mattp might get by without crampons, but not me. Some pretty steep slippery snow in someplaces, the ice axe and crampons were well used. Running shoes worked well most of the time, though coming down the Cascadian Couloir I wished I had boots with more support. Jay had these cool light weight garmond approach boots that were above the ankle and had sticky rubber so he could both kick steps in snow and climb all of the 5.fun pitches, though he did get out his real rock shoes for the Gendarme pitches. Gear beta: don't need anything bigger than a #3 Camalot. There is still a #4 fixed in the middle of the 5.9 offwidth. We had a 3.5 and used it all over the climb, but not on the "crux" pitch. We did use it on the belay above the offwidth. We had a heavy rack, but it was nice as it facilitated faster simul-climbing along the ridge. As for bivies, yes, it looked like there were a few places on the summit where one could hunker down. We slept on the bivy ledge on the 9th, which was very nice, maybe the best bivy ledge on the route. Sleeping on this ledge was one of the bonuses of the climb! I can't imagine doing this route on a weekend and competing for space with other parties. We were lucky enough to have the entire route to ourselves. Plenty of snow all over the climb. Don't carry too much water! Great time to climb it! It seems like the N. Ridge is the flavor of the month. I give it Quote
leejams Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 Matt said: Definitely would not have felt comfortable without the crampons as both of us slipped and self arrested on the Stuart Glacier. Make that 3 of us, as I took a slide as well just after entering the couloir. Felt safe, got sloppy, took a ride to a great landing on boulder below. Good job on that gendarme pitch. Probably the better way as the other was wet slab, after kicking steps through the snow with rock shoes on. Quote
chucK Posted July 19, 2003 Posted July 19, 2003 Lurker Mark and I too completed the CC.com flavor of the month, on 7/14-15 Complete N Ridge with the Gendarme. Camped at Stuart pass (bugs :cry). Walked up and over Goat pass in the morning, no crampons, soft snow. Awesome first two pitches on Lower Ridge. Chiminey managed fairly easily by dragging pack behind. Next pitch, long sustained 5.9 crack , two nuts and a neutrino, booty. Many many pitches, little simulclimbing. Awesome bivy spot where Dr. Jay and Matt stayed I think. There was still snow there then. Gendarme, way cool, not as hard as the lower crack. Easy hauling too. Then a whole sh*tload of stuff I was getting too tired to drag the rope up. Sunset, on summit. Hung out 'til morning. Shredded the bivy bag around 2am. Down the Cascadian Couloir at 8am with right turn at the big black obelisk. Back to camp and snowfield beers at noon. Every part of that climb is fun fun fun. Well, except a few short hours of boring shivering, but the climbing, !!! Big sharp jugs everywhere, frictiony granite, a mile of handcrack and just enough sinker constriction finger locks. And, you've heard about the views. All day long (we were climbing) there were huge rumbles down the couloirs on either side. I'd do it again, but would seriously attempt to include more simuling. beta: Brought #4 Friend and #3 Camalot, #1 Camalot, then singles on down, nuts and some handcrack hexes. Used the hexes almost every pitch, amazing. Hexes on wires would've been sweet I bet. One of the booty stoppers was something huge like a #11 or so . I used that a bunch too. If you wanna "train" for the Gendarme offwidth, go do GM p3 or St. Vitus Dance. Quote
Uncle_Tricky Posted July 19, 2003 Posted July 19, 2003 ChucK + Hexes = Complete Fabrication Sounds like much fun ! Quote
fleblebleb Posted August 3, 2003 Posted August 3, 2003 I went yesterday with my new buddy Peter, upper N Ridge with the gendarme car-to-car from the Ingalls trailhead. Lots of bugs everywhere. We took a wrong trail fork in the basin and did a little bit of bush whacking, oops. Still made it to Goat Pass in ca. 4 hours, and melted snow there for awhile. There is no water or easily accessible snow on the route. The gully is snow-free, but getting into it is a bit nasty. Crampons and self-belay seemed a good idea. Sneakers were nice, but we had rock shoes for the gendarme. We passed all the other parties on the glacier or in the gully (thanks guys!), started climbing at 9 am and simuled to the gendarme in two pitches. Pack-hauling on the first pitch was a stupid idea, we carried on the second. Then we simuled the rest, with some long lazy breaks for gaping. The weather was awesome - it's rare to be in the mountains with no sense of urgency. We were on the summit between 3 and 4 pm, sat there for who knows how long, and at the car by 10 pm for a total of 20 hours. We avoided the snowfield at the top of the Cascadian by scrambling steep scree on the west side. Much trundling. A 30 m thin single rope would have been so much better than our doubled-up 60 m 9mm half rope. It was heavy, the strands got all twisted and tangled, there was twice as much rope management and we had to tie in to the middle. Yech. And no more Muenter for me, I'm bringing my reverso next time. Our rack was bigger than necessary too - six small stoppers, red tricam, two off-hands hexes, 10 cams (yellow/orange/red Metolius TCUs, #2-#4 DMM cams, #1/#4 Camalots), 6 long slings and 10 short slings, 20 biners and two lockers. If going again I think I'd take the red tricam, the two hexes, the TCUs, DMMs #2.5, 3, 4, 10 slings of each length and 16/2 biners. My knees almost buckled every time I racked that #4 Camalot. Maybe Peter would disagree, he led the off-width. We left Seattle without my sneakers, yay, extra driving. I'm still trying to figure out whether my stupidity has increased since that time when I forgot my skins, or merely stayed at the same level. Quote
bcollins Posted August 4, 2003 Posted August 4, 2003 Hey Fleb, 3 of us going up next weekend. When you mentioned taking a single 30 m. half-rope, we're you thinking of going super-short on the Gendarme pitches with the rope doubled, or climbing it on the single 8-9 mil., thinking that the directness of the pitches would minimalize the chance of edging the rope in a fall. I guess my question is............ Would you take a 50 meter 9 mil. up the Gendarme with a party of 3? Can you make it happen? What's everybody else think? Quote
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