SmilingWhiteKnuckles Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 (edited) Climb: Stuart-NW face Date of Climb: 3/14/2005 Trip Report: On our second effort in two weeks (first time in, it snowed), Jim and I did the better part of the NW face route on Mt. Stuart Sunday/Monday. Conditions are primo right now and I have to recommend this one strongly to those looking for burly adventure. Our hikes in and out were superb and the only thing to note really is that we didn't bring snowshoes and this was a fine decision, for the trail is nicely packed down. So as soon as they open the #$%(ing gate, there will be easy access to the high country. Monday, climbing day, we woke up at 4am and were walking in 15 minutes. Ran into a couple people bivying up on the moraine. Brrr, it was cold and windy. Apparently, they tried the Girth Pillar day before but one of them dropped a tool so they rapped and in the only words I heard over the wind, "we did the Ice Cliff Glacier...we had to do SOMETHING!" I think this was their second effort... Took us nearly 4 hours (slow and steady) to get from our camp in the trees (5400') to the base of the climb. Weather was perfect, the wind blowing strong enough to remind us that it is in fact winter. First pitch was stiff: steep and sustained, but the ice (water ice!) was superb. After that, we wove our way up runnels and steps for many pitches. Protection was here and there, but the snow and ice remained great. After shooting up this long couloir, we found ourselves next to the gendarme. From there, we angled right up two steep steps and I set up a belay. Decision: either straight up a mid-fifth mixed pitch or right on a snow ramp to the skyline. I hadn't been here before and Jim couldn't remember which way to go. I lobbied hard for going straight up the mixed pitch thinking of the little sketch in my outdated edition of the Beckey guide. We took this mixed pitch up, hurrying now because it was getting late and we REALLY wanted to top out by sunset... Well, this was not the easy way. I led up to the crest of the north ridge, on a knife edge below a 5.8 handcrack. Shit, shit, shit. Neither of us wanted to take this...not now, not with the gear we had. We resolved this quickly as we could by rapping down onto the NE face. We did a ~200 foot traverse and went straight up to the ridgecrest, finishing with some very thrilling steep, unconsolidated, granular snow to reach the last 10 minutes of sunshine. Then it was a long, long downclimb down the Sherpa in the dark and one rappel down some hard glacier ice bulges and back to camp at 8:45pm. What an adventure!! Gear Notes: 2 ice tools and crampons 1 50 meter Edelweiss Dynamic 4 ice screws 2 pickets (very useful) 3 pitons (1 steel blade, 2 ti blades) 5 small nuts 2 med hexes Approach Notes: hard, icy trail Edited March 16, 2005 by SmilingWhiteKnuckles Quote
slothrop Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 "2 Ti blades"... is that Jim Nelson? Looks awesome! Quote
John Frieh Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 So was this Jim's 50th or 49th time summiting Stuart? Good work guys! Quote
pms Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 (edited) 48 or 49 John, though not always to the very summit. SWK and I took a nice break where we hit the summit ridge, and then followed your tracks down in a hurry. Edited March 17, 2005 by pms Quote
forrest_m Posted March 17, 2005 Posted March 17, 2005 wow, that looks in about 100,000 times betterer conditions than when colin & i did it two years ago. nice work, gents! Quote
gosolo Posted March 17, 2005 Posted March 17, 2005 Nice job and pics. thanks for sharing. Hexes - old school, gotta dig it. Quote
Marko Posted March 19, 2005 Posted March 19, 2005 Man that looks great! Way to make good use of the last of that stellar weather. 48 or 49... No wonder in the early '90s we started calling the peak "Mt. Nelson". Quote
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