[TR] Stuart- Ice Cliff Glacier (attempt) 4/15/2005

[Kfoxpnw]

Climb: Stuart-Ice Cliff Glacier

 

Date of Climb: 4/15/2005

 

Trip Report:

Dave and I met at the Fred Meyer in Monroe at 9 am on thursday morning. After a brief introductions (we had never met before) and a chat about our gear needs I threw a whole bunch of crap into his car. We found a nice residential street where I could leave my truck for a few days and we were off. We arrived at the Stuart TH about 12:30 and started hiking a little after one. We used the 4WD on his 4-Runner but the ruts were deep and it was an easy last .5 mile or so in the snow. The boot pack was solid the the Colchuck junction and then pretty good after that. We didn't put the snowshoes on untill we started across the bogs. A little below the boulder field we came upon fresh ski tracks and followed them the rest of the way up to the flats. Shortly after cresting the boulder field we ran into the aforementioned skiers. They had come from the Stuart lake TH that morning and were attempting a ski descent of the Ice Cliff Glacier car to car in a day! They said they got into the upper Coulior and found themselves in waist deep snow. They had turned around high and skied what they could. They said the snow seemed pretty stable but there were a few 'wind pockets' on the left side.

Dave and I camped in the big open area where you first come out of the trees. It was here we proceded to dig the Phattest Snow cave I have ever seen! We dug and piled snow in a heap about 2 feet above the level of the snow surface. The snow was at least 5 feet deep so this made for some sweet cave digging conditions! Once we compacted the pile dave started "moleing" out the cave as I transported the tailings out of the entrance. The thing was large! We are both over 6 feet and you easily could have fit 3 of us in the thing. If you packed little people in sideways the posibilities would have been limitless. We finished our new home by dark, made some quesedillas and soup and headed off to bed. A clear and cold night.

We were out of camp a little after 7 the next morning and heading up to the base of the glacier proper. The weather was overcast with the top of Stuart obscured in clouds there was also some very light snow falling. The snow was deep, up to almost knees in places lower on the route. It made the going slower than we would have liked. At the base of the Ice cliff proper we broke out the rope for the first time. Dave got the first pitch of ice a 2 step deal with some snow in the middle. On the second step he took the 'Direct variation' and added a little excitement to the pitch.

I got the second Ice pitch, another 2 step deal with some cool stemming on the first step and some bomber 80 degree snow in the second. There had been small ammounts of spindrift comming off the rocks on climbers left all morning, about halfway through my pitch the biggest one yet came down about 10 to 15 feet to my left. This made me a little nervous. I ran the rope out untill dave was at the top of the hard climbing then brought him up to me.

We took off out packs to take a break, get a drink of water and a snack. The conversation went something like:

"it's getting warmer"

"The snow is comming down heavier"

"The angle stays steep the rest of the way i.e. prime slide terrain"

"The spindrift on the left side is getting more frequent"

"I'm feeling some wierd vibration in the snow"

"We should get out of here"

"I agree"

 

So we headed down, rapelling the two Ice pitches, glisading the steepest terrain, and walking the rest. We were back in camp by early afternoon. What do you do when you're concerned about avalanche safey? Play with trancievers! We spent some time in the afternoon burrying trancievers on our pot, locating, probing, and digging the thing up. It was a good way to spend the afternoon. We made drinks and dinner and were back in the cave for a long night sleep by 7pm.

Just before getting in the cave, about 6:45, I heard a big slide come down somewhere up in the cirque. Whew! had we made a good call! The next morning through poor visibility and rain, we could see some sort of debris on almost all avalanche prone terrain Including a bunch of Slide deposition at the base of the Ice cliff glacier route!!

We headed out around 9:15 and were back at the car before 1pm. It rained almost the whole way out. We were both soaked and happy to be on the way to the drier pastures of the greater Monroe metropolitan area.

For never having met, I think he'll agree, Dave and I had a great time together. We had similar experience backgrounds and many things in common. We communicated well and, despite getting shut down and soaked, it was a totally fun couple of days in the mountains with a good partner.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

We took a lot of stuff that never got used because we never made it to any rock:

An Ice axe and extra tool apiece

2 screws

V-Threader tool

1 60m 8.1 rope

3 pickets

4 pins

small rock rack

snowshoes.

 

This looks like a sweet route in the right conditions but I wouldn't go back untill the snow consolidates considerably unless you like wallowing.

 

Sorry folks, no Pics. I carried the camera but it only came out to take a picture of the car!