[TR] Mt Stuart- Full N Ridge 8/22/2005

[colt45]

Climb: Mt Stuart-Full N Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 8/22/2005

 

Trip Report:

Yuko had a few days off at the start of this week, and we had been looking forward to another trip to Squamish. Unfortunately, a few days before the vacation I experienced a sudden tearing noise in my shoulder while sport climbing...which required us to revise our plans somewhat.

 

Since steep crack climbing would NOT help my shoulder recover, something longer and moderate sounded appealing. Stuart has the reputation for really good rock, and we have never really been alpine climbing, so we decided to give it a shot.

 

A quick glance at a trail map convinced us that a bivy would make the climb more fun—4 to 7 hours each way for the approach & descent seemed like too much for one day. However, carrying a bunch of weight would NOT be fun. So we bought some lighter sleeping bags, and a couple of other items we had been planning to upgrade for some time. Our full bivy gear came to less than 3 pounds per person, which seemed pretty reasonable. With Yuko's 20L pack and my 30L, we had just enough room for everything.

 

We hiked in on Sunday: with a late start (1:30pm), a 45 minute nap at Ingall's Lake (the area is so beautiful that we had to stop for a bit), and a routefinding error (stay high after passing Ingalls lake to avoid going down and then up an extra 1,000 feet!!), we made it most of the way to the ridge toe by dark. We found an awesome bivy spot with views of Stuart's northwest face, and set the alarm for 4:30 am.

 

Unfortunately our sleeping bags were so comfortable that we didn't hear the alarm, waking at sunrise (5:30am). After brewing coffee, packing our gear and finishing the approach we started climbing at 7:45am. Oh well, so much for the 'alpine start'...

 

We were off route for probably half of the lower ridge, and encountered a fair amount of lichen-covered 5.9 (we used Kearney's description, which was sort of vague). Eventually we got back on route, and after simul-climbing an easy ramp for a few hundred feet that was on the right side of the ridge crest, we decided to climb up a 70' step to gain the ridge crest proper...what a mistake! This led to more lichen-covered 5.9, which was obviously off-route. Since getting back on route seemed like more trouble than it was worth, we kept going to the notch. The lower ridge had taken close to 7 hours, and it was now 3pm!

 

We had been hoping to move a lot faster, and retreat was of course impossible (well, we could cross the Stuart glacier without ice axe or crampons...but that really didn't sound like a good idea). Fortunately, from the notch onwards the climbing is easier and the route-finding is extremely straightforward.

 

We simul-climbed a bunch of easier terrain to the gendarme. At the base of the gendarme, we were suddenly exposed to 40+mph winds. We were already fatigued from climbing all day, and the abruptly severe weather drained us further. Yuko took an unexpected 10' fall while leading the 5.9 lieback pitch...since she normally has no problem onsighting 5.10 with a pack on, this was not a good sign. The wind was even worse at the start of the offwidth pitch, and our fingers had gone completely numb. I pulled on gear in order to climb this pitch as fast as possible to get us out of the wind, as were both approaching dangerous levels of hypothermia. Unfortunately the next belay ledge was even more exposed, and the situation was becoming serious. Fortunately, the third gendarme pitch (up and left on a crack) led to a well-sheltered ledge. We were running low on daylight, and briefly considered bivying here. But, the terrain looked easy up ahead and we really wanted to get off the mountain and down into the warmer, less-windy valley. We continued to the top, simul-climbing most of the way. We reached the summit 5 hours after leaving the notch, and utilized the hour of remaining daylight to find the descent (we used the beta from Nelson’s guide, and it was pretty straightforward). After the long but easy hike down the Cascadian couloir trail, we hit the Ingall’s Creek trail around midnight. Since we had bivy gear and extra food, fuel & coffee, we slept here and hiked out the next day at a leisurely pace.

 

Overall, the lower ridge is not particularly good. We were probably off route for much of it, but even when we were definitely on route, it pales in comparison to the spectacular nature of the upper ridge. The coolest parts of the climb were the views of the heavily crevassed glaciers and the two comfortable bivys. The upper ridge alone would be a fun climb, whereas adding the lower ridge made for a long day with an overall lower quality of climbing.

[ivan]

how can you really judge the lower route when you fucked up getting on it? when you hit the pitches right at the base it's incredibly fun and all the climbing after the first 3 pitches are totally cruiser simul-climbing terrain exactly like the upper ridge.

[colt45]

Good point--although the upper ridge is probably more classic by virtue of being such a narrow, striking line that it's impossible to get off route!

[slothrop]

Looks like you got a pretty good intro to alpine climbing, Mike!

[dbb]

Nice job on your 'first' alpine climb Mike!

I think it's generally known that while the lower ridge doesn't have the quality clean rock of the upper ridge, the aesthetics of climbing the "whole feature" definitely make it worth it. Plus, I thought the 2nd pitch hand/finger crack varriation was killer. Glad to hear Yuko didn't hurt herself on that gendarme fall

[bonathanjarrett]

Hey, we were the party that you guys saw at Ingall's Lake and again at Goat Pass. I am really glad to hear that you got down ok. Joe and I were a little worried about you. We fully expected to see you guys during the day but never did.

We screwed up a bit ourselves by descending Ulrich's Couloir instead of Cascadian. What a horrible descent that was. We for whatever reason did not traverse east far enough.

On a cool note, when we summited around 1PM, there was a stinking mountain goat chilling on the very summit! The little bugger almost refused to leave so that we could tag the top for real.

[colt45]

Yeah, we were definitely hoping to travel faster. Getting off-route on the approach hike, and again on the climb itself, definitely did not help! I think that one of the big differences between 'alpine rock' climbs and regular multi-pitch rock climbing is the route-finding, and this is a skill that we definitely need to develop.

 

We got a photo of you guys crossing the glacier while we were still wandering around on our way to the ridge toe:

[skykilo]

I thought the rock on the Lower North Ridge was excellent.

 

If you think that's bad, you should really go hit some climbs in the North Cascades...

[Squid]

My attempt on the full NR was derailled by getting way off target on the lower half.

We'd attempted the 'east face' of the NR which curiously enough is at the northern apex of the ridge.

We did some goofy thing several hundred meters to the left (east).

Truckloads of rap webbing should've clued me in to the fact that many folks bailed off the crack I was heading up, but I just took it as evidence that I must be doing something right.

 

c'est la vie.

[colt45]

I thought the rock on the Lower North Ridge was excellent.

 

If you think that's bad, you should really go hit some climbs in the North Cascades...

The rock quality was fine, it was the quarter-inch layer of lichen that covered everything that made it unpleasant. The lichen would appear suddenly in places on the rock and then remain for a couple hundred feet before disappearing again, so we couldn't just follow clean rock to stay on route. I had to scrape it out of cracks to place pro and clean it off the footholds to climb in some places.

[Jerm]

I heard you guys below us on Mon morning ... we were attempting the full ridge as well and ended up falling WAY short of our planned bivy at the base of the upper. We ended up on a tiny platform about 7 pitches up the lower, just past where the lower west variation joins (just past a short knife-edge section). Of course, we found huge spacious bivies just one pitch further the next morning...

 

Anyway, we bailed at the base of the upper, seeing as our speed to that point would have meant an unplanned extra day on the hill. This decision meant a Stuart Glacier crossing with just trekking poles and self arrest grips, so we grabbed a set of sharp sticks (thanks to whoever left em) and placed a few deadman anchors at the sketchier spots. A good thing too, the western part was hard and we both went for a short ride. Maybe you saw us inching our way across?

 

We made our approach via an less conventional route. We drove a pickup (nothing modified, just a Ranger) up the Fortune Creek Jeep Trail to near Van Epps Pass (forest rd 4W301 or 302.. I think) and hiked in around the north side of Ingalls. Crossing the scree on that slope made that route less than optimal, but on the way back we went up and over the notch between N-S Ingalls and made it from Ingalls Lake to the car in 1.5 hours ... but keep in mind, we are slow punters. On the map, this way is the shortest to the base of the ridge, about a mile shorter than the trail from the North Fork, but with more off-trail boulder hopping.

[ryanl]

I liked that there was lichen everywhere, on good rock. I never felt as though I was following a path.

[skykilo]

I thought the rock on the Lower North Ridge was excellent.

 

If you think that's bad, you should really go hit some climbs in the North Cascades...

The rock quality was fine, it was the quarter-inch layer of lichen that covered everything that made it unpleasant. The lichen would appear suddenly in places on the rock and then remain for a couple hundred feet before disappearing again, so we couldn't just follow clean rock to stay on route. I had to scrape it out of cracks to place pro and clean it off the footholds to climb in some places.

 

Now that sounds fun!

 

I was pissed to see a big chalk trail on portions of Slesse... It's a good thing I managed to climb off route in a few places to keep it adventurous.

 

Just joshing you though, definitely a nice piece of work for your 'first alpine climb'.

[colt45]

OK, Alpinedave set me straight on the routefinding. We were off-route for basically the entire lower ridge, so maybe it DOES have good climbing! I should have looked at Beckey's description. Don't follow the yellow line (the way we went), instead follow the RED line (photo by alpinedave):

 

From the initial ledge, don't go up this corner:

 

instead, go up THIS corner! (photo by alpinedave):

[dbb]

just to note, on the second pitch we did a 5.9 variation pitch (very nice) that goes up and left above the piton belay. The regular way goes up and right through some wider 5.8 cracks...

[MountaingirlBC]

good job... I'm just starting to eye up Stuart after a few trips in the area. I can vouche for the wind as I was freezing my ass off on Prusik the same day.

[Off_White]

Colt45: The starting corner you used, with the lovely 2" lieback up into that lower angle corner, is the start I've used on that route. Nice pro, no fat crack, and didn't you find the lower bit to be clean? The trick is, at the top of the corner, you have to traverse right quite a bit, mostly on a ledge if I recall, then you head up and wind up in some 5.9ish terrain that's right on track.

[colt45]

After we reached the top of the corner, I initially kept traversing up and right from the belay; after almost a ropelength I came across an old piton at the end of this ramp. It looked possible to climb up here (and maybe then we would have been on route?). But since I thought that I had done the "correct" first pitch it seemed way too far to traverse, plus the rock in this area was steeper which would give us fewer options if it was not the correct way. So I back-traversed a ways and went up a decent-looking crack that started to get dirty after 50 feet. From here we just kept going up since it looked about as good as any other option, and the rock became really dirty in places.

[Bug]

That dirty rock!

I have done the first few pitches three different ways and the next couple up to the notch two different ways. There are probably numerous other 5.9 and 5.10 ways to go also.

The one who had the most fun did the best route.

[Marko]

It's funnest when the whole thing is plastered in snow!