[TR] C. North Ridge Mt. Stuart - 8/2/2008

[wbk]

Trip: [TR] C. North Ridge Mt. Stuart -

 

Date: 8/2/2008

 

Trip Report:

Tim and I climbed the complete North Ridge of Stuart this Sat. Plan was to go for the car to car (so now bivy gear, but we brought puffy jackets and I brought a 1 by 2’ pad just in case).

 

Left car at 2am on Sat. morning from the Esmeralda Basin TH, up to Ingalls Lake, over to Stuart Pass, then over Goat Pass and then under the Stuart Glacier to the base of the climb. Took us about 5.5 hours from the car… big thanks to Tim for leading us there—he knew the way well from his climb up the West Ridge from a previous year. We figure we lost about 15-30 mins skirting around the base of the glacier, but otherwise we felt the 5-6 hour timeline to approach the climb we’d heard from sources was very accurate. (Yes, I’m sure there are faster parties, etc.)

 

Looking back at Ingalls from above Stuart Pass. Bank of clouds obscured views to the West.

 

Photo looking North from Goat Pass – finally some sun to warm us from the cool, windy approach

 

We climbed the first technical pitches rapidly and soon were on the amazing finger to hands crack pitch (Pitch 3?). I had this pitch and was stoked to onsight this baby with my pack on. After this pitch, we headed up and climbers right and continued to pitch out at least three or more 20-30m pitches (we were using a folded over 60m half rope). This took us to a narrow, exposed flat spot after which we simul’d ledges and then up a gully to a fairly open set of ledges.

 

Me on first pitch

 

 

Climbing up the awesome finger to hand crack pitch on the Lower Butress!

Here’s a photo of those sets of ledges. Looks like folks bivy here from time to time.

 

 

At this point, Tim was feeling really dizzy and so we took a bit of a break. He asked if I could lead the rest of the pitches which I greedily accepted! That said, we were worried that he couldn’t seem to shake the dizziness with rest, water and food. Apparently the dizziness sort of faded in and out. Tim stayed really focused, while I stayed really focused on leading quickly and safely.

Tim maintaining

 

We simul’d up right of the ridge proper and then to a bunch of bivy sites and up to a notch where we moved left of the ridge. I think this is where the upper north ridge route gully connects to North Ridge proper, but I’m not entirely sure.

 

 

This shot is just after moving from the right side of the ridge through the notch the left side of the ridge. Can anyone recognize this shot and if so, it is just above/beyond the “notch” referred to in Nelson’s book?

At this point, I took us off route which led to a rappel, some backtracking and eventually two technical pitches to bring us back onto the ridge proper. These two pitches were fun climbing but overall this cost us significant time.

 

 

We then simul’d to the slabs and made our way over to the gendarme. The gendarme pitches were spectacular; we hauled our packs for these climbs.

 

 

Hit the summit at 8:30pm, significantly later than we’d anticipated, but getting off route and dealing with dizziness have their consequences. Overall, Tim and I were elated. We’d had great weather, the rock is phenomenal and the setting is tough to beat!

 

We started to race down the Cascadian, but decided that with Tim’s dizziness, it just wasn’t smart. I was super impressed with his ability to focus and keep it together despite his overall dizziness. I could tell he wasn’t himself and I was bigtime in favour of a safe decent the next day at the cost of an unplanned, cold bivy.

 

And a cold bivy it was. The temps were low (anyone know where to look up historic temps on the summit of Mt Stuart for Aug 2-3 ) and the wind, albeit light, was enough to keep us from maintaining any warmth. We did various exercises to get warm, then napped until we woke from the cold (usually about 15 mins) and repeated this. We made it through the night and by 4:50am we were back on the move (and at a slow pace).

 

Me in my makeshift bivy (topdown)

 

The hike out was uneventful. Tim was still dizzy, but better than the night before. We were back at the car at shortly after 9am and chilling back in the city by noon.

 

I have to really hand it to Tim. He is among the fittest and most experienced mountain partners I’vehad the pleasure of climbing with. He did awesome in making decisions and pulling through despite his dizziness. Tim is now going to take me to the Outback Steakhouse as a reward for leading all the pitches! Yeah, mate… good times, nah… great time!

 

The route was awesome and in different circumstances, I feel it’s a doable car to car. I also see people’s great points in planning in a bivy. Both ways, this climb is truly phenomenal and I want to go do it again!!

 

Gear Notes:

Rack of 10 cams, half set of nuts, 1 60m half rope, no crampons or ice axe, lots of slings

 

Other Notes:

Major cloud cover to the West but didn’t look too threatening. Generally cool temps on the climb and with interspersed sun. Did I mention the clear, cold night?!

 

 

Edited August 5, 2008 by wbk

[kevbone]

Rad......

[IanOutThere]

sweet man!!!

Rad climbing. Awesome pics. BRutal bivy.

Yup, the pic that shows you at the notch is were we entered onto the ridge when we climbed the regular route Wed. From there we skirted sans rope to the east of the ridge and began to simul when we got to an obvious bulging corner right on the crest. We focused on staying on the crest the whole time and made it to the gendarme without route snafus...

I had the same amount of bivy gear with me just days ago and you are hardcore to make that unplanned high bivy. Cheers!

Also the first pitches look real nice - I'll guess I'll have to do it again...

~ian

[therunningdog]

Ben, thanks for doing a great job with the great write-up...and thanks again for leading all those pitches and basically rescuing my dizzy ass from that mountain. I was very lucky to have such a competent partner with me on this trip!

 

Still dizzy in Ballard...

[111]

Glad you two made it down safely. Ya showed good judgment on knowing your limits and being prepared.

[hanman]

Ben and Tim- We were the party with the packs and bivy gear (Mark and James). Even with lite bags we were cold on the nice bivy platform about 400 feet below summit. Good call staying put for the evening though, that descent would not be fun dizzy or in the dark...

 

What an excellent climb!

[kevino]

Great picture!

 

 

[olyclimber]

indeed that is a great picture. thanks for the report!

[ptownclimber]

Nice! We saw you guys (party of 3) close to the trailhead on Sunday. You guys were motoring.

 

Pictures and TR forthcoming.

[willstrickland]

That shot is fantastic!

[DRep]

WOW, good trip. We were about an hour ahead of you on the approach to do the CNR, we bailed at Stuart Pass and decided to do the West Ridge on a Whim with no prior knowledge of the route. Lets just say it was interesting. The temps were ridiculously cold, that bivy must have royally sucked! Glad your friend is alright.

[moronbros]

kickass! I'm even more stoked to go on this climb. My buddy and I spent the night out there too. We were up at about 7,200 feet over by colchuck balanced rock - on the cliffs right above assblaster pass. We both had thin softshell jackets and pants, you guys were smart and brought puffies at least! I checked the temps that night and it got down to the mid 40's where we were. I'm guessing that where you guys were it was about 5 or so degrees cooler.

 

That will be the last time I shiver my ass off for a while. I'm carrying a emergency bivy or wearing a puffy. It's so damn worth it. Especially with north-facing routes.

 

Nice job fellas

 

OH and one more thing - did you make use of axes or crampons for the approach?

Edited August 6, 2008 by moronbros

[wbk]

OH and one more thing - did you make use of axes or crampons for the approach?

 

We didn't use axes or crampons. At this time of year, you can skirt under the Stuart Glacier easily as well as bypassing the snowfield under the False summit on the descent (assuming the snow is too hard to boot ski which it was when we were on it).

[mountainmatt]

Nice work wbk and Tim! Sweet pictures as well. Nice stokey for sure!

[pinegar]

Thanks for posting. Indeed. That one pic, with the cloud sea dissolving, is a real classic.

[mythosgrl]

Tim is the true mountain hardman. Good work buddy.

[Maxtrax]

Excellent job keeping it together and leading everything to get you both off the mountain safely. I just climbed the complete n. ridge this weekend, I only had to lead half and I was absolutely worked by the time we made it to the top, let alone to the car. Also that picture from the top with the ridgeline splitting the clouds is phenomenal.