[TR] Mt. Stuart - Complete North Ridge w/ Gendarme

[Lisa_D]

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Complete North Ridge w/ Gendarme

 

Date: 8/16/2008

 

Trip Report:

Yet another Stuart TR... it was such a great climb that I had to do a write-up!

 

Summer was ending and I wanted to climb something big. The Complete North Ridge of Stuart sounded like it would fit the bill. Thursday night, we rolled into the Esmerelda Basin trailhead and sorted gear. Two guys came down after a 1-day ascent of the North Ridge and reported mosquitoes and no water on the route. We wondered how we’d feel by the time we returned to the parking lot. The CNR was a big undertaking for us. We all knew we could do it, but weren’t sure how long it would take or what would happen!

 

Friday morning, 4 AM: we departed. Hiking in the dark was good, and kept us in the shade for almost the entire day. I hate to think how we might have felt if we’d done the approach in the heat. A nice breeze kept mosquitoes at bay. At beautiful Ingalls Lake, we got our first view of Stuart.

 

 

Molly and Brian brought a water filter, which was very helpful throughout the trip, although it burned some time. We went over Ingalls Pass, Stuart Pass, and Goat pass. We didn’t bring ice axes or crampons, and had no trouble skirting beneath the glacier. Plentiful running water was available.

 

Then, we were at the toe of the North Ridge. The first part of the NR was as long as any multi-pitch rock route we’d ever done. After chugging a liter of water (again) and filling up Nalgenes and Camelbaks (again), up we went. At 11:15 AM, Chris and I went first, climbing on a 60 meter 8mm rope folded in half - definitely the rope of choice for this climb. All the technical pitches were short enough, and the simulclimbing was much easier with a half rope. Thanks, Blake, for loaning it to us! Pitch 1 had an unpleasant squeeze chimneyish/slot thing. More than a few grunts and curses were heard!

 

I led the second pitch with fun 5.8 face and crack climbing. I ended at a tiny ledge right below pitch 3. I built a good anchor and brought Chris up. Almost every piece I placed on this trip was quick and decisive. Good progress for me.

 

Pitch 3: Blake told me it was 5.9+, and he is not one to exaggerate. This was one of the hardest (and best) on the route, made more challenging by our packs. A corner with strenuous stems and liebacks led to a crux where the hand holds thinned out. Chris did a great lead, with some daring and burly liebacking. I found ways to stem and got several much needed no-hands rests.

 

 

Waving cheerfully to our friends below, Chris and I continued on. We were a group of 6 (though not a Mountaineers party!), and knew that it would be silly to clump together. There was only one other party on the route and we let them pass. We spaced out on the ridge, and it ended up that we were only together on the approach and descent. None of us would have ever planned a group of 6 for a climb like this, but it turned out well. As a bonus, we were able to get cool pictures of each other en route.

 

After about 6 pitches of swinging leads, Chris and I began simulclimbing. We paused at the "notch" where the upper ridge portion begins, feeling pretty drained. There were some tempting five-star bivy sites, but with 20 some pitches between us and the summit and a few hours of daylight left, we decided to press onward. Thankfully, we were able to blast through pitch after pitch of beautiful low 5th class simulclimbing. Smoke from a forest fire made for a beautiful pastel view of Glacier Peak.

 

 

The Great Gendarme came into sight. We made a 15 meter rappel and built a small bivy on a sandy ledge. There are bivy sites everywhere on this mountain, and we were always within an hour or two of a possible bivy site. Sunset colors were made more spectacular by the haze of smoke, and the full moon came up over Sherpa Peak.

 

 

I had a sleeping bag plus my pack and coat for padding, which proved to be very comfortable. We shared dinner and enjoyed views of the surreal, wild surroundings before falling into deep, restful sleep.

 

Sunrise awoke us at at 5:30 and we enjoyed a relaxed morning.

 

 

Then the real fun began: the heart of the climb is the exposed upper ridge and Gendarme. Beautiful, knife-edged, solid granite. Towers to go up and over, abundant variations, and pro everywhere. We stuck to the crest and simulclimbed, fixing a belay here and there to prevent rope drag or protect the follower on more difficult sections. When I was following, I encountered some traverses and down-climbs that were more scary for the follower than for the leader. The knife-edge hand traverse was everything I’d imagined. “We’re in the best place on earth!” I remember exclaiming.

 

Molly on the hand traverse:

 

Me, loving life:

 

 

We scampered up the slab to the Great Gendarme, which Chris was looking forward to leading.

 

 

Hauling packs was more than worth it. The first pitch on the Gendarme had strenuous liebacking up a detached pillar with good rests and a mantle exit onto the ledge. Then came the infamous offwidth pitch. After clipping a fixed piton and making a balancey traverse, Chris contemplated the short offwidth crack. Below him was a spectacular 1000’ drop to a wild, crevassed glacier.

 

 

There is a fixed #4 Camalot in the upper part of the crack, so we only brought one bigger piece (a 3.5 Wild Country cam). Chris had to walk the 3.5 a few times, and it must have been a wild feeling. An amazing lead. (Did I mention that Chris has only been climbing for a year, and he's already leading this stuff? He’s a brave, optimistic, and smart climber and it was great to be his partner for this trip!) I scarfed an Almond Joy and then muscled up the off-width, climbing it cleanly and enjoying balanced fist jams, foot jams, and the occasional face feature.

 

The third pitch on the Gendarme was a little unclear, but we figured that we’d just follow clean rock upward. (This logic worked for the entire climb and the topo usually stayed in our pockets.) It seemed as if the summit would never arrive. Thirst and mental exhaustion were catching up. We did more simulclimbing, a sketchy off-route traverse, and a few fixed belays. Just as I was starting to feel tired and frustrated by even easy terrain, I pulled through a short chimney and realized that the summit was 50 feet away! We did it! At 5:30 PM we scrawled our names in the register, shot some photos, and exchanged high fives with Molly & Brian and Morgan & Joey, who had bypassed the Gendarme and summited the same time as us.

 

At 6:00 it was time to go down. We were eager to reach the snow patch above the Cascadian Couloir. At last, running water, after 31 hours of dry ridge! I drank 5 liters of water and Gatorade on the rock climb, which sounds like a lot to carry, but kept me feeling great for the entire trip. We easily found the Cascadian Couloir, whose entrance is to the right of the green shrubs:

 

 

We scampered down the Cascadian, racing the oncoming dark. For all that I've heard about this gully, it wasn't as bad as they say. It went quickly and was so nice not to have to rappel off a climb this big. Before the bottom of the couloir, we cut right and found a great trail through the brushy valley, avoiding the class 3 bit at the bottom of the couloir, and putting us right on track for the trail to Long's Pass. No bushwhacking for us this time - although Joey and Morgan claimed to be a bit disappointed, since in their pursuit of remote peaks they have developed a masochistic taste for beating down slide alder. Those two have some hilarious “choss and moss” and ’schwacking stories - like the time they both climbed a flexible tree and used it to catapult themselves over a wall of blackberry bushes! Needless to say, they kept us entertained throughout the trip.

 

The sun set and the full moon rose. A raging wildfire lit up a hillside across the valley. Reaching the steep, snaking trail to Long’s Pass, I paused to look back at what we’d just done: Mt. Stuart, the largest piece of exposed granite in the United States. 42 hours car to car, 30 of which were hiking and climbing. We set no speed records, but everything went smoothly. Cheers to those crazy people who pull this off in one day! Exhilarated from the climb, I charged up to Long’s Pass and ran down the 3 miles of trail in the moonlight. As we opened beer at the car and soaked our feet in the creek, it was hard to believe we’d been on the summit only 4 hours before. I'm sad the climb is over - not that I'd have wanted to take any longer on it, but you know what I mean. Now I understand why people climb Mt. Stuart more than once.

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

8 mm half rope, small set of nuts, 10 slings, 10 cams (including a 3.5), filter, water.

 

Approach Notes:

Long but straightforward. We were glad to approach from the south and not have to hike around the mountain after climbing. Highly recommended for late season when the Sherpa Glacier is out.

[pc313]

THank's for the pic's,nice stuf!

[olyclimber]

Great TR! Nice work Lisa!!!

[Billygoat]

[madeinmontana]

Nice work...did the same route two weeks ago and it was most certainly not T-shirt and shorts weather. Woke up under a nice dusting of snow and ice on the second day. The jealousy is overwhelming. Nice work. The Cascadian absolutely SUCKS.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Well done, Lisa! You've sure been getting out! Is that the same Molly?

 

 

[Lisa_D]

yep, the same Molly.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

yep, the same Molly.

 

Cool! Next time you see her, say hi for me, and ask her "how well do crampons work on rock". She'll fill you in.

 

[Lisa_D]

I love cramponing on slab and scree. Perhaps she hasn't yet discovered that joy? I'll be sure to ask her!!

[clintcummins]

Lisa,

 

Great job on one of the best climbs around! Awesome that Chris got on that after only one year climbing. Really nice report and photos, too. Much smarter descent than the way I chose with Steph! I will have to go that way next time. :-)

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Nice job on the CNR Lisa!

[mtnmitch]

Nice Lisa! Oh how I miss the Cascades. I'm coming back soon for some shwack action.