W Ridge Stuart

[patrick69]

anybody done it recently? how is it? conditions? any beta? thinking about doing it this weekend but weather kinda has me wondering. thanks in advance. -patrick

[rob]

What about the weather has you wondering?? Looks pretty good to me.

 

I think there is a semi-recent west ridge TR in the TR section from KKKKK

[Bug]

West Ridge of Stuart TR. recent

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Check to make sure you can get there, the trails from the Teanaway were all closed due to the fire last weekend. There was a ranger up there turning folks around and they ran down some super early starters on the trail and gave em all $150 fines. It might be open again with the recent rain, but they said it could be closed for 7-14 days. I'm too lazy to check right now.

[sobo]

anybody done it recently? how is it? conditions? any beta? thinking about doing it this weekend but weather kinda has me wondering. thanks in advance. -patrick

Patrick,

There's a really nice search function on this site. It's in the upper right corner of every page.

But I'll go easy on ya since rob already pointed you to 5K's recent trip and Bug provided you the link to same.

[kevino]

I'm going to second what OlympicMtnBoy said. When I was talking to a ranger earlier this week, she said all the now closed TH would remain closed until the fire is completely out, which last time I checked was late sept/early oct. So be sure to call a ranger station.

[rob]

I can't remember, and I don't have beckey nearby -- I wonder, isn't there some kind of Northwest Face or something you can use to access the upper west ridge via the north side?

[KaskadskyjKozak]

I can't remember, and I don't have beckey nearby -- I wonder, isn't there some kind of Northwest Face or something you can use to access the upper west ridge via the north side?

 

I think that access is closed too though.

[kevino]

fuck'em. I climb what I want!

[kevino]

its not liek stuart is goign to catch on fire.

 

HERE

 

Effective Friday, August 29, 2008, all trails are open except:

 

Jack Creek Trail (#1558) beginning at the Junction with Meadow Creek Trail (#1559) and ending at Stuart Pass.

Van Epps Trail (#1594) from Van Epps Pass to its junction with Jack Creek Trail (#1558).

Van Epps Jeep Trail (#4W302) from its junction with Fortune Creek Jeep Trail (#4W301) to its end at Van Epps Mine.

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

fuck'em. I climb what I want!

 

Well the fire was just getting going when I climbed it, and it was awesome on Fri night and Sat. But when the winds shifted Sat night and Sun - the day we went out - visibility sucked, and the smoke actually burned our eyes and throats. I wouldn't go with those conditions - just not as much fun.

 

[Braydon]

Anyone know what this climb would be like in the winter?

[DRep]

I can't remember, and I don't have beckey nearby -- I wonder, isn't there some kind of Northwest Face or something you can use to access the upper west ridge via the north side?

 

NW Face goes at 5.10 and am pretty sure it links with the NR above or below the Gendarme. The NW butress links up with the WR though.

[dmuja]

 

The WR coooooolar is a direct route to the WR notch. We descended it in the dark this year and with hypothermia and some injuries it felt like the fugging Eiger to me. The right conditions and it would be a fast way up - though not without objective hazards. Good spring-early summer route.

[DRep]

The WR coooooolar is a direct route to the WR notch. We descended it in the dark this year and with hypothermia and some injuries it felt like the fugging Eiger to me. The right conditions and it would be a fast way up - though not without objective hazards. Good spring-early summer route.

 

Can we hear the story? That thing looks effin sketchy to descend in the summer!

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Yeah, there are options to get to the West Ridge from the north side, you could even do the standard route from Stuart Lake and not have to go on any closed trails. The problem is all the easy descent options put you in the closure. I've gone down the Sherpa almost this late before but it kinda sucked.

[dmuja]

The WR coooooolar is a direct route to the WR notch. We descended it in the dark this year and with hypothermia and some injuries it felt like the fugging Eiger to me. The right conditions and it would be a fast way up - though not without objective hazards. Good spring-early summer route.

 

Can we hear the story? That thing looks effin sketchy to descend in the summer!

 

We went in June and twas the standard West Ridge spanking.

 

Route finding difficulties - over confidence - moving too casually - late start etc.., we ran out of sun light while still looking for the final pitches.

 

We decided getting down from the WR notch was preferable to trying to find the Cascadian coular in the dark. None of us had been there before and we wurnt feeling too confident that we would find it once we topped out - which we still had to do first also in the dark. We had no real bivy gear so I had flashes of Mt Hoodishness '06 going thru my mind.

 

Other than back tracking (which did not sound appealing at all) the only route we had heard about that went all the way down was the WR notch so we took what we figured was that - it was.

 

I got cold (very cold) and basically was hurtin from a painful swollen knee and no skin left on both heels (basically I became a wussy liability - they should have rightfully cut the rope ).

 

Lowering, down climbing, rapping, leaving gear, we eventually hit the talus at the bottom WITH THE SUN COMING UP.

 

On the way down we noticed very large boulders (numerous smaller rocks) that were rather freshly deposited in the gully - I was glad that it was relatively cold and much of the upper sections had long sections of perfect cramponing snow/snice in it. Remember though, it was a good snow year.

 

The West Ridge coulior I think would be a good route - maybe somebody here can tell us about their climb of it?

 

It's long - VERY long. I think the biggest issue is that because of it's length you would be in it and exposed for a really fucking long time to anything coming down. I'd pick a cold night. It would be nice if it had some snow in it. I think spring - early summer.

 

If a party was going up it that night (instead of going down) they would have encountered perfect 'pon snice interspersed with a few short sections of 4th and low 5th class rock. There was running water in (under) the snow and we constantly worried (but never found) that a water fall would block our path. Also worried that we would break through the snow and get wet. A picket or two would probably be in order unless youre comfy with very exposed solo snow climbing.

 

In good conditions I think it would be considered a fairly moderate outing - specially for the more experienced climbers round here. Just don't under estimate anything on Stu - nor over estimate yourself.