[TR] Mt Stuart - Complete North Ridge 9/5/2011

[bonathanjarrett]

Trip: Mt Stuart - Complete North Ridge

 

Date: 9/5/2011

 

Trip Report:

AB and I climbed the CNR of Stuart over Labor Day weekend, hiking from Ingalls Lake and bivying at the base on Saturday. We had few difficulties on the route-plenty of beta out there-except after the third pitch on the gendarme to access the 5.8 pitch described by Nelson where we weren't sure whether to step across or rap into the gulley, having not read much about either option. We chose to rap into the gulley, which besides being loose, was a good choice. All in all we pitched out the first three pitches(running two and three together), the three on the gendarme, and one more out of the gulley. Toe to summit was about 8.5 hours. The last time I did the route, my partner and I accidentally descended Ulrich's Couloir because we did not traverse east enough. This time we followed the beta and were nicely deposited in the Cascadian Couloir. The upper snowfield had a deceptively soft few inches of slush over fairly firm snice. A glissade would have been imprudent, so we gingerly downclimbed (ice ax but no crampons) to the rocks and scree below. For all you whiners who think the Cascadian is a bad descent, try Ulrich's instead .From there it was the slog back to the car over Long's Pass.

 

Now...what you all came to see:

Starting up pitch 2-3

 

On the upper ridge

 

Pitch 1 of the Gendarme

 

Gear Notes:

Ice ax (I'm calling necessary) but no crampons (I'm calling unnecessary)

Standard CNR Stuart rack (gear to 3.5" with doubles in the tips to thin hands range)

Bivy Gear

Capacity to carry three quarts each on route, but we found water right at the bivy site and from a snow patch at the summit

 

Approach Notes:

Some snow to Goat Pass which was unavoidable and quite firm. The traverse/descent down to the base of the ridge also "required" traversing some firm snow. I put that in quotes, because in theory you could go around it. However to do so would have been an inordinate amount of work and not worth it. It was about 4.5 hours to get to the base of the route.

[Bronco]

8.5 hours seems pretty fast but no surprise there. Did you encounter any other traffic on route?

[Ed_Hobbick]

Very, very nice, sweet job.

If you want to do it again this year let me know, I've never done it.

 

Ed

[bonathanjarrett]

We met two nice guys at the bivy at the base who had planned on climbing the same day we were, but they scrapped the plan for personal reasons and hiked out Sunday. They generously gave us a couple of photos with route overlays to use (that I had been too lazy to print out at home). Surprisingly we saw no one on the route, except a party of three who approached via the Stuart Glacier around 11AM to climb the top half. We saw them approaching while preparing to climb the gendarme. I suspect that they bivied on the route as we never saw them again. Perhaps folks were thinking that it would be too hot. We actually found that 2/3rds the time we were in the shade and the actual temps were quite perfect for climbing.

 

Thanks for the kudos, Ed. This was my capstone climb for the season, as real life and work have taken back over. A stellar way to finish the summer climbing season for sure!

[tazswing]

I would be inclined to do the climb again now that I think about it. More calories this time. The ice fall during the night was quite something, too.

 

Oh, and we saw/almost snagged, a radio at the notch. I tried to pull it up with my feet, was not going head-first down to get it.

 

Thanks again for the amazing climb, J!