Northwest Buttress of Stuart Descent Question

[luvshaker]

 

Looking to climb the N. Ridge this summer. Becky guide says the North Buttress is used as a descent. Has anyone done this and can give some info. # of Raps? Double ropes? Stay away??

 

Thanks

[DPS]

My reaction would be 'why?'. My memories are fuzzy after having attempted it two decades ago (I think. We attempted the buttress climber's right of SGC), but as I recall it was not the easiest thing to bail down. Sherpa Glacier is the typical descent if the Mountaineer's Creek approach was used and the Cascadian Couloir descent if the Ingall's Lake approach was used. Neither is 'fun' in their own special way but neither one is technical either.

Edited June 6, 2013 by DPS

[genepires]

I seem to remember Alan Kearney talking about this descent that you may be talking about. Seem to remember it was all fixed direct rappels back to the stuart glacier. obviously never been on it but maybe you should try to call/email him.

[kevbone]

Its a walk off. No need to make any raps. Unless the small glacier is there.....then you need to navigate around it. Not sur why you would risk rapping off the north side. This mt is pretty big and loose.

[boadman]

The cascadian couloir descent is the way to go, rapping would take forever.

[Phil K]

Descending the Cascadian and slogging all the way back around over Goat Pass and across the Stuart Glacier (at night most likely) is a heck of a long journey. That supposes you did the more common and direct Stuart Creek approach. 'Took me and TomTom about 23.5 hours back in the day. Maybe we just suck.

[Kyle_Flick]

I've descended the NW Buttress after climbing Razorback Ridge. If your're coming from the summit, you'll have a couple raps down the west ridge, before you can scramble to the top of the NW Buttress. We had a couple of raps on the upper part of the NW Buttress and lotsa downclimbing before touching the snow on the glacier. At least from Razorback Ridge it made for a good descent and allowed us to do the climb in a day.