stewart??

[turn_one]

new to the area, done a few hike/climbs around the area and i have to say, stewart catches my eye. are there any easy/moderates that one could do el-solo on the peak? i choose only to admire the peter crofts, boone speeds feats, not reenact them myself. this in mind, any route suggestions?? what would the conditions most likely be early oct.?

[bobinc]

One of the couloir slogs is most logical for a solo effort. These are a lot of work but nontechnical and get you up there.

PS: It's spelled "Stuart".

[Jarred_Jackman]

Have you been to the mountain at all? I don't know what level of climbing you're at but the West Ridge is a great climb, nostly a scramble on either broken slabs that are more like staircases than anything, and various gullies that are simply exposed hiking. If you feel confident in your abilities to do that and maybe some 5.5 climbing solo I would say you have a good route choice right there. I've done it twice and roped up for three pitches total. If you choose the couliours (sp) I wouldn't do either of them now, there isn't any water in them, they're steep, dirty, and thoroughly unpleasing compared to the granite one gets on a good Stuart route. Go in and do Ingalls, look at Stuart, decided whether solo is right for you or find a partner, the days are only getting shorter. PS I forgot to add, you have to stay on route or you'll get screwed, exposed 5.8 type screwed, and you'll be too low to finish the route in good time, hit the second gully from Stuart pass, ascend to its top, stay high, and maybe even cross to the other side a time or two. good luck.

[This message has been edited by Jarred Jackman (edited 09-19-2001).]

[turn_one]

duh, S.T.U.A.R.T, my apologies.

thanks JJ. i'd prefer to stay away from the dirt slogs. went up glacier peak this past weekend via stikum glacier, top was typical of a cascade volcano so i've had my fill of dirt climbs. i suppose i'll check a guide book out on the west ridge route see if it's do-able for me, 5.5 solo sounds w/in my ability as long as it isn't long pitches of consistant 5.5. just wanted to get another climb in before seasons end. thanks fo da beta.

[chucK]

JJ's beta sounds pretty good. You can check out my melodramatic account at

http://members.home.net/cspieker/stories/stuart.htm

You probably oughta buy or steal the (Brown) Beckey guide to get an idea of where the route goes. There's a pretty good picture of one possible route on Michael Stanton's web page http://www.mountainwerks.com/cma/stuart/stwhole.htm

People are slagging the Cascadian Coulouir here, and maybe they're right for the way up, but on the descent all that sand and dirt is way cush.

Chuck

 

[Jarred_Jackman]

If you're thinking about it already I would say, photocopy the pictures from the Beckey guide and go. Stay high, look for the easy way up, bc there is always a a moderate way up, the hardest parts are very short lived. And yes, the Cascadian is the easiest way down, from the summit you seee a gully almost directly east, it's the first one, don't take it, it's Ulrich's and too steep to be any fun, continue aroundthe back or over the top of the false summit and down the Cascadian, if you go around the front of the false summit you'll end up rapping to get to the cascadian, I did it, it's not the best situation. let me know if you go throug with it.

[Downhill]

Stuart is a great mountain as you can tell from all the posts reoccurring here. And although the couloirs (Cascadian, Ulrich’s, et. al.) would provide non-technical routes to the summit, my guess is that you’d find them to be long, dirty, not too aesthetic and generally unpleasant as ascent options – they also face generally south which is another consideration given the lack of water this time of year. My suggestion is to wait and climb the peak when you can go with a partner and do one of the several outstanding technical routes.

Alternative suggestion: A solo hike/peak-bag I personally enjoy from time to time is Ruth Mountain (you can even continue on and include Icy Pk.). The awesome N. Cascades views and great bivi spots on top are hard to beat.

Just my opinion – worth what you paid for it.

 

[Loki]

I did the west ridge about 3 weeks ago. Be sure and bring water, I barely had enough. My route finding skills were tested (I passed) even with Beckey photocopies in hand. Lovely climb! If you don't mind exposure soloing is pretty doable. Someone mentioned 5.5 stuff, I think the final pitch was around a 5.6, but I don't think we did the official book version. Some pics of the climb can be seen here:

http://www.ryansasser.org/photos/Stuart/

One thing about the decent. Cascadia is the way to go, but we had trouble getting onto it. We went too far down the rib (following cairns no less) immediately west of the coulior (between the right way and Ulrich's coulior). We had to climb back up a little ways, and luckily found a rap station that got us on route.

[This message has been edited by Loki (edited 09-24-2001).]

[Norm]

The West Ridge of Stuart is a spectacular climb, but beware it's a breeding ground for epics.

[Alpine_Tom]

Be aware that there's no water up there at all, and it's bigger than it looks. Bring water! The Cascadia couloir ascent involves a short traverse of a snowfield that this time of year is pretty icy, so you might want to bring crampons, certainly an ice axe at a minimum.

[This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 09-25-2001).]