[TR] Stuart Range - Acid Baby / The Valkyrie descent beta

[jenny.abegg]

Trip: Stuart Range - Acid Baby / The Valkyrie decent beta

 

Date: 8/9/2015

 

Trip Report:

Just wanted to post some descent beta for Acid Baby/The Valkyrie...it took me a few tries to figure it out but I found a great way my last time up there! It seems like these routes are getting lots of traffic and folks are hiking all the way up to Asgard Pass to descend or even worse, totally epicing, so hopefully this info is helpful. Unfortunately, I don't have any good beta photos, so maybe one of you could help with that...

 

When you top out after the ridge traverse, DO NOT go down the gully directly on the other side of the ridge. Continue back and up on no harder than 4th class terrain and essentially perform a U-turn to get into the next gully up. Once in the gully, stay left and do some easy down scrambling. Don't follow the gully down, rather aim left to cross over the ridge at the first area that looks easy. There's a cairn there; another good landmark is a 4ish foot mantle that you perform to get up on a ramp.

 

Once you've found this, you're golden. Continue left on easy terrain, spotting a meadow down below. Aim for the meadow; once there traverse across the slope to connect with the trail, which will get you back to the base of the climb.

 

All of this should take about 30 minutes, and never feel sketchy. Just walking! Much better than going down any gully that might lead to a situation like that ominous stuck rope on that huge chalkstone right of the routes suggests...

Edited August 10, 2015 by jenny.abegg

[Good2Go]

Good beta! John's pointing at the descent in this pic.

 

[abogaard]

This sounds like a great option. Last week, my partner and I topped out to see the core lakes and I would do it again for the view. The descent down the top of Asgard back to the base wasn't nearly as bad as the section below the base (of acid baby).

[laurel]

hm, I don't remember the descent I've taken having anything resembling 3rd or 4th class. All walking on sand. No 4 ft mantel, that sounds like something I can't do. But it's probably a bit longer than yours?

 

Acid Baby descent gully by Laurel F, on Flickr

 

(unannotated photo: )

[jenny.abegg]

Laurel, that's a perfect photo! I drew the yellow line on, I'm pretty sure that's the descent route I took. It's incredibly direct, and easier to pick out and less steep than the photo may suggest. That 4 foot mantle is no big deal, seriously. I just mentioned it because it's a good way-marker.

 

Laurel's descent looks great too, either way, just as long as folks aren't descending down the two gullies I marked in green.

 

[layton]

guess i should admit now that i have an incredibly robust environmentaly resistant case of MRSAHepaGonorraChlamidiAids and I bled like a stuck pig all over the route, and you and your close contacts probably do too.

[JeffreyW]

Great overlay, Jenny! Your description was perfect. That yellow descent line is exactly what Priti and I did. Very mellow and seemed like the natural way down.

 

Once past the short, 4th class U-turn (no more than 20m), hike the 3rd/4th terrain down the gulley. Key is to hug skiers left like you said and not get sucked down those gulleys. The gulleys look like cliffs from above, so they're not very enticing, anyway. Once at the field, we had to stay traversing skiers left for quite a ways (past and over the waterfall) to get back on the trail because the field is above slabby cliffs.

 

Thanks!

Edited September 9, 2015 by JeffreyW