[TR] Stuart - NW face 5/12/2007

[John Frieh]

Trip: Stuart - NW face

 

Date: 5/12/2007

 

Abstract:

Dave Burdick (Alpinedave), Daniel and Elisif Harro (Team Harro) and I approach Stuart Friday 11th. On Saturday Dave and I climbed the NW face and Team Harro climbed SGC.

 

This TR will cover the nw face and team harro will write something up for SGC.

 

Dialogue:

Prior obligations (ski patrol prom ) + short weekends the past 2 running had me craving some alpine loving. Dave had Fri/Sat to work with as did Team Harro so alpine it was.

 

Elisif finished work at 7 am on Friday... same time I was done at the lab so we pointed it east around 8.

 

Meet Dave at 1:45 in leavenworth and were on the trail by 2:30. 4 hours in... we punched in here and there but not so much we wished we had slow shoes. The approach felt especially great for me after a solid session at the lab earlier that morning

 

 

Camped at the last available water and got underway at 3:30 the next morning.

 

 

Both team started their route at 6 am.

 

nw face on left sgc on right:

 

Dave called dibs on p1 on Friday so he was up first. He proceeded to walk it and brought me up after ~40 meters.

 

Dave on pitch 1 (photo by Team Harro):

 

 

That gave me pitch 2 which checked in at ~75 m (we brought a single 70 but had to simul a bit to find an anchor).

 

Dave following 2:

 

Pitch 2 put us right at where one enters the couloir/weakness/route line... Dave blasted ahead for simul block 1... we simuled for awhile... 5 pitches? Who knows...

 

Dave leading simul block 1:

 

day # 15 of ice for me this winter

 

Following a morning constitutional pit stop I took simul block 2 to the summit. As far as I can tell we took the standard north ridge gendarme bypass route but could be wrong... the last time I did that was 2003 and it wasn't snow covered then so who knows. Basically we popped out on the summit ridge ~100' east of the summit.

 

Dave following simul block 2:

 

Dave from the summit ridge:

 

Dave and I were on the summit at 10:04... 4 hours/4 leader changes base to summit

 

Team Harro joined us shortly there after.

 

 

Dave and I both snapped a ton of photos of Team Harro from the summit which will appear in their TR. I will post this one to build some stoke for their TR

 

Team Harro sucka!

 

 

Epilogue/more random beta:

 

- Team Harro's first Stuart summit Stuart summit # 9 for me Hoping for double digits this summer

 

- I heart climbing with awesome people. You should honestly consider bribing Dave or Team Harro to go climbing... beer, coffee, gas money, whatever... trust me it will be worth it. Cheers to great partners who are willing to put up with stinky peeps like me

 

- we bumped into Ade as we were leaving Sat... he might have more up to date info for Stuie

 

- ice cliff is sporting ~3' cornice right now

 

- sherpa looks normal for this time of the year

 

- Jason's Esophagus on Argonaut looked in and good

 

- Dave: any pics to add?

 

Gear Notes:

if you read all the other TRs for the nw face you will see quite the variety of racks... I would say be prepared for anything and bring it all.

 

We took (Dave is this right?):

 

- 2 pickets (used 1 once or twice... likely could have left them both... other TRs found pickets highly useful so basically conditions vary so be prepared)

- blue - red metolius

- .75 - 3 camalot

- 4 pins

- 4 screws (1x10 cm, 3x13 cm)

 

blue, yellow and orange metolius were used the most

 

Approach Notes:

Mtneers Creek Gate is open.

 

Installed boot pack. We opted for leaving the slow shoes and didn't regret it.

 

If you have ever wondered where to turn off from the stuart lake trail for mtneers creek use the two tree stumps pictured for future reference:

 

 

 

[ivan]

nice! a lot more ice on p1 than that time we contemplated it, eh?

[Weekend_Climberz]

Nice photo's. Lots of alpine stoke to go 'round :tup:

[John Frieh]

nice! a lot more ice on p1 than that time we contemplated it, eh?

 

Hard to say... we found a good 2 body lengths of <1" ice that was delamed but the rock pro is great and one can drytool through anything that is unclimbable IMO.

 

I believe Craig climbed it last year with little to no ice on it so I suspect one can climb the route regardless of the condition of the first pitch... who knows...

[pink_chalk]

:tup:

[kevbone]

You rule. Stuart rules!

[NYC007]

nice climb peoples.

[SmilingWhiteKnuckles]

Very cool! Looks a little thinner than when Nelson and I did it a couple years ago. Did you enjoy it? I thought that route was sweet!

 

First pitch looked pretty exciting. What did you protect it with? That whole slab was iced up when we did it...took screws.

[goatboy]

Great photos and looks like great conditions!

[olyclimber]

Nice you guys! Way to get out there.

[chesterboo]

Looks like a great trip guys!(and gal)

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Right on guys, looks like a blast.

[layton]

Good job and thanks for the beta. Way to speed that mo'fo.

 

What is it with you and Stuart?

[John Frieh]

What is it with you and Stuart?

 

Speaking for myself any time spent outside (climbing, hiking, skiing, etc etc) is time well spent. The north side of stuart has some great stuff with great access practically year round. Then again so does most of the nw

 

Basically... why not?

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Awesome job!!

 

I need to get on that mountain. Thanks for the motivation.

[layton]

Just askin'

[AlpineMonkey]

Looks good John, thanks for sharing. How many attempts was it total over the years? Thats a damn good time. Last year it took us 9 hours or something.

 

PS, I still have more routes in the bag then you, buddy.

Edited May 15, 2007 by AlpineMonkey

[dbb]

Man, what a fun route! The first pitch was definitely delicate climbing but with good gear for the crux on the right (#2 angle, .75 camalot). I knew John was enjoying himself on the 2nd pitch when I heard the distant sounds of crampons scraping on rock John, you're right about the upper part of the route climbing the gendarme bypass, except that most summer features on that were buried in snow. some more pics:

 

John following pitch 1

 

John gets his rock on

 

about mid face

 

fun steps near the top

 

Remembered the ear plugs this time, but should have brought the gas mask too

 

and Team Harro rocks! Just don't let John do the route finding

[Chad_A]

Awesome pics, and thanks for the TR! The more I read about this route, the more I want to do it.

[dbconlin]

Heck yeah! Stuart NW face (and you guys) rule!!!

[billcoe]

Prior obligations (ski patrol prom )

 

 

Ski patrol prom? WTF?

 

Loving the TR, all the elements are there for a perfect TR. Gear descriptions, pitch descriptions, partner descriptions, good writing and pics ... the full meal deal. Good stuff.

[ivan]

Loving the TR, all the elements are there for a perfect TR.

a fine TR for sure, but critically lacking a liberal sampling of sublime swear-words - perhaps if it had been an epic?

[dbb]

does a double heli bacon cheese burger count as epic??

[ElisifHarro]

Only if you get the large tots too

 

I'll try my best to get our TR of SGC up and going before I have to drag myself back to work again tonight...Until then I'm going to sleep away this beautiful day

[John Frieh]

How many attempts was it total over the years?

 

PS, I still have more routes in the bag then you, buddy.

 

For nw face? I think this was attempt # 4 though on one of those attempts Ivan and I opted for SGC.

 

How many routes are you up to dude?

 

Remembered the ear plugs this time, but should have brought the gas mask too

 

Just be glad you didn't have to share a sleeping bag with me like some people we know :laf: