This Trip report has been sitting in my "to be finished pile" for some time now. It is amazing that anything ever gets done at all around here! Danny and I had been out training for our AMGA Alpine Guides Exam for several weeks. Enduring poor weather, long approaches, and stressful climbing all in the name of training. This climb up one of the most classic ridges in North America stands out among many stellar climbs.
We left the house around four am. Only about an hour later than we had planned, no big deal. The drive up to the Stuart Lake trail head was uneventful. I have been forced to get out and move logs, rocks or other objects on prior occasions. We had chosen this approach rather than the standard approach from the South side due to its proximity to Leavenworth. In hindsight, it may have been easier to just do the extra hour of driving... We found the climber's trail up to Mountaineer's Creek no problem. It was after this that we began forging ahead on our own trail. After spending at least an hour extra, as well as substantially more effort, contouring along the side of a massive boulder field, we dropped down to the base of the ridge. All told, it wasn't terrible, and with the knowledge of how the trail goes now, it was an easy walk out that way.
We cruised up the snow to the base of the route. We had chosen to take a snow gully up to what the Becky guide book had described as "moderate 5th class slabs." Danny climbed up, down, and all around finding nothing that evenly remotely looked like the description and finally punched it through to the ridge on chossy steep blocks. Apparently the way to climb it nowadays is from the toe of the ridge, but in our haste to climb we had skipped asking around for any extra beta.
We short-roped up the ridge on what is some of the most amazingly featured and solid rock I have ever been on. We had committed ourselves to guiding each other other on the route. So rather than simul-climb or solo any of the easier ground, we guided each other. Good practice, but not as fast as we could have gone.
About half-way through the day, we were each feeling pretty thirsty. It should be noted that we each took two liters of water on the route and no stove. We wanted to see how light we could make it. So the gear was light. One axe between us. Two sets of aluminum crampons, small alpine rack of protection, tiny pads, and not much food or water. This plan worked out well except for the water. That was not enough....
We gained the Great Gendarme pretty early and climbed through the amazing 5.9 pitches quickly. They are as good as they say. Super fun laybacking to begin with, followed by a killer exposed wide crack. These pitches really are not to be missed. It started to get dark towards the top and we found a nice bivy spot just as it was getting dark after a few route finding debacles.
We woke to another beautiful day, and my one luxury item, a can of Red Bull really hit the spot! We finished the last 100 feet to the summit with no problems and began our tricky descent down. We chose to descend the West Ridge for the reason that it would be more difficult than the standard descent down the Cascadian Couliour. Remember, we were training for the guides' exam, so nothing should be simple.
It took so much longer to get down the stupid thing than we thought. We ended up coming down the West Ridge Couliour. It was rotten and chossy and dry. After more than 24 hours on the move in hot weather with only two liters, we were getting pretty zombiefied! The first dribble we found in the gully was some of the best water I have ever had.
The walk back up to Stuart Pass, then Goat Pass, then down the Stuart glacier in order to get back to the base of the route was also an infinitely longer way than we had planned, and by the time we got to our ski poles stashed by the climbers' trail, we were ready to be done. But, alas, another several hours of walking needed to take place before we could be out of the hills. The walk out took substantially less time than the walk in. Mainly due to the fact that we stayed on the trail that time.
All in all it is a great climb. I would recommend it to anyone. The upper North Ridge is a fantastic climb as well. Basically that is just all of the climbing on the best rock. It is not to be missed!
