Mount Stuart/North Ridge Direct

Trip Report

After tackling several of the climbs in the 50 classics climbs of North America (Forbidden, Baker), I set my eyes on the North Ridge of Stuart. I've seen the entire ridge from my climb of Argonaut 2 years ago. I wouldn't have imagined climbing it then. 2 weeks had gone by this August where my friend and I looked at Stuart, 2 weeks ago there was potential rain and it indeed was socked in. Last week it had the potential to be very smokey as well as being at the end of a heat wave. With shorter and colder days, Kat and I decided to take a day off to climbing Stuart this monday. 

Weather was marginal. The forecast looked sunny 2 days prior but turned to cloudy and partly sunny as well as near freezing temps. During the drive into Ingalls Lake TH sunday afternoon, we could see Mount Stuart but as we got to camp Sunday evening, Stuart was in the clouds and it was also windy making us question if we could climb tomorrow. 

Luckily I noticed that the full moon was out in the night, indicating a clear sky. Mount Stuart at 4 in the morning was clear and it seemed like a go. Winds were ferocious while on the approach to the base of the West Ridge where we dropped into the basin to get to Goats Pass. Turns out the winds were localized and there was barely any wind at Goats Pass or on the North side of Stuart. It was also not as cold as we feared it to be. Mount Stuart was occasionally in a cluster of clouds but overall it looked to be a great day. 

Getting to the base of the route was straightforward with fun boulder hopping and 3 sections of snow fields. Luckily the sun was unobscured, providing for some nice warm rays as we started climbing at 7:30. Just then we noticed 4 people camped at the base of the route and wondered why they weren't on the route before us. I was thinking about leading the 5.8 thrutch pitch with my backpack hanging on my belay loop but 3L of water, sleeping pad and other gear quickly made me change my mind. As the belay is literally right above the chimney, dropping a loop down made for a quick way to haul our backpacks. Pitch 3 was super fun, either climbing it crack style or as a layback. 

From here on out it was all simuling. Rock quality was great, with super bomber cracks and flakes. Certain places it wasn't clear to follow beneath the ridge or on the ridge directly. All I can say is once the ridge becomes very narrow just follow the ridge rather than trying to bypass it to the left or right. Some of the climbing felt harder than 5.6 but that maybe do to the heavy pack.

A lot of the best climbing is in the simul section particularly the 5.6 slab right before the great gendarme. I would say the upper simul section provided for some of fun hand rail traverses and au chevals even better than the hand traverse pitch on Acid Baby. I was also very confused by many rap anchors along the route the seemingly went in to the abyss . 

Once we finally got to the great gendarme after 6 hours of climbing, we encountered an unfortunate surprise. The rock was freezing cold. Kat was brave and led the finger pitch with her backpack on and I led the "OW" aka fist crack. There were bits of rime ice sprinkling around us but luckily none in the crack. The only time I wore crack gloves during this whole climb was this pitch and it was more for warmth. I had a bad moment where the # 3 I needed to place was on my right side but was trapped as I was also  sticking my leg deep in the crack.

The pitch was a mixture of emotions from being tired and cold to getting a surge of energy from the sun's rays at the top. There was a tiny bit of route finding issues right after the gendarme as if you followed the ridge all the way there was a bad downclimb. We bypassed it on the right, pitched a small portion of the 5.8- step and then one simul to the summit. Completing our route around the planned time of 4. 

As my first summit of Stuart, I was happy to have climbed it via a very aesthetic line. Given how tedious the cascadian couloir is, I can only feel sorry for the people who have to climb it without snow. Maybe as a ski tour it is much better. At least going down, the sandy slopes save your already tires knees. Getting back to camp was shorter than expected but the hike down  from Lake Ingalls to the cars was a bit tiring. We met with another party who were coming in late night and bivying to do the route tomorrow. Coupled with the people we saw at the base and another party of 3 crossing Stuart Glacier, looked like we were in the prime time for this route. 

Thanks to Kat for being a strong and efficient partner and continuing the climb even with 30mph gusts at the West Ridge. Also  happy to have the weather cooperate as with a route this long with little bail options leave little margins for error. 

More stats:

Day 1: Hike to basin beyond Ingalls, 5mi, 2700 ft of gain, 2:40 hrs

Day 2: Up and over Goats Pass, North Ridge, Down cascadian back to camp and to cars, 13 mi, 7000 ft of ascent and 9000 ft of descent 18 hrs

• Getting to the base of climb: 3hrs, 7:30am
• Climbing the first 3 pitches: 1h 15 minutes
• Climbing to the great gendarme: 6hrs of climbing
• Total climb: 8.5 hrs, 4pm summit
• Descent down cascadian: 2.5hrs 
• From camp back to cars: 2:20hrs

Map