Eric, always the wiley one, got it into his head to try and have a go at a traverse of the full Stuart Range, which was famously done by Peter Croft in 1985 in 18 hours or so. We decided to throw light overnight gear in the packs and head on up Mountaineer Creek to see how far we would make it - which ended up being not too far! Nonetheless we still had a grand time climbing the North Ridge of Stuart, a classic in and of itself, and tagging a few new summits for Becca and Eric.
We left Matt’s place in Leavenworth as it was getting light and rallied up to the Stuart Lake trailhead, starting hiking around 6:00. The trail was already busy with folks heading for Colchuck Lake, but quieted down after we stayed straight towards Stuart Lake. We turned off onto the climbers’ trail up Mountaineer Creek, and soon were hopping boulders on the way to the base of the North Ridge.
Our first glimpses of some of our objectives from the Stuart Lake trail, looking up Mountaineer Creek towards Sherpa Pass in the middle of the frame. Argonaut at left, Sherpa at right, and Stuart hidden in a few wisps of clouds.
Matt inspecting the lower part of the North Ridge from just below the base of the route. Terminal moraine of the Ice Cliff Glacier below.
We filled up water at the base of the climb, eyeing a few parties higher on the route ahead of us, then roped up for the first 3 pitches up to 5.9, which we simuled before unroping to solo the mellower middle section of the route. Matt and Eric cruised ahead of Becca and, staying just out of reach, and providing a good incentive to keep moving quickly - we wanted to hear the jokes they were telling!
I wonder why they call it the Ice Cliff Glacier?
Becca on the North Ridge, with Sherpa in the distance
After passing a number of parties, we started nearing the Great Gendarme on the upper mountain, which has two more pitches of more difficult climbing. We roped back up here, and Becca fired off the two pitches of excelleng climbing to catch Matt and Eric. We unroped for the last bit of climbing up to the true summit, including a short 5.7/5.8 handcrack that was just about the limit of what I would want to solo. We reached the summit of Stuart around 16:00, five or so hours after starting the route - not fast by absolute standards, but I’m not sure I would want to try and go any faster!
Matt and Eric romping up the classic slab feature as they approach the Great Gendarme
Eric and Becca soloing a bit more easy rock below the Great Gendarme
Becca on the handcrack above the gendarme pitches
We enjoyed the summit for a little bit before beginning our descent over towards Sherpa, following the well-traveled snow towards the top of the Cascadian Couloir before heading off to the east, where we were thankful to find a bit of running water. We traversed on the south side of the ridge between Stuart and Sherpa over to the base of Sherpa’s West Ridge, where we decided to we didn’t have enough time to carry over Sherpa and find a campsite on the far side before dark. Instead, we dropped our packs and romped up the West Ridge in the evening light, with some clouds swirling around Stuart behind us. We made one short rappel on the descent, that dropped down to 7,500 feet in the basin on the south side of Sherpa before finding an adequate dry bivy site.
Descending snow towards the top of the Cascadian, with Sherpa in the shade ahead of us.
Matt and Becca climbing on the West Ridge of Sherpa.
On the summit of Sherpa, with the famous balanced rock.
As forecast, the wind picked up overnight, which made for what I will charitably describe as not the best night of sleep I have had in the mountains. The gusty winds, slightly sloping hard rock slab, and prolapsed thermarest all conspired to launch me off the side of my pad with the slightest movement. When the sky lightened around 5 am I did not exactly feel well-rested, but we finally gathered ourselves and made breakfast with our dwindling water supply. Eventually we set off to traverse over to Argonaut, which was straightforward but monotonous steep sidehilling through the dry and occasionally brushy forest around 6,300 feet. After a little less than three hours we reached the gully coming down from Argonaut’s south face, where our spirits improved: we found more running water, which we drank appreciatively, and some gorgeous flowers. After a break we headed up the gully, which was varied and fun. I thought back to my last trip up Argonaut with Adam almost 10 years earlier. The last little bit of scrambling up to the true summit through the cool tunnel feature was fun, and we reached the summit at 12:45, a little under 5 hours after leaving camp.
Becca modeling her homemade sleeping quilt in the morning
Rainier looming over the Teanaway summits to the south
Becca engaging in some proper jungle gym maneuvering on the traverse over to Argonaut
Flowers on the south face of Argonaut
Scrambling below Argonaut’s summit
Becca and Eric in the natural rock tunnel just below Argonaut’s summit
From the summit of Argonaut, we descended east towards Colchuck Peak, starting by descending on the north side of the ridge, then making one 30 meter rappel into a deep gully, then seeking out a very fun exposed au cheval section of licheny ridge before reaching easy ground at the western edge of the Porcupine Creek drainage. This basin was much more pleasant than the hillside west of Argonaut, full of flowers, heather, streams, and boulders. We descended to 7,400 feet to stay below a very cool rock buttress, then climbed gently up to Banshee Pass at 15:45. Here I failed to drum up any enthusiasm for dropping packs and tagging Colchuck, and with folks not wanting to get back home too late, we opted to simply descend the Colchuck Glacier down towards the lake rather than climbing over Dragontail into the core of the Enchantments. Alas. It felt like a bit of a shame to have done a bunch of tedious sidehilling to get all the way to the edge of the more beautiful terrain, but at least the Colchuck Glacier made for a quicker and more pleasant descent than Aasgard. By complete coincidence we ran into a lab mate of mine at Banshee Pass, and I stayed back to give him a hand descending the glacier before catching back up to the rest of the group on the shore of Colchuck Lake. A quick dip in the lake refreshed us for the hike back to the car, and pizza in town fueled us up for the drive back home.
Becca getting cheered on by Matt on the au cheval section of the descent off Argonaut.
Eric getting some crack climbing in below Banshee Pass
Becca cruising up to Banshee Pass with Argonaut looming in the distance.
Matt and Eric flying down the Colchuck Glacier.