SummaryShirley & I climbed this in July of 2005 (via notch vs. complete ridge) from a camp below Ingalls Lake. Very fun! Mostly low 5th class and very well protected where harder. Descending down Cascadian C. was the lowlight of the day (loose scree & boulder fields). One of the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.
My most vivid recollection from this outing happened the morning after our climb. A pressing need for #1 woke me up and so I got out of the tent and proceeded to relieve myself a few steps away. Eyes still half closed, mind fogged over with remnants of sleep...it was not till they were 20 feet away that I saw an elderly couple hiking in my direction. A further delayed reaction on my part did not help. A full frontal offensive is not what they expected that morning. I recall struggling internally with two options: to apologize or to play it off as if it hadn't happened... I do not recall what heppened next.Photos
Crossing a snowfield before Goat Pass on the approach. |
Crossing a snowfield above Stuart Glacier on the approach. |
Looking back at Stuart Glacier and Goat Pass from the starting notch. |
Passing another party a couple hunderd feet up from the starting notch. |
Leading the low angle slab, roughly pitch 8. |
Looking back at Shirley belaying me on this pitch. |
Couple mini-me's on the low angle slab. |
Shirley following the easy slab. |
Shirley on the knife edge traverse of roughly pitch 10. |
Same knife edge traverse of pitch 10. |
Approaching The Great Gendarme. |
Leading pitch 1 of The Great Gendarme. |
Shirley starting up pitch 1 of The Great Gendarme. |
Shirley on pitch 1 of The Great Gendarme. |
Shirley atop pitch 1 belay on The Great Gendarme. |
Starting up pitch 2 of The Great Gendarme. |
Looking back towards Shirley belaying me. |
Leading pitch 2 of The Great Gendarme. |
Easy climbing just above The Great Gendarme. |
Leading approx. pitch 15 near the top of the route. |
Shirley just below the summit, roughly pitch 15. |
Ingalls Peaks from the summit. |
Looking at Shirley topping out on North Ridge from summit. |
Shirley starting the descent down the NASTY Cascadian Couloir. |
Images
|
Stuart Range > RPC's Mount Stuart - North Ridge
