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Trip Report    

Alpine Scramble - Mount Stuart/Cascadian Couloir

Hit the small weather window that gave us the perfect conditions for Mt Stuart. The few inches of new snow made the trip a little more interesting.

Dave Schultz Dave Schultz
September 22, 2019
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Snow started at 8k feet,  small patches here and there, and in pockets between rocks. Mostly bare rock.  Firm in the morning. melting fast by early afternoon. 70' F at 5k ft camp in afternoon.  The upper peak had snow visible  from a distance on approach, bare on return. Freezing level had been below 9k ft in weeks  prior to trip. Went up to 12k  Friday and Sat. 

    No water above Ingalls Creek on route to Stuart.

    Rock fall and loose rock is a concern on some parts of the route.

    Staying out of one another's potential rockfall in a few short areas.  Being aware of loose or solid rock , traveling carefully. Getting an early start to avoid other parties on the mountain helped mitigate the risk.

    I expected the loose rock to be more of an issue than we experienced. Lots of solid rock as well.  Only one loose rock we dislodged went any distance. A  lot of the lower route is very loose sand and rock , well traveled with no  potential of loose rocks moving any distance. 

     

     

     

     

10 hrs   1hr on summit,  5:30 up  3:30 down

Our group of 5 left the TH at 3 pm  Friday afternoon, arrived at camp along Ingalls creek at 5:20. Lots of great camping spots. Trees big enough to hang food. Windy in early evening.

Left camp under headlamp at 5:30 am under clear, calm conditions. Lots of stars, half moon.   Sunrise at 6:54. Fit group made it to the top of the Couloir at 7:45. There are some nice bivy sites  at 7675 ft, no water.  We where on the Summit by 11. This was everyones first time up Stuart. The team did a  great job  with Navigation and  route finding. We spent some time finding the best route thru some of the rock features above  7800 ft. What a day to be on the summit, clear calm pleasant temps in the 60's, no cloud cover. 360 degree views of surrounding peaks. 6 volcanoes visible including Hood. Olympus in the Olympics. Spent an hour enjoying the  the Summit. 

Made it back to camp at 2:03 pm. Decided to pack up and head out, instead of staying  another night. Back to the car at 7:20pm. Had a celebratory dinner in Cle Elum.