May 1, 2004, Mt. Stuart, Ulrich's Couloir
5/1/04
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
2985
2
On April 30th I started up the Teanaway River Road only to find a hiker with his rear wheel drived minitruck stuck on the snowpatch where most park and avoid further progress. After 10 minutes of digging his rear axle out and pushing his truck back, I hopped in the truck and drove his sorry ass out of the way and proceeded to start hiking. Instead of hiking directly to Long's Pass, I decided to circumnavigate Ingall's and up over Stuart Pass which was quite eventful as a descent route to the base of Stuart. 4 snowmobilers were poaching Stuart Pass, Ingall's Pass and I also noted a highmark up into the West Ridge Couloir. That evening I bivied in the trees at the base of the route.
The next day I bootpacked up what I thought to be the couloir entrance, only to realize that I was a tad too far to the right. After about 1000' I descended around a rib and entered the couloir. After slow progress upward, I stood at the base of the ridge ampitheatre, put my poles on my back and put crampons on, grabbed the axe and moved leftward towards the summit pyramid. About 40' before the summit, the couloir ended abruptly at a notch where I was able to carefully peer down into the north side of Stuart. I decided that it would be useless to try and ski from the summit so I parked my pack and skis and traversed steep snow ledges to the summit. After downclimbing back down I stepped a few feet to where I could cut a ledge to put my skis on and descend.
The descent was about very steep and narrow for about 50' but after going through the slot, it mellowed out to enjoyable turns. The stability was not so good since the couloir was exposed with sun all afternoon. After knocking snow loose, it started sluffing. The sluff was very slow but also heavy which caused me to proceed with caution as I went from slot to open slopes. Towards the end, I descended to where a small cliff blocked my descent so I took my skis off and traversed right through a chossy cliff band and into a thin gully that connected the final exit.
I went to bed with plenty of daylight to spare, woke up very early and climbed to Long's Pass and descended to the road. 2 miles before I was at my car, two nice ladies were very kind to give me a ride back down to my car.
The next day I bootpacked up what I thought to be the couloir entrance, only to realize that I was a tad too far to the right. After about 1000' I descended around a rib and entered the couloir. After slow progress upward, I stood at the base of the ridge ampitheatre, put my poles on my back and put crampons on, grabbed the axe and moved leftward towards the summit pyramid. About 40' before the summit, the couloir ended abruptly at a notch where I was able to carefully peer down into the north side of Stuart. I decided that it would be useless to try and ski from the summit so I parked my pack and skis and traversed steep snow ledges to the summit. After downclimbing back down I stepped a few feet to where I could cut a ledge to put my skis on and descend.
The descent was about very steep and narrow for about 50' but after going through the slot, it mellowed out to enjoyable turns. The stability was not so good since the couloir was exposed with sun all afternoon. After knocking snow loose, it started sluffing. The sluff was very slow but also heavy which caused me to proceed with caution as I went from slot to open slopes. Towards the end, I descended to where a small cliff blocked my descent so I took my skis off and traversed right through a chossy cliff band and into a thin gully that connected the final exit.
I went to bed with plenty of daylight to spare, woke up very early and climbed to Long's Pass and descended to the road. 2 miles before I was at my car, two nice ladies were very kind to give me a ride back down to my car.
By any chance, do you have an idea which approach the snowmobilers accessed the area by? Were there any fresh snowmobile tracks in the Upper North Fork Teanaway below Longs/Ingalls Passes? I believe that this late in the season they use the Van Epps jeep road via the Cle Elum River, but I am not certain.
Thanks,
John
Thanks,
John
They did not access via Teanaway since this was the way I entered the basin and I did not see any machine tracks. I believe it was via a more southern route directly from Cle Elum. One of the four members came right up to me on the slope of north Ingalls Peak while I was traversing to Stuart Pass and he specifically stated that all members were Cle Elum residents. Most of the riders were very experienced and all of them had newer machines. He even went as far as telling me each of the members' names but my memory didn't retain any names at all. Your guess regarding approach is probably better than mine. They definately came from the south or southwest or possibly the West Fork.
Since I am a part time rider myself and access ski terrain in midwinter by snow machine, it did not bother me that they were around. I wouldn't have taken it so well if it were a January epic powder day.
Since I am a part time rider myself and access ski terrain in midwinter by snow machine, it did not bother me that they were around. I wouldn't have taken it so well if it were a January epic powder day.
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