May 6, 2012, Stuart - Cascadian via Longs Pass
5/6/12
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
3583
8
Ross, Dan, Becky, and I headed in to Stuart this weekend to take a shot at Ulrichs. Opted for the Longs pass approach vs Beverly Ck. so we could get a good view of the route before hopefully skiing it on Sunday.
Cold, windy weather Saturday gave way to perfect (maybe too warm) weather Sunday morning. Around Longs Pass the new snow depth was only a couple inches at most. Climbing up the Cascadian, the snowpack was very solidly frozen, but nearing the top of the couloir there were some hollow sounding wind slabby pockets of around a foot or more of new snow. As we met up with the bootpack from a party climbing the south side we saw a loose snow slide rumble down the upper pitch leading to the false summit. All parties took a bee-line to the south ridge and switch to downhill mode from there...figuring there was enough sun-baked fresh snow still on the upper slope to warrant being conservative.
Skiing the Cascadian was a fine plan B after accessing the summit (and Ulrichs) was a no-go. The snow was pretty good corn with the few spots of windslab being cooked into mush by the time we got to them....no slab activity, just the occasional large cinnamon rolls bounding downhill.
Cornices around Longs Pass proper have not collapsed yet to provide an easy entry/exit to Ingalls Creek valley, but traversing a little further south from the pass you'll find a cornice free path. FYI, we did see evidence on neighboring mountains of cornice fall causing some rather significant slab releases.
As of this weekend, the 5.5 miles to the Esmerelda trailhead were snowcovered except a couple short stretches and one that was long enough to justify taking the skis off...though I imagine by next weekend, those bare patches could be a bit longer. Fortunately the slight downhill grade on the road combined with snowmobile compaction of the snow allowed us to double-pole and skate the the road back out sans skins in just a bit more than an hour.
Cold, windy weather Saturday gave way to perfect (maybe too warm) weather Sunday morning. Around Longs Pass the new snow depth was only a couple inches at most. Climbing up the Cascadian, the snowpack was very solidly frozen, but nearing the top of the couloir there were some hollow sounding wind slabby pockets of around a foot or more of new snow. As we met up with the bootpack from a party climbing the south side we saw a loose snow slide rumble down the upper pitch leading to the false summit. All parties took a bee-line to the south ridge and switch to downhill mode from there...figuring there was enough sun-baked fresh snow still on the upper slope to warrant being conservative.
Skiing the Cascadian was a fine plan B after accessing the summit (and Ulrichs) was a no-go. The snow was pretty good corn with the few spots of windslab being cooked into mush by the time we got to them....no slab activity, just the occasional large cinnamon rolls bounding downhill.
Cornices around Longs Pass proper have not collapsed yet to provide an easy entry/exit to Ingalls Creek valley, but traversing a little further south from the pass you'll find a cornice free path. FYI, we did see evidence on neighboring mountains of cornice fall causing some rather significant slab releases.
As of this weekend, the 5.5 miles to the Esmerelda trailhead were snowcovered except a couple short stretches and one that was long enough to justify taking the skis off...though I imagine by next weekend, those bare patches could be a bit longer. Fortunately the slight downhill grade on the road combined with snowmobile compaction of the snow allowed us to double-pole and skate the the road back out sans skins in just a bit more than an hour.
Nice work y'all -- glad you got a good ski out of it and thanks to Becky for the text when y'all were safely out :)
Should have used a sled. And posted a photo of you sledding. Or maybe you DID use a sled and are just hiding the fact ;-)
Speaking of which, I think I remember you saying you had the same camera as me. Where're the photos dood? Judging from the peaks surrounding Snoqualmie Pass I bet Stuart was spectacular.
Good call on avoiding a summit tag. I've seen that slope go big several times in early spring conditions.
Notwithstanding the strictly human powered access and lack of photos, way to go Pete and co. Sounds like a great trip
Speaking of which, I think I remember you saying you had the same camera as me. Where're the photos dood? Judging from the peaks surrounding Snoqualmie Pass I bet Stuart was spectacular.
Good call on avoiding a summit tag. I've seen that slope go big several times in early spring conditions.
Notwithstanding the strictly human powered access and lack of photos, way to go Pete and co. Sounds like a great trip
No sled just yet :) and we got home a little too late to sift through the pics but I'll post some tonight.
a great trip! Thanks Pete, Becky, & Dan. Here is a couple of pics from my lowly iphone. Cold night of camping though....I must be getting soft in my old age.
more pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/113589492689912715272/MtStuartCascadianCouloirSki?noredirect=1
PS- should've mentioned before that Dave Brown joined up with us for the ski down.... as we were transitioning to ski, Dave came into view racing uphill....he and his wife Steph had blitzed in that morning from Beverly Creek. Steph stayed behind on the lower slopes with their dog, but Dave decided to go for a quick 4000vf yoyo and skied the Cascadian with us. Nice to hang with y'all.
PS- should've mentioned before that Dave Brown joined up with us for the ski down.... as we were transitioning to ski, Dave came into view racing uphill....he and his wife Steph had blitzed in that morning from Beverly Creek. Steph stayed behind on the lower slopes with their dog, but Dave decided to go for a quick 4000vf yoyo and skied the Cascadian with us. Nice to hang with y'all.
Thanks for the excellent report and photos Pete! We were wondering about Stuart while skiing over on Earl - it looked prime without much recent snow but interesting to hear that there was enough to be spooky.
couldn't tell from the pics, did you use crampons booting up? tia.
yup, we all used crampons.
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