Home > Trip Reports > Feb 8, 2013, Mt. Stuart Attempt via Cascadian

Feb 8, 2013, Mt. Stuart Attempt via Cascadian

2/8/13
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
4961
8
Posted by kolockum on 2/11/13 4:11am
With the weekend coming up and the avalanche conditions going down Big D and I decided to bite the bullet and go for Mt. Stuart. We parked at Teanaway Sno-Park threw on our packs and hooked up our sled (which I call a pig) then headed in along the groomer to Bean/Beverly Creek trailhead. We brought beer to barter with snowmobilers for a lift but ended up not seeing any. From there we followed Been Creek to the pass above Fourth Creek all the while our sled (which we had by now un-affectionately named Wilbur) bumped into every tree, rock, mound and squirrel possible along the way.  Once we neared the pass we set up base camp and prepared for the following day.

Saturday morning we woke up at 5:10am and skinned the short distance to the pass and dug a snow pit with mixed results. Then we descended into Fourth Creek basin (and what we assumed a short trip) towards Ingalls Creek. Somehow in our not so precise planning we came to the conclusion that Fourth Creek trail was only 1.5 miles when in fact it is hearty 3.6 miles. So after an hour and a half of combat skiing and skinning we finally arrived at Ingalls Creek. Only then did we see the correct mileage on our map.

We skinned up Ingalls and arrived at the base of Stuart around 8:30ish, dug a snow pit and slowly started to work up the shoulder just east of Variation 1 of the Cascadian Couloir. Both of us were feeling the miles from the previous day. At around 12:30 we stopped for lunch near the top of the couloir and decided to turn around due to the long trip back to our camp that awaited us.

We dropped some cornices to test avalanche conditions and then descended the Couloir under Sherpa Peak. The decent was fun and quick with some icy tree conditions at the bottom. We ate another quick meal at Ingalls Creek and headed up Fourth Creek towards camp. We arrived at camp around 8:30, toasted the trip, had dinner and then promptly fell asleep.

On our way out Big D decided to ski down to the groomed road with Wilbur on his back while I carried both of our day packs. The trip down Bean Creek went very well and very fast thus proving the genius of Big D€™s idea to carry Wilbur on his back. Once we got the groomed trail we rigged Wilbur to be pulled and skinned out.

Notes
Set up base camp around Esmeralda Basin/Longs Pass. Going through Bean Creek was more work than it was worth.






Morning


Argonaut Peak


Boot Packing up Stuart


Looking back up Fourth Creek Valley


False Peak of Stuart


Turn around point


Toast to a fun summit attempt


View from camp


Good attempt. Smiles at the turn around point is a good thing.


Stuart is always worth the trip. Way to think big and get after it.

Nice work, I have been wanting to ride that couloir all season. Maybe soon. Props on the well built camp as well!

Cheers


Wow....that groomed teanaway road is amazing.  Is that normal? Do they use a fancy grooming cat? It doesn't look like a sno-mobile road at all. It looks like a nice place for XC skiing. I thought 29 pines was more a sno-mobile only area.

Inspiring. I wish I had more time.  :-[

author=androolus link=topic=27461.msg115652#msg115652 date=1360779421]
Wow....that groomed teanaway road is amazing.  Is that normal? Do they use a fancy grooming cat? It doesn't look like a sno-mobile road at all. It looks like a nice place for XC skiing. I thought 29 pines was more a sno-mobile only area.


The road was probably groomed the night before our trip. Coming out the road was a starting to be eaten up by snowmobiles. The coverage was pretty thin on the road though, there was a lot of gravel poking through.

There were skate markes on the road and a fair ammount of XC skiiers. Suprisingly most snowmobiles head northeast away from the Teanaway

Nice attempt.

Yeah, there are a bunch of places where the snowmo roads get groomed by a cat dragging a groomer that leaves corduroy behind. Presumably funded via sno-park passes (or is it NOVA funds??). I've seen them out doing the grooming a few times when coming home late via one of these roads. If you hit the road early enough in the AM you tend to get to see it in pristine shape.

Reply to this TR

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feb-8-2013-mt-stuart-attempt-via-cascadian
kolockum
2013-02-11 12:11:19