Home > Trip Reports > April 13-14 Stuart Circumnavigation

April 13-14 Stuart Circumnavigation

4/13/13
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
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Posted by Jake the Brit on 4/15/13 2:46pm
Up the Sherpa, down the Cascadian, along the south-side valley over the Goat Pass via the wiggle, under the Stuart glacier and BLAST PAST the ice cliff.
We had tried to do this before to the King, but as the undisputed Lord of non volcanic largesse, we€™d been kicked back. I€™ve tried a few times just to get to the summit, but whilst in the summer it must be easier, in the winter, King Stuart seems to make a guy approach on his knees, and then kick.
We didn€™t get to the summit, stopped about 200€™ under the false summit; decision based on the bottomless powder, the general danger & the sun, or the bad weather, or the coming storm, or the sun, or the time or somethingthe fact the going was really slow and we had to get round the back & home before nightfall.
There were 8-24€ fresh powder on a hard crust with no consolidation, some icy patches, some wind effect but no slabs or propagation. It was much heavier on the south side. Down was great for me, Victor has carbon skis & they go up better than they go down in the heavy snow..
New valley: The wiggle runs north from Stuart€™s west ridge buttress, and the weather did arrive, we were being issued our kicking and doing a spot of stumbling (well I was anyway) around on the Goat Pass when I was made a most happy man: the clouds dissolved and we got the goods, all of them.
What€™s the point? There are lots, but I really it means we€™ve got to go back, I suppose€¦.

my pics:
and big thanks to Good to Go for info regarding Ulrich's
http://jakeevans.smugmug.com/Washington/Stuart-Circumnavigation/28941865_2zjXC5
Great looking trip.  Just curious, any reason you choose to return past ice cliff and sherpa vs dropping down the couloir/gully to stuart lake?

Great trip Jake. On a weekend when most of us stayed home, hid in the trees, or skied inbounds (me) - you put tracks all around Mount Stuart. I guess only a Brit would complain that he didn't make the final 200'.  :)  It was a ski trip not a climb right? Nice job.

Nicely done Victor and Jake! Did you plant the Union Jack or the Tricolour (or both) on the false summit?

I echo Kevin's question...why not ski that nice fall line down to the swamps and Stuart Lake then out? It's a very easy exit with a little added vertical as a bonus.  Still, cool tour dudes. I didn't even realize there was snow left up there.

Telle une ballade au pays de Merlin l’Enchanteur, sa forêt de Broceliande remplacée par les pentes neigeuses de Stuart, Jake et moi sommes partis à la rencontre du magicien et de sa fée Viviane.  Résultats?  Intenses!  Nous avons utilisé tous les moyens possibles: VTT, skis, crampons, marche,… Nous avons rencontré toutes les conditions météo possibles (chaleur et soleil d’été, froid et neige d’hiver, ciel bleu et ciel gris) ainsi que tous les types de neige inimaginable.
Une belle aventure de printemps, une solitude extraordinaire, un bonheur simple.  La fée et l’Enchanteur étaient bien au rendez-vous.  Quelle contrée magique!

Encore quelques photos  :)
Toute la serie : https://picasaweb.google.com/104952785231857279993/StuartCircumNav

Really nice looking pictures. Not often impressed with a snowboard turn...

I love this shot. Nutty Professor Evans on his way to teach his English Lit. Class at Cambridge.


And this photo is just breathtaking:





That bicycle photo is an instant classic!  Great trip and photos.

author=jwplotz link=topic=28297.msg118991#msg118991 date=1366134241]
I echo Kevin's question...why not ski that nice fall line down to the swamps and Stuart Lake then out? It's a very easy exit with a little added vertical as a bonus.  Still, cool tour dudes. I didn't even realize there was snow left up there.


Kevin/John - Simple answer...we forgot the tent at the base of Sherpa glacier :)

The thing about the exit is..................................I didn't know you could slide down to Stuart Lake & the trail. Doh! Professor of...naught!

But that besides, since a spring trip to the Cirque of the Towers, I've developed a taste for skiing past big rock lines, and belting past the Ice Cliff, which looks really fierce right now was probably one of the highlights of my winter.
It also makes a neat loop, and it's all really fun if you are lobotomized during the exit & approach!

The Entente Cordiale, signed in 1905 marks the formal end to hostilities, but I still don't see any good use for the French flag, except as a table cloth............
Thanks for the photo Victor

author=Jake the Brit link=topic=28297.msg119010#msg119010 date=1366152646]

The Entente Cordiale, signed in 1905 marks the formal end to hostilities, but I still don't see any good use for the French flag, except as a table cloth............



...Entente Cordiale was signed in 1904... I guess British approximation... or just bankrupted education... As far as table cloth, not too concerned as le savoir vivre et la politesse ne sont pas l'apanage des anglais  ;)

In the esteemed words of Macklemore: "this is fucking aweeeesome..." I love the bike shot!

Ooops, nearly started a nationalist pissing fight online. ... Ha, I am chuckling,  funny Victor. Great graphic.
Thanks for all the positive comments. I'm intrigued by the Stuart lake approach vs the mountaineers creek shwachfest. I do love it up in the Enchantments when conditions west are grizzly. Shwack and all!


Jake my friend you CRACK me up! That photo is so you. ;)

Great pics Victor and congrats on the adventure!

Way to get it done guys!  well done... though not quite in tune with where you said you where going jake! ;)

But man, that photo IS priceless!!!

right up there with John's photo of Kyle Flick, on.. um, Mt Stuart! Something about that place that brings about the mad and crazed expressions!

"Victor has carbon skis & they go up better than they go down in the heavy snow.. "
Having seen Victor last year on his Movement Random-X skis on the Muir snowfield in some deep mank, I'd say he excels on both the up and the down!

La chaine de Stuart c'est un très beau coin des Cascades, je suis content que vous y êtes allés avec un metéo/conditions si partfait. Bien fait les gars! Belles photos également, Dahu. Ca doit être difficile avec deux jambes racourcies...


Excellent report!  That bike pic is priceless.  How far were you guys able to get on the bike?  Did you go up the road or up beverly turnpike?

sweet trip.  nice work, gents!

like a fellow tay'er i thought about hunkering down at home to daydream about powder 8's..........whew, close one.  only a dream.

reality had us in the teanaway laying down proper slashers like brit in that beauty of a pic.  excellent day the 14th was.  mucho bluebird and pow where we were.

author=bramski link=topic=28297.msg119267#msg119267 date=1366742799]
Excellent report!  That bike pic is priceless.  How far were you guys able to get on the bike?  Did you go up the road or up beverly turnpike?


That's the Bridge Creek road we're riding up. We got nearly to the TH. Skinned all the way from there. It'll probably be melted out in a week or so....???? Maybe, that's what the Rangers said anyway. The bike was not much faster up, but damn it made the way down glorious and quick. By my reckoning we're all on dick-sticks for most of the day. Funny that.

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Jake the Brit
2013-04-15 21:46:32