Home > Trip Reports > April 2, 2015, Mt. Stuart Sherpa Glacier Couloir

April 2, 2015, Mt. Stuart Sherpa Glacier Couloir

4/2/15
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
8633
15
Posted by tsuyoshi on 4/4/15 3:39am
video for those who don't like reading.

We parked at the Icicle and hiked the 4 miles of road in the dark as the gate was closed in the morning. The trail toward Stuart Lake was almost dry until the Colchuck turnoff and mostly compact snow from there on. We carried skis and boots until the clearing below the Sherpa Glacier, which sounds annoying, but was extremely efficient. After skinning for 500 vertical feet we switched to crampons and booted the rest of the way to the summit through ankle to thigh deep preserved powder. Surprisingly, the snow on the south side remained 5-12" of perfect alpine powder with a few boney ridges to scramble through.

It was fun to watch tracks appear from Longs Pass as Silas and crew enjoyed some good snow. Skiing off the top of Stuart yielded some of the best turns of our year through slightly sunkissed pow. Dropping into the N side of the mountain we found a few scratchy but smooth turns near the ridge then pretty much all preserved pow back to the trees. Hiking the road back to the car we joked about how funny it would be if they had opened the gate as we were out for the day... sure enough they did. The gate was opened and the road is now drivable to just past the 8 mile trailhead.

I know the south side of the mountain is melting quickly but the north side still has quite a bit of time left. Go get it!

big day! and some really nice footage in the vid. even more astonishing, a ski vid with no helmet cam POV...very refreshing. Looks like a great trip, thanks for the report.

FANTASTIC!!!!


Superb, all of it: The effort, the vid is 100% quality, 110% effort. I love the shot with the sundog as you ski past the blue ice.
...and the icing on the cake: you were robbed by the gate-guy!
Rock on.

Excellent video and adventure! I especially enjoyed the shots of the climb and music you chose

Seriously awesome video! Really, really well done. I'm sorry it was so sunny - having to wear sun protection is the WORST! ;-)

nice work.

how long do you think that line will be skiable?

Glad you guys enjoyed the video!

I'd say the line should be skiable for at least another month before things get too ridiculous. There wasn't even a hint of the bergshrund yet so as long as you don't mind a fairly dry approach i bet you've got some time. The first thing to go will be the slopes below the glacier but there is a gully that should hold snow for a long time.

okay great, thanks

Nice! Agree with all the video praise. Especially impressive in the context of a long day.

Makes me giddy just to watch your great trip, thanks for such a wonderful post.



Now I'm real jealous.  My kind of an adventure.  Ice tools, alpine, careful interaction with the terrain and conditions... aerobic long day.

Thanks for posting!  and I agree about the vid.  Very nice to see something with great character.

Thanks for sharing a great trip; I also really enjoyed your video.

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tsuyoshi
2015-04-04 10:39:56