May 13, 2006, Mt. Stuart-Southeast Route

Severtson, Opp and myself headed for the Teanaway on Friday afternoon with the intention of snowmobiling to the Esmeralda T.H. and approaching Stuart via Long's Pass.  We were able to drive just past the Beverly Road and decided that ~6 miles of unknown road conditions would be risky with the snomo.  We instead drove up toward the Beverly T.H. and made it to the creek crossing ~.5 miles from the T.H. (borrow pit that was the temporary T.H. in the early-mid 90's).  The snow patch blocking further access should go quickly.

We walked to the T.H., then alternately skinned and walked, crossed Bean Creek and continued to walk for about .25 miles until we hit solid snow and skinned from there to the Beverly/Turnpike divide (~3.5 miles from the truck).  After setting camp we skinned to a higher vantage to catch a view of Mt. Stuart.

The next morning we skied down Turnpike Creek on rather firm conditions.  After crossing Turnpike and Ingalls Creeks we began the ascent of Stuart.  Our route of choice was the "Variation No. 1" (Beckey's Guide) see photo:

Red indicates Skinning, Blue indicates Booting.  Descent follows ascent.


We were able to Skin for a bit, then booted for ~2K, back to skins and again back to boots for the final ascent to the false summit (ice axes were handy for the final boot section).  After a quick break Opp noted that the "Corn Bomb" had gone off and it was time to get going, thus we began our descent. 

The descent comprised three distinct sections:  The false summit face was firm and a bit rough from recent avalanche activity, below that face to the middle part of the lower gully was some of the best corn I've ever experienced, and then the final ~1500' was good to gooey with numerous runnels making for some interesting turns.  I think it was around 5.5 hours round trip (Ingalls Cr, to Summit to Ingalls Cr.).  A quick water refill then back up Turnpike Creek to pick up camp and descend Beverly Creek.  (It was just under 6 hours from the summit to Ellensburg!)

This trip provided some of the best spring skiing that I've had in years (this spring has been above average overall).  The snow is getting thin near the base of Stuart, with ~2-3 feet around Ingalls trail elevation.  This next week looks like a warm one€¦

Cheers!
$

Opp:


Severtson: