Mt Stuart, North side, May 28-29

With thoughts of climbing the Sherpa Glacier, I made the arduous but character-building approach up Mountaineer Creek.  Highlights here included a crotch-soaking shimmy across a wet log, impressive amounts of deadfall to step over and treacherous hiking over rotten snow.  Eventually I could skin up the valley bottom to the final scramble up the boulder field to the hanging valley at 5400'.  Climbers encountered along the way reported deep, unconsolidated snow above the bergshrunds on the Ice Cliff and Sherpa Glacier routes.  After a pleasant evening taking in the scenery, I retired to a bouldertop bivouac.

Monday dawned clear and warm so instead of more ambitious stuff I skinned up past the foot of the North Ridge.  Here one could safely sit and watch the show of snow sloughing out of the couloirs and off steep faces.  The prospect of a slushy slog under steep slopes precluded a trip over to Goat Pass.  Wanting to beat the deepening slush, skied back down to camp at 11 am.  Mushy snow up high gave way to decent corn.  The gullies of the Ice Cliff and Sherpa Glacier had slid and it seemed a good-sized chunk of the Ice Cliff icefall had broken off.  What a spectacular place.  I'll be back.