Belaying and Bandaging: Mt Stuart, Cascadian Coulior August 14

August 14, 15-16, 2009 I led a strong team up 9,415 feet Mt Stuart via the Cascadian Coulior. Due to the approach this is a total elevation gain of 8,200ft! Our team enjoyed good weather on summit day and spectacular views from the summit. A big thank you to Jess Palacios for volunteering to be the leader assist on yet another Mt Stuart climb. This was also the last peak for my Chemetetan 18 Peak award - yahoo. Most of the band made it to the summit but we had trouble with getting the whole tuba section through the squeeze chimney (Interviewed five bands off craigs list before we found a group comfortable with the exposure.)

Roster
1- Mike Niemeyer, Leader
2- Jess Palacios, Leader Assist
3- Mike McHugh
4 -Andrew Trachsel
5- Amanda Blankenship
6- Jane Morris

Below, route-finding between the false summit and true summit.

An otherwise perfect climb was made slightly more challenging when my leader assist - Jess Palacios began experiencing hypoxia at 9,000ft. Below - Jess thinks he has just been named the high school prom queen.

Below - Andrew below the false summit.

Amanda during a break on the descent. A strong climber and a bridge engineer, Amanda slowed us on the approach a bit when she insisted on inspecting each log crossing and doing calculations. (shown below with her ever-present handheld 298 function scientific calculator)

Jane shown below celebrating good rock above the cascadian couloir. Actually, jane celebrates about everything. She supplied treats for the huge 18th peak bash we had back at camp.

Pre-Trip prospectus below

Current area Weather Report

Driving directions

Salem to N Fork Teanway River. (about 6 hr drive)
Start address: Mission St SE & Airport Rd SE Salem, OR 97301 End address: NFD 9737 Rd
1. Head south on Airport Rd SE toward Mission St SE/OR-22/OR-99e Bus - 49 ft
2. Turn left at Mission St SE/OR-22/OR-99e Bus - 0.8 mi
3. Merge onto I-5 N/OR-99e N via the ramp to Portland Continue to follow
I-5 N Entering Washington - 196 mi
4. Take exit 142A to merge onto WA-18 E toward N Bend/Auburn - 27.8 mi
5. Take the ramp onto I-90 E - 60.2 mi
6. Take exit 85 toward WA-903/WA-970/Wenatchee - 0.2 mi
7. Merge onto Sunset Hwy (signs for WA-903/Cle Elum/WA-970/Wenatchee) -
0.4 mi
8. Turn right at WA-970 - 0.2 mi
9. Slight right to stay on WA-970 - 6.3 mi( SR 970 north to the Teanaway Road.)
10. Turn left at Teanaway Rd - 7.3 mi
11. Continue on Teanaway Rd N Fork - 5.8 mi (Follow the North Fork Teanaway Road to the 29 Pines Campground where the pavement ends at a fork in the road.)
12. Slight right at NFD 9737 Rd -continue up Road 9737 to trailhead #1394, Esmerelda Basin at 4,200ft.

Schedule:

Friday, August 14th - Carpools Leave State Motor pool in Salem at 7:00 am. Arrive at Trailhead around 1:00 pm. Leave Trailhead at 2 pm and hike to camp at 4,800 ft near Ingallis trail, arriving about 5 PM. Set up camp.

Saturday, August 15th - Leave camp at 6:30 am and proceed up Cascadian col route. Summit around 1:00 pm. Return same route arriving at camp about 4:30Pm.

Sunday, August 16th. - Pack up camp and depart about 7:00 am. Arrive at car about 10:00. depart for Salem, arrive at park and ride lot about 4:30 pm.

Climbing Route: From the Trailhead follow trail #1394 for a short distance to the junction with the Ingalls Lake Trail (#1390). At the intersection with the Long's Pass Trail (FST 1229), ascend the trail to Long's Pass (6300'.) From here, descend the switchbacks to a basin at 4800' (some good campsites here.) From the basin, continue descending to Ingall's Creek. After meeting up with the Ingall's Creek Trail, turn right and hike down the valley for about 1/2 mile to a clearing, and the beginning of the Cascade Couloir ascent.

The following description is from http://www.ericsbasecamp.net/trips/MtStuart/MtStuart.htm "The word "Trail" may not be appropriate for the section from the top of the pass to the Ingalls Creek Trail. Travel east on FST 1215 for about a quarter mile to a clearing and an obvious path at its western edge. ...The route begins climbing through the clearing then reaches a large boulder field. Ascend the boulder field to the bottom of the obvious couloir above. The couloir provides a simple ascent (some easy class 2) to about 7700' where it merges with a larger gulley from the southeast (this is the SE route). Continue up to the base of a steep snow field and ascend it directly or skirt it on its left side (class 3) to the just left of the false summit (~9050'). Descend slightly and traverse on the south side of the East Ridge until the summit can be climbed to directly (class 3). While the SE route is rumored to be and appears to be the easier route, I have twice descended this route and have not found this to be accurate, therefore I recommend descending via the Cascadian Couloir."

GPS Route (NAD CONUS27) These are based on map navigation (not trail data.)
Esmeralda TH, 10 T 655630 5255565,
Stuart-1, 0.3, 349° true, 10 T 655542 5255981,
Stuart-2, 0.9 mi, 97° true, 10 T 656614 5255870,
Stuart-3, 1.6 mi, 0.6 mi, 6° true, 10 T 656694 5256869,
stuart-4, 1.7 mi, 303° true, 10 T 656512 5256982,
Stuart-5, 2.6 mi, 65° true, 10 T 657883 5257656,
Stuart-6, 2.8 mi, 92° true, 10 T 658118 5257655,
Stuart-7, 3.0 mi, 355° true, 10 T 658084 5257943, 5085 ft
Stuart-8, 3.1 mi, 47° true, 10 T 658291 5258150, 5577 ft
Stuart-9, 3.9 mi, 14° true, 10 T 658549 5259313, 8038 ft
Stuart-10, 4.1 mi, 349° true, 10 T 658483 5259602, 8694 ft
stuart-11, 4.2 mi, 334° true, 10 T 658395 5259770,
Stuart-12-top, 4.3 mi, 297° true, 10 T 658163 5259880, 9416 ft

Required Equipment: See List #5 plus a helmet

General Route and Area Information
Cascadian Coulior Route info at Summitpost.com
General Information regarding Mt Stuart - Summitpost
Park map
Mt Stuart Info on Peakbagger.com
Mt Stuart Info at Wikipedia.com
20 peaks nearest Mt Stuart
Mt Stuart Topo (Mazamas)
Trip report on NW Hiker
Santiam Alpine club report
Trip report with good pics & map - NW Hiker
Aug 2009 West ridge trip report