Mount Stuart North Ridge Conditions?

Has anyone done the upper north ridge of Mt Stuart lately? Wondering about a few things:

• Are there any good water sources on the ridge or summit?
• Is crossing the Stuart glacier with microspikes instead of crampons a bad idea?
• Is the route generally dry/snow-free right now?

We will see if anyone here has been up this year, but by July 22 2018 there was no snow on route for the direct north ridge (recommended anyway, great rock and no glacier travel). There was also very little water from the base of the route to well past the summit. There were some mandatory snow crossings on the descent (microspikes were plenty here) that provided plenty of water but maybe a 30 min scramble down from the summit proper. There are also places on the route where you could rappel to water off the ridge and jug/climb back. Looked chossy, dangerous and not worth the risk. 

Anecdotal, but two weeks ago I ran into a party coming off the north ridge that said, along with it being the greatest climb ever, that there was water most of the way up. Last week I ran into a party heading out to cross the Stuart glacier with just microspikes. Don't know if they had a tough time or not, but by now most of the snow should be gone from the couloir descent. There was about 100' last weekend. 

Climbed the complete ridge this weekend, one of my favorites ever. Already want to go back and do it again!

• There is a sizable but likely melting fast patch of snow at the notch where you begin the upper ridge. There is a large obvious snowfield 20 ft down from the summit via easy scrambling. We found running water near the base of the ridge but nowhere higher on the mountain.
• Can't say specifically about the Stuart glacier since we traversed under it, but based on the snowfields we did cross I'd recommend light crampons over microspikes. Depends a lot on your abilities and risk tolerance of course, as well as how fast you want to be able to safely move. I agree with Jackson above that you should climb the full ridge: avoid the glacier entirely and add hundreds of feet of fun climbing!
• The route itself was entirely dry and snow-free when we climbed it.

Edit to add that the snowfield above the cascadian couloir was still fully formed, hard and slippery down to the talus field ~130 feet below, and felt like a sketchier part of the climb to me, wearing only approach shoes. I've heard of some horrible accidents from people slipping there and sliding into the talus, so be careful. We descended it around 8am, so later in the afternoon likely much softer and easier.

I too would recommend the full instead of trying to cross the glacier.

why are you considering that? Is it because you want to solo it? I can’t think of another reason to, but then you’d run into problems on the gendarme if you’re not interested in soloing the more challenging sections.

the first bit is excellent and I don’t believe you’d be saving much, if any, time by taking the glacier.

I did the Upper North Ridge yesterday and really wish we had opted for the full version instead. To answer your questions:

• After leaving the glacier/snowfields we weren't able to find any water until dropping down the Cascadian Couloir a thousand feet or so. Other parties doing the full reported the same.
• To get from the glacier to the gulley for the Upper there's a good 100+ foot no-fall zone of steep snow above a crevasse. I have a solid amount of glacier travel experience and would not have wanted to do this in microspikes and approach shoes since there was no bootpack. Start high near the top if you want to avoid the snow-bridge riddled middle section of the glacier.
• Others already answered but yes the climbing portion of the route is snow-free. There's a 100+ foot section of snow on the Cascadian decent that can be bypassed via rappel.

I've done it both ways several times.  The glacier version adds a different element. More of a "mountaineering" experience overall ala the climbs in NCNP.  "Complete NR" is a really long rock climb, They're both super fun (other than the descent, of course). If you're doing the "Upper NR", definitely bring pons you can wear over approach shoes.  (And never boots!)  Here is a pic of the NR taken from the Colchuck zone last Friday. Shows the snow on the approach to the toe pretty well.

Erroneous Publicuswrote:

I've done it both ways several times.  The glacier version adds a different element. More of a "mountaineering" experience overall ala the climbs in NCNP.  "Complete NR" is a really long rock climb, They're both super fun (other than the descent, of course). If you're doing the "Upper NR", definitely bring pons you can wear over approach shoes.  (And never boots!)  Here is a pic of the NR taken from the Colchuck zone last Friday. Shows the snow on the approach to the toe pretty well.

Up on CBR? What a great time of year.

Pic was taken from The Valkyrie, CBR's little bro.  I'd done Acid Baby (and CBR routes) several times before but never realized just how close they are on that ridge until the Valkyrie.  You have the best back yard. 

Erroneous Publicuswrote:

Pic was taken from The Valkyrie, CBR's little bro.  I'd done Acid Baby (and CBR routes) several times before but never realized just how close they are on that ridge until the Valkyrie.  You have the best back yard. 

The mayor of Mt. Stuart has spoken. 

But have you climbed Girth Pillar yet??

Ha!  Isn't the Girth Pillar like one good pitch or something?  Is the juice worth the squeeze?  

Circling back on this for an upcoming NR lap. I've heard that there is still a significant amount of unavoidable snow getting down to the toe and coming off the false summit. Anybody done it (complete NR) without axe and pons lately?

Approach from Ingalls and descent down the couloir was doable without any snow gear on 7/27. A few snow fields on approach were easily crossable in approach shoes . About 45 minutes descent from summit hit a steep snow area in the couloir that had a slung cordelette to use for a rap/handline. USing this, a 50m rope was sufficient to get back on rocks. Because of snow near start of route and this area in the couloir, it's easy to collect water just before and after the climb. 

Thanks for the beta!  Did you do the descent to the toe of the North Ridge in the morning, when it's still hard?  You can usually avoid the snow scrambling down there by this time of the summer, but I've heard it may be unavoidable to cross snow this year.  And I'm hoping to get there real early for this lap.  

Crossed the last snow around 8 am; it was in full sun by that point but wasn't too soft- though were able to kick in some steps. The last snow field before the toe does have a pretty significant hazard if you were to fall, so you could rope up here to cross for extra security - it's probably about 40m across. When I was there, there was no option higher or lower to avoid the snow entirely - it was about the same condition as when I was there early August last year. 

Awesome, thanks!

Anybody climbed this in the last week or so?

In particular, looking for water beta (any chance of water on the summit?) and an update on the snow crossings (tools?) for the Ingalls approach to the lower ridge.

Cheers

Did it last weekend.  No sharps required. There's a lot of running water at the base of the ridge and there's a small stream running off the snow patch at the summit. Have fun! 

Erroneous Publicuswrote:

Did it last weekend.  No sharps required. There's a lot of running water at the base of the ridge and there's a small stream running off the snow patch at the summit. Have fun! 

Thank you and cheers!

Has anyone done this in the December / January months? Trying to get a sense of conditions then. 

Eddie Pszczolkowskiwrote:

Has anyone done this in the December / January months? Trying to get a sense of conditions then. 

A nice account of the second winter ascent.
http://jensholsten.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-flash-and-sunrise.html?m=1

And a patchwork history including the first ascent (third page):

https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/30585-tr-mt-stuart-winter-ascent-complete-north-ridge-12242004/