Complete North Ridge IV 5.9

 
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Mt. Stuart


North Cascades, Washington, USA


Trip Report
N. Ridge of Stuart and the Torment Forbidden Traverse, 8/2014

by Mr. Rogers
Monday August 25, 2014 2:08pm
Because I had a wedding to attend in mid-August near Seattle, I figured I’d start the trip with a week in the Cascades. My college buddy Page was free, and even though I’d missed his wedding earlier in the summer due to a last minute work crisis (one of the joys of being a lawyer) he was game. Off we went.


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We started with the full north ridge of Mt. Stuart (although we skipped the Great Gendarme).


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“Hey guys, got any pee? Asking for a friend…”


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If we had started earlier we would have had time for the Great Gendarme.


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Page approaching the 5.9 layback low on the ridge.


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We simul-climbed most of the ridge. Natural protection and terrain belays were abundant, and many pitches ended only because of rope drag.


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“Seriously guys, I’m jonesing for some pee. You got any?”


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Next, we headed in to climb the Torment-Forbidden Traverse.


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First view of Mt. Torment. We didn’t have a clear view of the summit of Forbidden until we were hiking out.


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Camp on the moraine beneath the Quien Sabe glacier.


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We started the next day in a cloud.


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Somewhere in Boston Basin, near the Taboo glacier.


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Somewhere on Mt. Torment.


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The clouds broke when we reached the ridge. The south side was socked in, but the north side was splitter.


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Dealing with a moat and bergschrund on the north side of the ridge.


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Choss on the north face.


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We skipped the snow/ice traverse. It looked like a steep, slushy traverse. We climbed the rock instead at 5.fun.


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The cruxiest move of the day. Page skipped a very short rap and down-climbed a balancy ramp, protected by rope drag. Following in mountain boots was fun.


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Somewhere on the ridge. The knife-edge section?


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As we crossed the ridge from S to N and back again, we skipped in and out of the clouds.


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The west ridge of Mt. Forbidden.


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Summit.


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Page is a vegan, so he didn’t eat any summit bacon. His loss.


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Downclimbing the west ridge and rapping to the glacier.


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Still in a cloud the morning after…


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But it began to break as we climbed up to the Salahe arm.


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First clear view of Mt. Forbidden.


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I thought I’d wandered into the Sound of Music.


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Clouds pouring over Cascade Pass.


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  Trip Report Views: 3,976
Mr. Rogers 		About the Author
Mr. Rogers is a climber from The Land of Make-Believe.

Comments
Jingy

climber
Random Nobody
  Aug 25, 2014 - 02:25pm PT
Giant!!!

Massive epic photo shoot!!!

Thank you, I'll be back to view this again...

cheers
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
  Aug 25, 2014 - 02:45pm PT
Aw god it's so beautiful. Thank you much for posting. Beautiful glaciers in those pics.

This got the imagination fired:
Jingy

climber
Random Nobody
  Aug 25, 2014 - 02:56pm PT
This got the imagination fired:

 I felt like I could tell a fictional story given the wide open photos
yanqui

climber
Balcarce, Argentina
  Aug 25, 2014 - 03:08pm PT
Great pictorial. I love the Stuart Range.
Sierra Ledge Rat

Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
  Aug 25, 2014 - 03:19pm PT
It's official. You suck. I'm jealous.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
  Aug 25, 2014 - 03:22pm PT
Nice! You came down what's left of the Sherpa Glacier? Looks a little
sketchy on that tongue! Last time I did it twas a nice butt glissade!
Of course that was in winter and there weren't no rocks showing. ;-)
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
  Aug 25, 2014 - 08:21pm PT
How did you descend from Mt. Stuart?

[add:]
Did you do the one rappel west from the base of the Gendarme and climb on to the summit, or descend the North Ridge without summitting?

[Edit:] Tami, I have done Mt. Stuart 3 times & descended 3 different ways. Just wondering what they did, because the photos stopped below the Gendarme.

[Edit 2:] Thanks, Mr. Rogers!
(I went down the NW Buttress back in 1977 and had an accident due to a loose block).
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
  Aug 25, 2014 - 03:43pm PT
I guess I assumed they came down the Sherpa since he included two pics of it.
lars johansen

Trad climber
West Marin, CA
  Aug 25, 2014 - 04:24pm PT
Now that's a trip report! Beautiful photos, thanks.

lars
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
  Aug 25, 2014 - 04:28pm PT
Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood! Nice place indeed.
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
  Aug 25, 2014 - 04:30pm PT
Man, that was beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to share a slice of it with us.

Strong work.
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Aug 25, 2014 - 05:31pm PT
Stellar pics, looks like a great trip!
Thank you!!
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
  Aug 25, 2014 - 05:53pm PT
Bump, because climbing mountains is what it's all about.
thebravecowboy

climber
The Good Places
  Aug 25, 2014 - 06:04pm PT
Too much fun club!
Mr. Rogers

climber
The Land of Make-Believe
Author's Reply  Aug 25, 2014 - 07:06pm PT
The sherpa was out. Very out. There was HUGE rock and icefall down it and the couloir next to it all day.
We skipped the GG (did the short rap climber's right into a gully) to save time. We planned to descend the NW buttress and wanted to descend in daylight.
Of course by the time we got to the summit we wimped out anyway and went down the cascadian couloir. Which is just endless boring awfulness. The hike back around Stuart also turned into a bit of an epic because the ingall's creek trail is washed out in places and hard to follow at night.
johnboy

Trad climber
Can't get here from there
  Aug 25, 2014 - 07:55pm PT
Wow, was that nicely put together.
Beautiful pics, thanks so much for sharing them.
moacman

Trad climber
Montuckyian Via Canada Eh!
  Aug 25, 2014 - 08:04pm PT
Very very nice...Thanx for sharing....

Stevo
Larry Nelson

Social climber
  Aug 25, 2014 - 08:22pm PT
The Sound of Music is right! I'll view this one a few times. Thanks for sharing a great adventure.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
  Aug 25, 2014 - 08:27pm PT
Ok that was seriously fn awesome.
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Mt. Stuart - Complete North Ridge IV 5.9 - North Cascades, Washington, USA. Click to Enlarge
Photo: Joseph Puryear
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