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• Eric Rogstad
• Dennis Kasten
• Mike Nakamura
• Neil Shargel

Neil
Mike
Eric
Dennis

• Harness
• Helmet
• Climbing shoes
• 2 liters water ...not enough
• thermal layer
• bivi bag
• shell
• stocking cap
• jerky, energy bars

I don't know what everyone else brought and if they tell me, I'll update this information.

We hiked to the north side of Ingalls Lake and dropped down to where an outlet from the lake cascaded over a 20 foot granite cliff and became Ingalls Creek. Our campsite was close to the Ingalls Creek trail, at the edge of the meadow, where the meadow turned into the forest. We had water available and the junction trail to Stuart Pass was about 25 meters away.

At 4:30 am, Mike woke us up to start the day. We made breakfast, took care of the camp and packed up what we thought we'd need.


We left camp at 7:00am and headed up to Stuart Pass. This led us to the southwest shoulder of the mountain, where we traversed east across a boulder field. We arrived at the base of the main approach gully at 11:30 (the second gully from the left). Looking at the gully from a distance, you'd think it was one long tiresome scree slope but in fact, it was a series of wonderful granite ledges and ramps that presented itself like a jigsaw puzzle. The gully veered left at the bottom around a bulging hummock, then trended right. We scrambled up endlessly on easy 3rd class rock. At times I was sure we were at the end of the gully, only to be proven wrong. We knew we were at the gully's end because we found a notch overlooking the North side with a view of Dragontail (credit here goes to Tom Unger and his trip report, found at http://www.tumtum.com:16080/climbing/routes/02-07-19-StuartWRidge.txt, which mentioned the notch at the end of the gully.) With the notch to our backs, we crossed into another gully, with Long John's Tower peaking over the gully wall. Eric and Dennis elected to head up an off-width chimney directly in line with the tower (Eric said it felt like 5th class) while Mike and I decided to try going up easier looking ramps and ledges left of them.

At the base of Long John's Tower, we decided it would be best to go up the right side, said to be 4th class. Eric headed up the chimney section and the rest followed. The first move up the chimney seemed difficult but the moves eased up afterward. It topped out on a ledge. From there we moved left until we found ourselves in a corner with easy climbing (about 5 or 6 meters) but with very loose large rocks at the top. We delicately avoided these loose blocks and continued up. It was 11:30 when we were on the top of Long John's Tower.

From the tower, we worked our way into the next gully. We decided to avoid Beckey's 2nd variation and instead stay low under the West Ridge Horn. We crossed the gully to a ledge which led us to a ramp with a huge detached block at its end. Just below the detached block there was a narrow chute wide enough for a person without a pack. Mike and I elected to go for the tunnel while Eric and Dennis bravely went around the exposed corner. Both methods took us to a ramp ninety degrees from where we were. Exiting the tunnel, we safely slid on our stomachs over a large boulder which took us to another ramp.

This ramp dropped down for about 100 meters and then went up for another 120 meters until it led us to another tunnel, or, more accurately, a hole made by a large boulder. Easily through the second tunnel, we went up over the rib and crossed into the next gully. There we found some snow to replenish our diminishing water supply. From here we headed across yellow-red granite slabs. We followed Eric up a wide blocky body-width crack working our way to a ledge across from the snow. We continued scrambling toward the ridge itself but that became too difficult so we dropped down and crossed over to the other side of the gully. It was now around 12:30 pm. We found a ramp leading toward the north side thinking it was the West Ridge Notch but it wasn't. After about 10 minutes and a little more climbing, the true notch was found and Dennis led the way from the West side to the North side and back again. The climbing wasn't difficult but certainly exposed.

We found ourselves on a ledge in a small alcove. Someone had left an oval biner about half way up an 8 meter crack that looked to be 5.9. Instead of heading up that, Eric groveled up a bulgy dihedral ramp a meter or two to its left. Feeling the moves felt 5th class, he suggested tying in so we all put our harnesses on for the first time that day. Belaying us from behind a rock, Eric brought us up, first Dennis, then myself, then Mike. The hardest part of that section was the first move getting over the bulgy start, with no holds for a left foot, but it was over quickly. This section was about 6 or 7 meters in length.

After, climbing a little further, we found ourselves on the ridge looking down on a ledge to our right. The ledge was about 2 meters wide and contained the remains of a bivy site. We knew we were close to the summit because where the ledge ended, there were two parallel cracks, the right one containing a chockstone followed by a thin horizontal crack that trended up and left. This technical section was about 10 meters in length. It was now 2:30pm.

We built an anchor just to the climbs' left and Eric led this pitch. He belayed us up to a small ledge, first me, then Mike, then Dennis. I tied into the middle of the rope and as I passed the gear, clipped the rope behind me back into the few pieces. Mike did the same, and Dennis climbed and cleaned with the 'pig' (Eric's pack) trailing behind him getting caught in the crack at times. I decided there wasn't much room on the ledge where Eric was belaying everyone else up so I continued going straight up. The move going over the blocks above me weren't difficult but the rocks to my left were loose. In my first attempt I yanked a couple of large head-sized rocks loose but kept them and myself from landing on Eric. I down climbed and got my heart rate back to normal. I avoided that section the second time and made the next ledge.

Once on the smaller ledge, we debated about whether to go left or right. On the left was the ridge which looked blocky with a large block possibly preventing any further progress, or going right where there was a serious slab. We could see that left of the slab was a blocky crack in a left facing dihedral so we elected to go up from there. This section started by climbing up a wide crack on the right to a large boulder, also on the right, requiring a tight and exposed move to get around it. This took us to a small ledge wide enough for one or two people to stand. Dennis was in the lead with Eric behind him. About midway up the blocky crack/dihedral they found a fixed pin which Dennis clipped with a sling. Using this as aid, he pulled himself up enough to make the next move and then continued to the ledge above. We all agreed aiding from a fixed pin with an unknown history was sketchy so Dennis lowered a rope. This section was probably 5 or 6 meters. Once we were all safely on the ledge, we scrambled the 5 or 6 meters to the summit. It was now 4:20pm



We descended left from the summit towards the false summit, boulder hopping just slightly along the south side of the ridge. Eventually we found a faint trail with cairns containing pink nylon ribbon guiding the way. Crossing over to the Cascadian Couloir, we kept the rib close to our right as we slid and boulder hopped until we found a narrow, faint path that switch-backed down the east side of the couloir. As we descended towards a knoll with small trees splitting the couloir, the trail split. We chose to descend skier's right through the stunted trees. This was a long and arduous slog down a steep, often dusty, slippery path. Eventually it brought us to a wall of slide alder but fortunately we found the path that took us comfortably through it. This path veered left at the start and eventually took us to a narrow path on flatter terrain that met up with the Ingalls Creek trail.

We made the trail junction just as darkness descended – about 8:30pm. It was approximately 10pm after what seemed an endless hike and another 365 meters of elevation gain, when we made it back to camp.

Please send comments to: Neil Shargel
Copyright © 2007 Neil Shargel

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