SEWS, Direct East Buttress

Climbed my first route involving some aid!  It was time.  I bought some alpine aiders and Eric Krumland and I set out to do the Direct East Buttress of SEWS.  This is an extremely striking line, shooting straight up from the hairpin curve to the summit of SEWS.  It looks imposing!  The climb is 11 pitches, Grade IV, and goes at 5.11 if all freed.  Very few people free it, because the aid sections are delicate face climbing right next to bolt ladders.  It can be done as easy as 5.9 C1.  We aided both bolt ladders, and one 5.10 crack, but Eric freed the 5.10a section above the second bolt ladder.  So our grade was 5.10a C1.

We met up around 4am again in Mount Vernon and hit the road.  We were moving up from the hairpin by 6:30.  The approach to this climb is pretty simple: park at the hairpin, head up the gully, then start trending right below the steeper cliff bands when it becomes obvious that the start of the route is to your right.  We made good time and were racking up to start climbing in a little over an hour.

On this trip, we could have planned out our leads much better.  I really wanted to lead the first bolt ladder as I was psyched to hit the aid sequence.  Eric really wanted to try to free the second bold ladder.  I was pretty nervous about the 5.9+ roof pitch.  Therefore, I should have let Eric lead out first, but that's not the way it went.  I ended up taking the first pitch, which was 5.6ish blocky climbing.  This leads up to a short dihedral (5.8) to an awkward belay at a tree.  From there, it is a short traverse right into the long 5.9+ dihedral which ends in a big roof.  Eric took pitches 2 and 3.

Eric led the first hard pitch, 5.9+ roof

Josh follows pitch 3 with the hairpin far below

Fun hand jams below the roof

Below the roof, Eric sewed up the crack like a madman.  I scraped the hell out of my hands trying to clean the gear, and wound up having to leave a #1 C4.  I finally arrived at the belay huffing and puffing, with bloody hands, and totally exhausted.  For some reason, I only rested long enough to reflake the rope.  I took off onto the the fourth pitch, 5.8, with a pretty physical short roof.  By this point I was worked.  I pumped out completely trying to protect the roof, and ended up lowering off, defeated.  Eric led that one too.

Josh leading pitch 4, 5.8 dihedral with the small roof

Once at the top I took a good long rest before finally taking the lead on the first bolt ladder.  Little did we know that we were about to leave the relative warmth of the sun behind for the rest of the morning.  We were both highly underdressed at this point.  I had a blast figuring out the sequence to the bolt ladder!  The exposure was unreal and the rock was solid.  So fun!  After crossing the arete, the line follows a thin seam (5.9) to a two-bolt anchor.  At last I felt redeemed, having led legitimate trad 5.9 after my previous flails.  Apparently pitches 5 and 6 can be linked.  In my opinion, the rope drag would be heinous around the arete and due to the varied bolt placements.  Plus, just after the short crack the two-bolt anchor is so solid.  Why not stop there?

Josh leading the super-fun first bolt ladder on pitch 5

Eric took pitch 6.  This started out with a short bolted traverse, followed by a right-trending hand crack.  It goes free at 5.10, but it was cold, steep, and exposed.  He aided it clean.

Eric heading out on the second short bolted section, heading into the cold shade

Pitch 7 was the second bolt ladder.  Eric aided that section.  But then he freed the 5.10a section above.  Impressive!  This included two hard mantel moves with thin holds.  Finally the climbing eased and he was able to head up an easy crack until running out of rope and brought me up.

Eric leads the second bolt ladder on pitch 7, followed by a 5.10a free move

Three more easy pitches led us to the "killer topout".  Aptly named, this prow somehow escaped my notice on my previous three trips up SEWS.  What an amazing spot!  It is an easy scramble over from the South Arete route.  But the position is unmatched with a commanding view over the hairpin and the rest of the valley.  Some of the most beautiful shots I've ever obtained of the area were taken from this spot.  It would be easy to get to from the other routes, but I just never knew it existed.

Eric on the awesome topout ridge, true summit over his left shoulder

Josh at the killer topout prow, with the Wine Spires and Silver Star

Killer topout!

I'm so glad I finally tackled the easy aid sequence.  It is nice to have in my bag of tricks, as now I'm confident that I can get myself out of a jam on a climb if needed.  Nothing fancy is needed besides a single long sling, but the alpine aiders sure were nice!  Another great day out with a very solid climber.  Not my best effort, but I still learned something, climbed safely, had a blast, and ticked off another difficult classic!

Burgundy Spire, North Face

My new work situation is the best!

I have every other Tuesday off.  Yes, off.  I've reached out through CascadeClimbers.com and found a new local climbing partner in Mount Vernon.  His name is Eric Krumland.  He is a little younger than me, also new to Mount Vernon having recently returned from a yearlong stint in Belgium as a missionary.  As a result of spending a year in Europe, he's done a ton of sport climbing, but is now psyched to push his skills in the alpine realm.  And he happens to have a love affair with Washington Pass, kinda like me!

I'd never done the random partner thing, aside from doing countless Mountaineers trips with people I didn't know.  So in our initial exchange of emails, I lowered the bar from my current tick list.  I suggested something easy like Spontaneity Arete, Kangaroo Temple.  He countered by suggesting something harder.  We agreed upon Burgundy Spire.  I had a little trepidation, but ultimately agreed once I realized that no matter how bad he was I could get us up the route by leading every pitch.  All he needed to be able to do was belay me safely.  And it turns out he's not bad, he's actually super good!

We met up at 4am Tuesday morning and hit the road in my father-in-law's Mazda Miata.  We had a really nice conversation on the way out.  We had the usual exchange of climbing history in current interests.  But then we talked about God.  It was really cool to finally be heading out into the mountains with someone who shares my worldview.  When we were ready to head out onto the approach from the car, it was simply natural to suggest that we stop and pray for our day, and it felt so good!

This shot was taken on the hike out, but you get the idea.  Burgundy Spire is on the far left.

The Wine Spires are a group of granite towers that exist in a tight group extending along the ridge coming off the Northwest spur of Silver Star Mountain.  There are four of them: Burgundy, Chianti, Pernod, and Chablis.  Burgundy Spire held a unique position for many years.  It, along with Nooksack Tower, was considered one of the most technically difficult summits to attain in the Cascades.  Its easiest route is the North Face, which goes at 5.8. 

We started off the day by losing the approach trail in the woods.  Note to readers who intend to do this climb: descend the talus from the road pullout, then head solidly left into the woods to the creek.  If you're not on a solid trail, you're not in the right place.  We wasted 30 minutes brush-bashing after crossing the creek in a different place before heading cross-country back East and finally encountering the obvious trail.  From there the approach went smoothly.

A lot of people consider the Wine Spires to be too hard to get to to do in a day.  I have no idea why.  We made the approach to Burgundy Col in 2:20 despite 30 minutes of being lost.  We did the entire route and were back to the car around 3:30pm.  I consider this to be a very doable one-day route.  And with longer days, I'd consider doing two routes in the area in a day, such as Paisano Pinnacle first.

View of the North Face route, following polished lighter line.

 We decided to save on time by soloing the first two pitches to the broad ledge between Burgundy and Paisano Pinnacle.  This was mostly 4th class, with a few moves of 5.5.

Eric solos the first pitch, 5.easy

 From there, I led out on the first pitch, probably 5.7.  There are lots of options.  Just pick the path of least resistance.  Some parties head left toward the arete of the North Face.  I chose to head straight up toward the slight notch until I ran out of rope.  Eric took the next pitch, which has a fun 5.8 hand crack section.  This leads you to a giant ledge which slope down to the West.  You crawl through a huge tunnel and then are staring up at several options up.

Start of the technical portion of the route

Eric leads the 5.8 second pitch

 Climber's left has a 5.10a offwidth that looks scary.  Straight up from the end of the ledge is an unprotectable slab that leads to the 5.8 dihedral to offwidth finish.  We couldn't see the offwidth, but could see the obvious dihedral.  But the slab didn't look like it went for sure, so Eric headed up easier but lichen-covered terrain to the right.  The climbing wasn't hard, but a little unsavory, so he ended up building an anchor and bringing me up.  I decided to traverse left to get back to the really fun-looking dihedral.  I think that was a good choice.

Slightly off-route on lichen-covered terrain.  I think this is the 5.7 variation described by Beckey.

 I felt a little guilty, as I had wanted to let him have some of the harder leads on the climb since he was really gunning for them.  But I ended up getting to lead the most aesthetic, challenging, and fun pitch of the climb.  The dihedral was really clean and nice.  The offwidth that followed felt hard to me.  I kept asking if he thought we were maybe on the 5.9 variation described between the 5.10a and the 5.8.  It turns out we were on the 5.8, but maybe I just climbed it poorly or I'm a wuss, or it's sandbagged.  Oh well.  I made it up, and that led us to the true summit.

Fun 5.8 dihedral on the last pitch

Offwidth section at the top of the last pitch

Gruntfest for Eric

 Nice little summit!  We couldn't find a register.  There is a little ridge that leads back West.  I traversed over to take a look, to see if I could see the 5.7 finish.  I think I did, but it looked slightly overhanging at the end, and not as clean as the line we climbed.  I think we made the right choice.

Josh on the summit, with Hwy 20 and Early Winter Spires, Big Kangaroo, and lots of fire haze.

Eric on the summit

Wine Spires, Silver Star Peak

 The haze from the recent forest fires was pretty significant by this point.  We could barely see the Early Winter Spires.  We enjoyed a quick lunch on the summit, then headed down.  We thought we might be able to rap straight back down toward the North Face, skipping the broad ledge traverse.  But we couldn't find an anchor to head down that way, so we ended up reversing the route by a combination of rappels and downclimbing.

View of the fun 5.8 dihedral while rapping the route

 We did have one stuck rope on the second-to-last rappel.  That enabled Eric to extend his enjoyment of the 5.8 crack a little by re-leading it to retrieve the rope.  At this point we saw another party of two that had planned on doing Stuart but got rejected by the fires and this was their backup plan.  Didn't expect to see another party on the route on a Tuesday in late September.

Eric was a great partner.  He is a strong climber and a good guy to have around to rope-gun.  But certainly a little less experienced and slower when it comes to alpine and anchors, etc.  Really enjoyed his company, and hope to climb with him a bunch in the future.

NEWS and SEWS in a Day

Two alpine summits in one day.  Dope.

Now, they were Washington Pass Early Winters Spires alpine summits.  But all the same - two Grade III routes, 5.9 and 5.8+, for one approach.  That was pretty fun.  One was new for me (NW Corner of NEWS), and both were new for Jillson.  He had never climbed in the Early Winters group - pretty sweet way to start!  He is my only partner that I'd consider trying an outing like this with at this point.  We are pretty dialed together.  We know each other's strengths, we move fast, and we trust each other.

Originally we'd come up with the idea to start with the East Face of Lexington Tower (5.9, Grade III+), which then descends toward the Blue Lake TH, putting us right at the base of NEWS.  We would then tackle the NW Corner of NEWS.  That would have been a killer combo.  From what is reported on the webs, only done once from what I can tell.  In the end we wussed out.  The crux pitch on Lexington is a large 5-6" 5.9 offwidth with a 2x4" block of wood lodged as a key piece of pro.  The crux on NEWS is of course the long offwidth 5.9 corner.  We decided that that was a little too much hard offwidth climbing for one day and opted for this combo.  Not two new routes for me, but still pretty rad nonetheless.

We decided to start with NEWS as it was the harder route and the one that neither or us had done.  I wish we had started with SEWS.  NEWS was cold in the morning!  We could feel the beginnings of Fall as there was a bite in the air despite good weather.  We both elected to do the route without fleeces or puffys, just thin nylon shells for warmth.  That was mistake #2.  But we survived.

The day started with quite a unique encounter.  In the parking lot we saw one young couple that was going to try to combo Liberty Bell's Beckey Route and SEWS S Arete.  About a mile up the Blue Lake Trail we rounded a corner and found them squatting with an elderly gentleman and a middle-aged woman on the ground in sleeping bags.  I asked if everyone was okay and if they needed any help.  They said no thanks as I walked around them I realized that the elderly gentleman was Fred Beckey!  "Hey Fred," I said.  His female companion said "see Fred, you have quite a reputation!"  I have no idea what he was up to.  My theory is that he was heading out climbing, and that he chose to bivy in the middle of the trail as opposed to the parking lot like the rest of us do.  But hey, he's almost 90 and bivying on trails with women half his age, so more power to him!

After that we blasted up to the obvious first pitch on NEWS.  The first two pitches are essentially the same as the 5.11- West Face route.  The first pitch is a fairly nonesthetic 5.8ish chimney.  It didn't feel that hard to me.  I led the low 5th-class 2nd pitch up to the base of the big flakes that mark the third pitch.  Jillson got that pitch, which was super fun and quite physical.  At this point, I was still getting warmed up.  And by the amount that I was huffing and puffing cleaning the 5.8 flake system, I was quite worried about my ability to lead the next pitch.

Matt tops out on the fun 5.8 flake on the third pitch

Oh well.  Fate would have it that I was up for the money pitch.  The one we came for.  The 5.9 offwidth sustained corner that is the distinguishing feature of the route.  What an amazing pitch!  It starts off quite wide.  It would have taken a #5 if we had brought one.  We hadn't.  That was fine.  You can get by with a #4.  I leapfrogged it a few times before I was happy enough to move up.  There are really no feet for the first 50 feet of the pitch, which ended up being the most demanding part.  Then, mercifully, the crack narrows to hands and fists, and you get a few small ledges for feet.  By this point I was pretty worked and had to rest on a piece for a few minutes.  But I did send it without falling, which was the best I could do.

The super-rad 5.9 corner on pitch 4

Jillson endures a chilly belay as I work the fist to off-fist crack system

Matt rewarms with some delicate footwork

Matt came up and was so chilled from the belay that despite the work of cleaning the pitch he was still frozen when he arrived.  He got the last hard pitch - 5.7 face climbing, followed by a short 5.9 roof.  Also very fun and quite exposed.  Matt led it clean and in good style.

Matt heads up the 5.9 roof on the fifth pitch

From there it was a full ropelength of low 5th-class climbing to the summit.  We signed the register and headed down the series of rappels into the SEWS/NEWS notch.  It took 4 rappels to reach the base of the climb on a 60-meter rope.

Yours truly atop NEWS

Jillson on the chockstone free-hanging rappel

We took a few minutes to rewarm in the sun that had now reached the base of the route at our packs.  We ate some lunch and then made the arduous 10-minute trek to the base of SEWS.

Since it was a repeat for me, I decided to give Matt all the fun/esthetic or hard pitches on the SW Rib.  Especially since the other time I was on the route I did it with my brother, and so I'd actually led all the pitches.  I told Matt he at least was going to do the 5.8 flaring crack and the 5.7 bear hug cracks.  He had no problem with that and launched off into the first pitch, the crux of the route.

Matt grovels up the 5.8 flaring crack on the first pitch on SEWS SW Rib

I took the second pitch, got greedy, and managed to get us lost on the route.  Go figure!  Our only route-finding issue of the day was on a route I'd done only a year ago!  I went up too far and wound up just below the huge roof on the Boving Route.  I knew that the third pitch traversed around to the right over some slabby terrain with little pro, eventually gaining the big ledge below the bear hug cracks.  I sent poor Jillson out around the corner from the Boving roof, which was lichen-covered, had absolutely no pro, and was quite spicey.  He retreated, and thankfully didn't fall, which would have been bad.  After quite a bit of misguided wandering, I eventually led back down and found the correct traverse much lower down.  This led to extremely easy slabby traversing around the corner to the big ledge.  The way I'd sent Jillson would have gotten us to where we wanted to be.  It just would have been way way harder than necessary.

Finally back on track, I sent Matt up the twin cracks.  He paused for a good while at their base.  A lot of the beta you read suggests bringing a #5 to protect the wide cracks.  In fact, I'd purchased my #5 specifically for my first outing up this route.  But it was my impression at that time that it is not necessary.  I still feel the same.  After embracing the wideness of the cracks, he eventually shoved the #4 up as high as he could and stepped up into the system.  Once you step up, you get great feet, and it is only about 10 feet of pretty easy climbing up to a huge horn and the top of the feature.  He sent it without a problem.

The uber-fun and hardly 5.7 bear hug cracks

From there it is all 5.easy to the top.   We shortened the rope a bit and I led the simul-climb to the top.

Boulder summit move on SEWS

From whence we came - NEWS summit from SEWS summit

We descended the South Arete route by downclimbing most of it, and doing 2 rappels, starting from the top of the chimney.  There is a really nice new bolted anchor with chains for the final rappel.  It's on skier's right, in case you miss it, as we almost did.

The "whale back" is really not hard.  No hands required.

Matt was really glad after having descended that route that we hadn't wasted our time climbing it just to get the SEWS summit.  It's not horrible, but it's really not very esthetic. 

Slippery Slab Tower, North Face Direct

Never underestimate a mountain or a route, no matter how easy.

I learned that lesson recently on Slippery Slab Tower, a rather nondescript 5.easy 2-pitch outing near Stevens Pass.

Slippery Slab Tower is the right-most feature on the skyline

Matt has a bum shoulder.  He needs to climb easy stuff.  We hadn't climbed anything together this Summer.  So we agreed on Slippery Slab Tower.  He had been out on volcanoes, snow slogs, and backpacking trips all Summer and was in killer shape.  I'd been getting out quite a bit on pretty hard stuff too.  We both kinda figured that we'd fire this thing off in no time.  There isn't much beta out there.  And the Mounties' climbing guide doesn't include and aspect to the route (it's the NE Face).  So we both went into it with not enough research and a nonchalant attitude.  Luckily, we're both good enough climbers by this point that we got ourselves out of trouble.  But this was achieved by leading wet, downsloping, mossy, loose, crumbly rock that was probably around 5.6-7 in difficulty in mountaineering boots with horrible gear for protection.  Not recommended.

Matt approaches the "obvious 100-foot gully"

Matt doesn't like the chossy gully, so starts up the sketchy, mossy, downsloping-holds face

 Matt ended up lowering off a #1 C4.  I took over, and took a look at leading the rest of the pitch.  I also lowered off when I encountered horrifying wet downsloping moss for holds.  I ended up heading back over to the chossy gully, which went at around 5.6-5.7.  It was super loose.  But there were slings at the top.

Matt arrives at the "obvious clump of trees"

 I led off again on the "second" pitch.  I headed up a vertical face with more downsloping holds.  Most of these were solid, not all.  I did encounter one relic piton.  Somehow I was reassured.  Even if it wouldn't hold my fall, at least I had not been the first one here.

At this point we know we're off-route

 We gained a broad ledge with lots of shrubs.  I led off one more time.  After rounding a corner to the left, I finally spotted a huge alcove with a ton of slings.  That had to be the route.  I tiptoed across another scary traverse to finally regain the actual climbing route.

Traversing back to regain the actual route



Matt leading the actual 2nd pitch, 5.4ish, our 4th pitch



Dodgy rap anchor

Matty is all smiles on the summit

I had fun too

 When we descended the route, we were amazed at how easy it actually was.  If we'd done the intended route, we would have spent approximately 5 hours car-to-car.  Instead we "epic-ed", spending about 8 hours.  Oh well.  I still got home in time to have dinner with my kids.

The actual first pitch - not pretty, but very easy 3rd class gully

Mt. Stuart - North Ridge

It's a weird feeling.  Kindof like the day after your wedding day.  You've been looking with anticipation to something for so long.  And it's amazing.  But once it's over, you feel a sort of void.  I need a new tick list.  This has been a rad summer.  But I have now completed both of the routes I've been pining over for as long as I can remember. 

I've dreamed of climbing Stuart for the past 5 years, ever since I got interested in alpine climbing.  For a while, I waited for the right weekend and partners to do the West Ridge, the 5.4 route.  But it is known to be quite the route-finding challenge.  So I waited to do it with somebody who'd been there before.  It didn't happen.  Then I started to think that at some point the North Ridge might be doable instead.  I waited, trained, climbed other stuff, and waited some more.  I'm glad I did.  This was my fourth of the 50 Classic Climbs list, and the best so far.

Matt P. had to bail because of his shoulder issue, so the crew came together: me, Jillson, Steve Machuga, and his French friend Seby Alary.  Matt and I would climb together.  I was stoked.  Steve had done the Upper North Ridge before with Ken Hahn, but due to time issues on the route they bypassed the Great Gendarme.  Hence Steve's reason for coming back.  We were psyched, because he knew they way when it came to the upper ridge and the approach.

We met up at 5am in Lynnwood and were at the Ingalls Creek TH and hiking by 8am.  I was a little concerned about all the ground we'd have to cover with that late of a start and a slight chance of thunderstorms that afternoon, but oh well.  We made pretty good time up to Ingalls Lake and took a break to pump a little water.

Steve Machuga, Matt Jillson, and Seby Alary at Ingalls Pass

Ingalls Lake

From there, we headed to Stuart Pass and Goat Pass. It looked like we'd be able to skirt the lower edge of the Stuart Glacier. We felt good about our decision not to carry crampons and axes, but I grabbed a stick nonetheless to help in case I slipped. It turns out it would have been possible to avoid the snow altogether if desired, barely adding any distance.  Crossing the snow wasn't too bad, however.  We stopped one more time to fill our water bladders in some runoff from the glacier before scrambling up to the toe of the North Ridge.

Descending the Stuart Glacier from Goat Pass

Steve and Seby on the lower toe of the Stuart Glacier

The lower North Ridge includes about 10 pitches of rock climbing, 5 of which are mid-5th class or higher.  The highlights of the lower North Ridge are the 5.8 squeeze chimney, and a long 5.9 hand crack.  The rest can be simul-climbed, and that was our plan.  Matt and I racked up and were ready to start climbing around 2:30pm.  One of the tactics we used on this climb was to take only a 7.7mm 60m rope, and double it over to be used as a twin rope on the technical pitches.  We knew the crux pitches were relatively short.  This decision caused us to have to break up a few of the lower pitches, adding a bit of time.  The lower section is normally done in 3 pitches, and we had to split it into 4.  Matt took the first one - a nice 5.7 hand crack.


Matt leads the first 5.7 pitch on the lower North Ridge

 I got the next one: the 5.8+ squeeze chimney.  This is a really short, but awkward section in a right-trending crack/corner/chimney.  The only thing that makes it hard is that there are no feet.  I hemmed and hawed a bit, but ultimately sent it without a problem.  Following that there is a short 5.6-5.7 face climbing section, leading to the 5.9 dihedral.  Beckey's description is that of a "crack whose upper part looks like a white streak".  I'd say that it does sortof, but better to just look for a long dihedral.  The crack is bomber fingers, but the walls of the dihedral are really smooth and the footwork is tough and tiring.  This was Jillson's lead.  He started off looking really strong, but after placing 2 or three pieces of gear, he suddenly pinged off and took about a 15-20 foot whipper!  He wasn't expecting it, and nor was I.  I caught him fine.  He recuperated for a minute.  I offered to take the lead, but he wanted to finish the pitch and wasn't too spooked.  He did it like a champ!  To his credit, I also took a fall while cleaning the pitch!  That thing was hard. 


Steve styles the 5.9 dihedral on pitch 3

 Following the dihedral, there is one more 5.7 pitch, which I led.  From there, we simul-climbed for two blocks.  At this point we had arrived at some sandy 2nd to 3rd-class ledges and spotted two solid bivy sites.  We were at 7,600 ft., and we knew the notch was at 8,200 ft.  It was 6:30pm, and the weather was still good.  Unfortunately, Matt and I knew that at this point Steve and Seby were far behind.  We decided to wait for them at this spot instead of pushing on to the notch.  I also had heard voices on the lower North Ridge earlier in the afternoon but had never spotted anyone, so I knew that we'd have company at the notch and didn't know how many sites there were.  Waiting proved to be the right choice.  At 8:30pm with darkness rapidly falling, Steve and Seby, stressed and grumpy, arrived at the bivy sites.  By this point we had scouted out and created enough space for all 4 of us to sleep for the night.  We made dinner, chilled out a bit, and hit the hay.  Matt and I had chosen to forego sleeping bags in the interest of pack weight.  In my case, I only own one sleeping bag, unfortunately, my 0-degree down.  Steve and Seby brought lightweight bags in addition to bivy sacks.  For me, I made the wrong choice.  It only got down to the high 40's, but I shivered all night long and didn't sleep much.  It didn't help that the whole night through the Ice Cliff was calving off and thundering down the couloir next to us!

We didn't know how long it would take us to hit the notch, but we wanted to give ourselves a shot to hit the Great Gendarme first, so we agreed to get moving at first light.  We set the alarms for 4:30 so that we could be moving by 5am.  Matt and I cruised, simul-climbing in two more blocks, reaching the notch at 8,200 ft. at 6am while the sun was rising.

Sunrise at the notch

The two other guys were just getting up.  They were super nice, and pointed out a snow patch down a gully toward the Ice Cliff Glacier where they'd gotten water.  Since we knew we'd have to wait for Steve and Seby, I set up a hand line and headed down the gully to brew up.  By the time they arrived, we were full up and ready to rock.

The Upper North Ridge is cruiser.  Except for the Great Gendarme, one short 5.7 slab, and one short 5.8 hand crack.  Otherwise, it is 1,200 ft. of pristine granite following the true ridge as it sweeps toward the summit.  The views are amazing.  The climbing is moderate, airy, fun.  We simul-climbed from the notch to the gendarme in approach shoes.

Matt doing some fun moderate ridge-running

More killer clean granite ridgelines

Yours truly on the moderate slab below the Great Gendarme

Heading toward the gendarme

Cool rock prow

We arrived at the base of the Great Gendarme a little after 10am.  This is what we came for.  Two pitches of super-exposed 5.9 crack climbing in a full-on, no backing out alpine environment.  The only way out is up.  Or, rapping off the side, doing some shitty 4th and low-5th class scrambling to regain the ridge and the route.  I was only going to do that if we had each taken several lead falls, hangdogged, and still couldn't make it up the thing.  Or if the weather got dicey.  Luckily for us, the weather obliged, and we smashed that thing!

Getting stoked!  I own this thing.

 I took the first pitch, the 5.9 finger crack lieback to the top of the pillar.  That was by far the funnest pitch of alpine rock I've ever climbed.  And it went totally fine.  There are short 15-20 foot sections of steep to overhanging rock separated by awesome rests where you can go hands-free and plug in gear.  We did decide to drop packs for the gendarme and haul them, which made us feel even lighter compared to the rest of the route.  That was a new experience and took a bit of thrashing to get the ropes right, but overall I think it was the right choice.

Dominating the 5.9 lieback fingercrack

Stoked!

Pack-hauling

Steve and Seby nearing the Gendarme

Matt embraces the offwidth

Top of the Great Gendarme!

From the top of the Great Gendarme you are almost done with the difficult climbing.  There is a short 5.5 traverse that I led.  This is followed by a 15-foot 5.8 finger crack that is really quite easy.  We almost didn't stop to belay it at all.

Final technical pitch, short 5.8 crack

After that it's all 4th class and low 5th to the top!  We took the path of least resistance, which did require a few 5.6ish moves, but was pretty cruiser.  Just as we finished up the 5.8 sequence, we felt a few rain drops.  This went on for a few minutes and although we were done with the hard climbing, the heart got to beating a little faster.  Luckily this passed quickly.  But I couldn't help thinking of our friends below, still tackling the Great Gendarme.  A little after noon we hit the summit and celebrated!

Summit!  That should be "IV", for 4th 50 Classic ticked.

Jillson is pumped

And then we waited.  And waited.  Jillson took a long nap.  I poked around the summit, tried to nap, explored some more, took a dump, had a smoke, found a snowpatch and collected runoff for water, signed the summit register, waited some more, and finally, after more waiting, Steve and Seby arrived!

Jillson takes a power nap on the summit

Fortunately by this point the weather was bomber.  After the briefest of sprinklings, any threat of weather passed through and around us and we were left with perfect clear skies.  All told we waited on the true summit for 4 hours.  Definitely the longest I've spent on any summit.  But Steve and Seby eventually arrived safely, having taken their time pitching out all the terrain from the gendarme on up.

Seby and Steve hit the summit ridge

After a brief summit rest, we repacked and started our descent.  The Chosscadian Couloir lived up to its reputation.  Three hours of descending loose sand, sand on slabs, kitty-litter on slabs, and loose rubble was our reward for a climb well-earned.  The climb back to Longs Pass was heartbreaking as expected.  By the time we finally rolled into Cle Elum it was past 10pm, and we didn't even stop for fast food.  I, however, did hit the Jack in the Box in Mill Creek to fuel up for my additional new drive up to the Skagit Valley on my own.  Painful.  I crawled into bed exhausted at 2am.  And took care of the kids on my own the entire next day.  But it was worth it.

Full pics here for those interested: https://picasaweb.google.com/106759734752897358987/MtStuartNorthRidge?authkey=Gv1sRgCPvkgYLwgZy3ZA#