[awilsondc]

I have to plan most of my overnight trips well in advance. Weather is always a wild card, but I've lucked out so far. For this trip I wanted to do something in the North Cascades, but the weather for Friday was pretty bad almost everywhere. The only good weather was around the Stuart Range. I had done 3 of my last 5 trips in the general area and really didn't want to go back again, but you gotta go where the weather is decent, right? Plus I had never climbed Mount Stuart so it was game on! Only... Stuart is more of a day trip, really. So how to turn it into an overnighter? I had never been to the Ingalls Lake area so I thought I'd clean up some peaks around there on day one and hit up Stuart on day two. Still, it would be a fairly relaxed trip so I slept in, had breakfast with my family, and eventually made my way to the trailhead and started hiking around 11am. Prior to getting to the trailhead I had to contend with some cows in the road who took their sweet time shuffling off to the side of the road, and a pokey old sheriff going 15-20 mph the last few miles to the trailhead. C'mon man, can't you go a little faster?! The parking lot was full and I got the last open spot. The trail to Ingalls Pass was nice and easy. I cruised along getting the legs warmed up and made it to the pass in a little over an hour. There were a few people resting at the pass as well as a family of mountain goats. I headed right at the pass and found a spot to drop my overnight pack for my first peak, Not Hinkhouse.

Mountain goats at Ingalls Pass

I caught this little guy mid jump apparently

Not Hinkhouse

There was a little scrambling involved but it was a pretty easy climb, 20 minutes up from the pass. The weather was definitely moody. Lots of wind and clouds that would darken up only to dissipate minutes later. Views were ok. I paused and had a quick snack for 10 minutes while scoping out my potential route for South Ingalls and Fortune before heading back.

Fortune and Ingalls Peaks from Not Hinkhouse

I returned to my pack and headed off for headlight basin, taking the high trail. Headlight basin is a really lovely area. There were a few campers in the basin. I quickly left the trail and headed for a place to fill up on water and drop my pack. I packed up my daypack (which I was really glad I brought along) and headed for South Ingalls. There was a rocky outcropping that looked appealing, so I started by scrambling up that which had a few fun moves. Some boulder hopping and a bit more scrambling and I was at the saddle and headed for the the summit of South Ingalls. The final class 3 summit block was fun and soon I was at the top. The views of Ingalls Lake and Stuart were breathtaking! The clouds and sun breaks provided a moody scene that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Every 30 seconds I had to take another picture. Just one more I told myself. Then the light cast in a different way and I found myself reaching for the camera again. Not sure how long I spent on the summit, but it was time well spent! Great views from up there!

Moody Stuart

Light and Shadow

On the way down I noticed the weather to the west was stormy. It was raining in spots and I heard a couple thunder claps. Over to the east it was sunny with white fluffy clouds. I definitely picked a good place to go given the forecast! Or so I thought... as I made my way to Fortune the clouds darkened and it started to rain a few drops. High on a ridge with worsening weather and thunder showers near by?! Not good. I decided to bail and headed down from the saddle. After I dropped not even 100 feet the clouds cleared up and it was sunny again like nothing happened. I decided to head back for Fortune. I scrambled through some rocky cliffy ribs which was quite fun and eventually made summit number three for the day! At some point I remember looking back at South Ingalls and seeing a really unique cloud formation. I'll let your imagination tell you what you see...

Stormy skies to the west

South Ingalls

What do those clouds look like to you?

Pano from Fortune Peak

A dying snow finger

Headlight Basin

I descended mostly snow from the summit of Fortune and made it back to my pack in Headlight basin for a 2 hr 50 min round trip for both peaks. It was around 5:30 and I thought about lingering in Headlight basin for a bit longer, but I had a 6:00 dinner reservation at Ingalls Lake and didn't want to be late!

Ingalls Lake

Wilson, party of one... your table is right this way sir! I made my way around to the west side of the lake. The restaurant was one of those chic cooking school style restaurants where you cook your own meal, and on the menu tonight was freeze dried Bibimbap by Good To-Go paired with Bottom Cutter IPA. A delightful combo indeed, and the views were incredible!

Evening light on Ingalls lake and Stuart

Stuart reflection

Tail end of Ingalls Lake

Stuart Pass

I thought about hanging around after dinner for sunset, but decided to get a move on and find a place to camp for the night. I headed towards Stuart Pass and then down the trail towards the standard camp sites for a Mount Stuart ascent. I found a nice spot just south of the junction with the Longs Pass trail and settled in for the night. I was feeling a little apprehension about Stuart in the morning. I really wanted to give Ulrich's Couloir a go, but there isn't really a ton of info I could find about it. Would the route be ok? Would snow be a problem? Route finding? I thought maybe I should just go for the sure thing and take the Cascadian... My alarm rang at 5am and I lingered in bed, still uncertain what I would do. I had breakfast and packed my day pack and by the time I was on the trail I had made up my mind. I was going to go for Ulrich's! I was pretty much going off of Dustin Trails's report here, a yellow line on a Matt Lemke route photo on summit post, my GPS, and my route finding. I set off through some brush staying high and climber's left of the stream. The brush was mild and as I got higher started to thin out eventually transitioning to rock. Around 6200 feet you start to enter the couloir and walls rise up on either side of you. The rock quality was great! Becky's guide says of Ulrich's Couloir, the route has loose rock and there is rock fall danger and it is not recommended in summer. I would disagree. The rock was very solid consisting of slabs and large solid embedded rock. Bomber holds everywhere, with some class 4 or 5 if you go looking for it. I was in heaven. It felt like this route was made for me. 3000+ vertical feet for sustained class 3/4 scrambling?!? Yes please! My legs felt strong and my breath synced effortlessly with my pace. My consciousness was present and focused on the next move and the cool air of the couloir and occasional swirling clouds overhead added to the ambiance. I remember thinking, I could do this forever! This is SO MUCH FUN!!! At ~8400 feet I ran into the crux. I had managed to scramble around any snow on the route thus far, but here the gully narrowed with a sheer cliff on the right, steep slab on the left, and an icy snow finger in the gully. I tried the slab for 20 feet before running out of holds. I could have continued on with smearing alone, but a slip would have had disastrous consequences so I opted to climb the snow finger. It was covered with ice, maybe a quarter inch thick. Thank god I brought my crampons and axe! It was a little steep and I had to lean forward and use the pick of my axe, but my crampons got excellent purchase and it felt really secure. Maybe 100 feet later I was back on rock for 1000 more vertical feet of pure bliss. As I neared the summit I noticed a group had just crested the false summit at about the same elevation as me. I beat them to the summit and had it to myself for 40 minutes. There was a party of two on one of the north routes. It sounded like they were having a good time! The other party arrived and we took photos for each other before I packed up and started my descent.

A little brush for breakfast. Fine way to start the day!

The drainage for Ulrich's. Route stays up high on the left side of the photo.

Early scrambling. Rock is solid. ~5800 ft maybe?

Entrance to Ulrich's Couloir ~6200 ft

Gendarmes

This terrain is typical of Ulrich's Couloir

Fun clouds blowing through.

Looking down the coulior

These slabs got steep with poor holds 20 feet up. I ascended this ice crusted snow finger. ~8400 ft

The summit is in sight

Mount Stuart summit block

A climber prepares for his lead on one of the north side routes

Yours truly just below Stuart's summit

Stuart's summit and the other party

Mount Stuart summit panorama

I took the Cascadian Couloir on the way down. What a junk route. The snow field below the false summit was kinda soft and I did it without putting my crampons on. I did a portion of it facing in before it mellowed out and I was able to do some heavy heeled plunge stepping the rest of the way down until it transitioned back to rock. The rest of the way down wasn't that great. There was some scree, but not enough to plunge step very much. Lots of loose rock. It felt like I was off route a lot, and maybe I was, but I kept finding cairns and occasional trails. I was happy to reach the trail again at the bottom. The Cascadian is not very pleasant. I reached my camp where I packed up and headed for Longs Pass. That extra 1200 or 1500 feet elevation gain or what ever it is up to the pass was a real treat! I took my medicine and powered it out in 45-50 minutes. It wasn't that bad.

Sherpa

At first I thought these curved trees were an artifact of panorama mode, but I think they're legit - edit: nope, it's an artifact : /

More fun clouds

My route

Day 1 - 10 miles 4000k gain Day 2 - 9 miles 6000k gain A few thoughts on Ulrich's... I thought the route was great! But it's not for everyone. There is no path, no cairns to follow, and while the route finding isn't all that hard there are several opportunities to get off route. This is not a good route for the average person looking to summit Stuart. Buuuuuut, if you have a lot of scrambling and route finding experience and you feel right at home on class 4 terrain and you haven't bagged Stuart yet... Well, this might be a good route for you! While I didn't feel the rock fall danger was all that significant, I still wore a helmet and wouldn't recommend any more than three per party on the route. The biggest rock fall danger is probably at the top of the route, where you run the risk of climbers on the Cascadian Couloir route traversing between the false summit and true summit knocking rocks down on you. Be very alert the final 1000 vertical feet. Better yet, go early and be the first to summit for the day. I was. Also, the route is probably best either later in summer when all the snow has melted or in spring when it's totally snowed in. Just my two cents.

[neek]

Very nice! I might try Ulrich's next month, although I'm one of the few people who think the Cascadian is fine. So much sand, it's like being at the beach.

[Bootpathguy]

I'm sometimes disappointed with clear blue cloudless skies. Clouds make everything better. Nice report. Great images as usual. Thanks for sharing

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I can't remember exactly when I hiked to Ingalls Pass, probably around a month ago. A bunch of snow has melted off since then, wow.

[geyer]

Nice trip! Maybe I'll give it a go sometime too. I know that steep slab feeling all too well. You go up about 5 feet and realize how stupid it was before creeping backing down and trying a different route. Glad the snow finger worked for you!

[awilsondc]

[Gimpilator]

Nice to see an Ulrich report. Very cool.

[Brushbuffalo]

[awilsondc]

[Brushbuffalo]

[puzzlr]

BB, thanks for the reminder about Rusk's book. I had it but had not read much of it because it mostly about Mt Adams. It actually describes a number of the early ascents of Stuart, not just the exciting one with the unplanned bivouac.