Stuart Peak

I was moments from getting started on my own when my friends pulled up beside me in the Rattlesnake Wilderness parking lot. None of us were impressed with the cold temperatures and as we strode off towards the Stuart Peak trail I blurted out a couple of expletives to drive home my thoughts on the situation. Soon though, the chill had subsided into a growing ember of warmth from the brisk pace that was being set.

For me it would be a long day. I had my eye set on not only hiking Stuart Peak but Mosquito Peak which was 4 extra miles. Our expectations were that the 8 miles to Stuart would bee hike-able and really doubted the 30 inches of snow report. I suspected I would need my snow shoes at the wilderness boundary 6 miles in.

My GPS said 6 miles but we were no where near the wilderness boundary. I cussed at the USFS signage and cut a switchback to gain time on my friends to set up a changing station. I kicked in a seat and put out my sleeping pad. I sat down and put on my snow shoes. Yes! There really was that much snow. But I had no idea that this was only the beginning.

My friends arrived and while one was totally dismantling in front of my eyes the other seemed eager to continue. I was raring to go and after some gear change and packing delays I had us on the trail trudging up the mountain. This time I was breaking trail.

Soon I was on my own as my friends turned back at around 2 pm. Just as I started to get in a faster pace the trail disappeared completely and my snow shoes were inadequate. The snow was getting deeper and deeper. I took to the ridge and decide to be-line it to Stuart.

I climbed for what seemed to me like 3 hours but in reality probably 45 minutes. I I was getting to around 7,00 feet and was excited to already be at Stuart Peak. Only 1,000 feet to go. I knew Stuart got down to business for 800 feet in like a third of a mile so I knew that when I started to go straight up the end was close. Then the slope started descending.

I lost about 200 feet of elevation gain and just wrote it off to maybe a high point along the ridge. I crossed what seemed to be a trail. It was a trail. I searched my mind trying to remember the map I studied earlier in the day and decided that this was a trail down to the Farmer Lakes part of the wilderness.  Lucky for me I decided to go left to avoid going down into the Rattlesnake. I decided to follow the trail which should be close to the base of the mountain I wanted.

Just as I was admitting to myself that there was no trail to the Farmer lakes I saw a wilderness boundary. I was heart broken to discover not only that I wasn't where I thought I was but I also was not as far as well.  I strolled through and onto a familiar trail towards Stuart and resigned to the fact that I was only a couple miles away. It wasn't as far as I had hoped but at least I knew for sure. The problem was that I was not making great time. It took me an hour to get the last mile and at this pace I wouldn't make Mosquito Peak. I decided to skip Stuart and go directly for Mosquito and I picked up the pace down the trail which seemed to be flattening out.

Then again the trail disappeared and it felt like I was descending to the south too much.  As soon as the trail was no longer apparent I started straight up the hill to the north. My GPS was not making sense and I figured I must be pretty close to Stuart Peak. The thoughts of obtaining Mosquito was vanishing and so was daylight. I started to decide if I wanted to summit in the darkness or not. I was perplexed why I hadn't found Stuart yet and started to get concerned as a storm rolled in and vanished all my visual landmarks. The winds started howling and I staggered higher and higher. I could see a giant mountain way of to my left and thought to myself that that couldn't be Stuart. it was too far off.

I kept heading north using my GPS. The visibility was poor and it was nearing 3:30 pm. Obtaining Mosquito was a distant memory and getting Stuart in the daylight was in question. I only had a hour or two of daylight. I noticed that I was getting cold in both my fingers and feet. Even while working hard I was losing body heat and couldn't stay warm. I struggled against the waist deep snow. Suddenly there was a distinct cut off of trees. There were these black objects in the swirling snow and wind and then further on nothing. Nothing but a white glow.

This had to be Stuart and I must have been on the edge of a headwall that fell off to the North. So I decided to follow the edge of the trees and go straight up. I had to stop first and put on all my layers.  Just 20 yards from a north facing cliff I dug everything out of my pack and put it on. I suck down copious amounts of Carbo Rocket and filled my already frozen water bottle. This would be the last time I got to drink.

On hour later I had only gone a quarter mile. I was climbing over huge compacted snow drifts. At times I would run into a wall of snow. I was snow blind and had no depth perception. I fell off of snow drifts, and fell through waist deep powder. It was slow going. I kept stopping to warm my fingers by doing windmills.

Suddenly I stopped. I was done. I couldn't stay warm and it was going to get dark. I was froze solid and knew I better turn around a give in. I tried my best to take photos because their were momentary views off the edge. I pulled out my camera and it flash froze half way into its start up (the lens opens and comes out a bit). I tried to get my cell phone out to text a status but it froze solid as well. I was freezing to death and needed to generate heat before I descended. I put all batteries and camera next to my skin in my pants and put in 15 minutes of furious effort up the mountain.

Just as I warmed a bit and stopped to turn around the skies started to clear. The storm passed and I saw that I was just below the summit. I pulled out my camera and put in the warm battery. It worked and I took some photos. Everything changed from that point on. I scampered to the top and rejoiced. Just in time too, the sun was ready to set and the alpine glow started to warm my soul. It was 4:44 pm.

Just 8 hours from leaving the trail head I arrived back at my car. I went into town a joined my friends that had turned around earlier and met them at the Bridge Pizza. I told them of my journey and we compared notes of the day. I told them how I almost froze to death and how slow going it was. I told them of the hardships and overcoming them. I told them about the alpine glow and descending into the night.  I didn't make it to Mosquito Peak but I did make it to the Bridge for pizza. I guess sometimes things just work out for the best.

More Photos (even more at http://goo.gl/kdu75, video, map):