"Woo wee, what a day that was. My second attempt here and this time it was successful. AK and myself went car-to-car in a little over 13 hours, taking the Cascadian Couloir up and down this beast of a mountain. Stuart is such a beautiful mountain from a distance, dominating the skyline with it's jagged peak, but up close (on the CC)... it's UGLY! The terrain for much of the climb is varying mixture of sand, scree, and talus. This efficiently drains you of energy bc each step is a full body move. When you get into the scramble it's relaxed class 3 problem solving -- and a lot of it. I never really felt exposed except for maybe 1 or 2 moves. Conditions were perfect. Partly cloudy and 70 degrees. We saw a few different parties but the mountain was pretty bare for it being Saturday with ideal weather. If you're attempting it, good luck! Helmet, gaiters (sand), gloves, and sticks for the summer ascent. Oh, and we saw a mount goat and then a marmot on the summit." — zachmitch • Jul 19, 2025

"Made it to the ice lakes, constant rain didn't hamper my spirits but making another 3000ft ascent up the cirque in the dark didn't seem like a good idea. Turned around and enjoyed a nice nap in my car. Woke up to a deer who would not stop licking my car, despite trying to scare her off she was not deterred." — MikeERodriguez • Jun 21, 2025

"Came within 200’ vertical of the summit of Shuksan. Punched through the soft ice layer to a hole 20’ deep and who knows how far from there. Bailed. But at least climbed Mt Shuksan - Sulfide Peak but even the snow was horrible on that sinking up to our hips. Fantastic ski out! Definitely a two ice-tool summit and rap off tho. " — castrode • Jun 18, 2024

"I had originally conceived of this loop to get to Ice Lakes without taking the burned-out Entiat Valley, with the bonus of needing only one car. That original iteration departed via the Rock Creek (1509) or Basalt Peak (1515) trails. Reports of terrible post-fire jackstraw lodgepole on Basalt Peak were not appealing and my dear friend Tanner was able to join with a second car, so we opted to depart from the Basalt Pass trail (1530) instead, shaving off a few miles and a 1000 ft. Aside from Ice Lakes, our primary objectives were to climb Mt. Maude and Seven Fingered Jack (7FJ), two of the tallest non-volcanic peaks in Washington (both top 9000 ft.) Day 1 (13.2 miles, 7149 ft): The trail to Basalt Pass was logged out and in good shape. We walked over Peak 6351 and Peak 6754 (Basalt Ridge), pausing frequently to admire the sea of peaks to the south dramatized by a light smoke haze in the valleys. Small plumes from the two fires near Lake Wenatchee were visible, but smoke would not become an issue until later in the trip. We reached the Garland Peak trail around lunchtime. Much of this portion of the ridgeline is a moonscape of light pumice and alpine buckwheat, with a lot of..." — TynanRammGranberg • Aug 31, 2022

"Silver Star Mountain via Burgundy Col. Interesting mountain! Lots of deadfall down low, but quickly clears and yields to easily followable trail. Early Winters Creek crossing is no problemo thanks to a dry log just a few yards right of the trail on the approach. We stayed at Bench Camp, with plenty flat sites for tents and water a short romp away on a well-worn side path (48.55487, -120.60359). The hike up the gully to Burgundy Col is effin’ hot garbage. Stay climber’s left of the gully proper to trade loose,microwave-sized death traps for equally unenjoyable (but far less dangerous) slabs covered in kitty litter. This area felt like the crux of the entire climb. Take your time route-finding through here both coming and going. The drop onto the other side of the mountain from Burgundy col was into steep. A party ahead of us rappeled down on a snow bollard, but we had no problems down-climbing the soft snow, which had a nice runout. A glorious boot pack highway leads all the way to the summit block. Silver Star Glacier was super closed in the early morning, so we opted to ascend unroped. Snow still covers much of the summit save for about a hundred feet of straightforward scrambling..." — wacbravo • Jul 11, 2022