LA Wilder Ski Trips - Sherpa Glacier Basin, Mt. Stuart July 14, 2008

Dave, Paul and I hiked up to the basin of Sherpa Glacier to check out the climbing route to the top of Mt. Stuart. I wanted to see if it was something I wanted to do with them. If I had crampons, I could probably do it without much trouble. However, at this time of year, the glacier looked pretty icy and I didn't have crampons. Nor, did I think I could use them on my boots. So, I decided this wasn't the year for me to try it.

We left the Lake Stuart trail not long after we passed the junction to Lake Colchuck. There is a faint trail to the left that takes you to the south side of the spur. We lost the trail not long after we took the cut off and we decided to stay high, scrambling over boulders for most of our way to the basin. It was fun, but a little tiring after a while. We stopped at the basin, had lunch and discussed whether we should climb up to the pass and head over to the lake. We had convinced ourselves to do it, but after a long debate, we decided to go back the way we came because we couldn't see how much of the Stuart glacier we would have to cross or how steep it was. We weren't sure we had the appropriate equipment to cross it. We decided to stay closer to the creek on our way back, even though we were a little worried we would get into mosquitoes. However, we soon found a trail that stayed right along the creek and it was much easier going back. We were glad we chose to go back this way. The bugs weren't bad until we got close to the junction to the main trail. Then they were horrendous. I got eaten alive in a matter of minutes. Right about then was when we lost the trail and had to scramble around to find the main Lake Stuart trail. We knew approximately where it should be, but the mosquitoes made us a little desperate to find it fast and we pretty much crashed through all the brush until we found it.