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Well, first a big shoutout to Jeremy from nwhikers.net and to Spicoli11. I lost my camera after this climb last weekend, see here: http://splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5398, and posted everywhere I could about it. Spicoli suggested I try nwhikers.net, and his suggestion paid off big time, since I got a call Friday night from Jeremy about my camera. Spent all day Saturday happily driving out to Sequim, WA to retrieve it, and it's still in great shape, despite having survived 2 miles of road on the roof of my car followed by a 30 mph tumble down the road. Jeremy, his wife, and fried were driving out about an hour after us, and saw it just in time to not hit it. Once he saw my post, he let me know.

So, thanks guys! I really appreciate it and hope somebody can return the favor to you someday!

Anyways, back to the climb, and subject of this. We turned around and bailed from Mt Stuart a month ago while trying the West Ridge in the clouds. It was cold, getting late, and we were a bit off route, having climbed the West Horn instead of staying lower on the traverse towards the summit. The forecast looked phenomenal for the weekend, and we started floating the idea around of climbing Mt Stuart in a day via the West Ridge. Our rough timeline looked something like this:

7 pm Sat: Leave Seattle
930 pm: Get to the TH, pull out the sleeping bags, and hit the sack
230 am: Alarm goes off, don headlamps, eat some quick food and slam some gatorade
250 am: Leave TH
4 am: Reach Long's Pass
5 am: Refill water, drop a pack, and head up Ingalls Creek
6 am: Turn off trail, rest for 20-30 minutes to let it get a bit brighter
7 am: Sun comes up
130 pm: Reach summit, about 6 miles and 6600 feet of gain at this point
6 pm: Pick up second pack, sort gear, refill water
7 pm: Reach Long's Pass, sun sets
735 pm: Put on my headlamp
750 pm: Get back to car 17 hours after we started, 8,000 feet of gain/loss and 12-13 miles
815 pm: Drive off with camera on the roof of my car, cause I'm an idiot, was tired, and just spent 17 hours on my feet
820 pm: Camera falls off
920? pm: Camera found

The pics:

Sunrise on Rainier above Ingalls Pass:


Chris taking a breather in the gully:


Mt Daniel and Stuart's shadow:


Chris coming up the last stretch of gully below Long John Tower:


On the traverse towards the West Ridge Notch:


The traverse:


From the summit looking northwest, with Baker and Glacier in the distance:


Looking east to the Enchantments:


Chris:


Me:


Sunset on Mt Stuart from Longs Pass:


And sunset on Rainier:


Thanks for looking/reading.

Even though I looked at Rainier my entire life growing up, and could even see Rainier from our backyard before the neighborhood expanded, sunrise/sunset pics of the mountain still take my breath away and make me giddy with outdoor anticipation. Thanks for posting!

Quite the day and so stoked you got your camera back!

Probably would have never been possible before the internet and forums.

Cool pics too and you should update your Lost Camera thread with the good news.

Awesome... Glad to hear you got your camera back!! Nice pics...I love mt stuart