[TR] Slesse - NE Buttress 9/12/2007

[512dude]

Trip: Slesse - NE Buttress

 

Date: 9/12/2007

 

Trip Report:

It has been a great season climbing thus far but Slesse was still on my hit list and the summer drawing short. With the high pressure system that formed over the PNW last week I knew that it would likely be the last chance for a summer ascent on Slesse. My post for a partner resulted in a hook-up with a great guy and experienced climber from Bellingham.

 

After a quick stop at the Triple O in Chilliwack we rolled down the Chilliwack Lake Road and found Slesse Creek Road at the mileage quoted by Becky. There were a couple of tougher sections and so we pulled my gear box off the back of my van and stashed it to give me more clearance to get thru the wash outs. We tried to follow Nelson's and/or Becky's instructions but with new logging activity things got a bit confusing and we ended driving around looking for the Slesse Mtn trail head. I ripped open a sidewall and had to change a tire on a steep logging road but luckily that only ate up time and didn't strand us. We ended up finding the a trail but with no signs we had to only assume it was the correct spot. Our approach notes have the updated information with regards to finding the correct trail head. By the time we got to the Nesakwatch Creek side it was already dark and so we had to look for trails by head lamp. The best we could do was locate the old trail head at ~3.5 miles from the road. I had read about a new trail on the mountslesse.ca forum but we had no luck locating it so we parked and crashed at the old trail trail head.

 

Alarms were ringing around 4am and we were up and going by 5am by head lamps. The first business was to cross the Nesakwatch Creek and the cold water ensured that we would not be sleepy for the rest of the approach. The growth on the far side of the creek is pretty thick so following the old logging road is best done by looking up and making sure there is no canopy cover above. A bit of bush whacking took us thru thickets and at one point we came across a large hornets nest hanging in a tree. I wasn't sure it was still inhabited so I tapped it gently and boy was I wrong. Within an instant the hornets were pouring out the entrance and surrounding the nest. We backed off quickly and with good luck neither one of us sustained any hits. A little further up the trail Kurt plunged into a dirt crevasse just catching himself before really going in! Luckily he also avoided injury. We discovered that this area of the trail had what looked like small mine shafts of sorts?!? We crossed a couple of wooden foot bridges and in about 45 minutes emerged from the brush to find a nice hiking trail with flagging tape. I believe that we just hooked up with the new and much better Memorial Trail. Soon thereafter we arrived at the Memorial Plaque and found the climber's trail leading up the bowl just behind it.

 

We continued up the scree bowl following the rocky drainage and passing an old landing gear and various plane wreckage bits from the 1956 plane crash. We decided to take the gulley just SE of the East Buttress toe and then cross over the notch in the lower part of the East Buttress which would put us in the pocket glacier cirque. (Good map on pg.170 of Becky’s guide Vol.III) The good news was that the pocket glacier had slid and the objective danger in that area was now minimized. It allowed us the ability to cross quickly and in trail runners. Just as we were standing in the notch of the East Buttress we watched a huge avalanche let loose as the north side glacier broke away and swept straight through the headwall gully, a common approach for the Direct NE Buttress start. We down climbed into the pocket glacier cirque and as we made our way across the cirque we came across a rope which had been cut through. We coiled it up and talked about whether or not this could be the rope from the accident back in early July in which a climber was killed by falling ice. A sobering and sad thought but a reality to remind us of the serious nature of this environment. We moved on quietly knowing that this mountain has been a place of many tragic events. As we reached the long ramp we gave one last look back at the cirque and the remaining glacier and were thankful for the safe passage.

 

8:30am and we were now crossing onto the buttress through the treed section. We followed a semi-trail that wound its way through the 3rd and 4th class terrain and eventually took us on to the crest where we changed over to rock shoes for the 5th class terrain. It wasn’t long before we were through the double cracks, the short 5.9 (Becky’s pitch 8/Nelson’s pitch 13) and into the nice 5.8 layback where we bootied a very old stiff-necked Friend. After the large bivi ledge we simul-climbed the next 600’ until we reached the leaning pillar. A nice corner with a fixed pin took us into a couple of short pitches and more ledges. Then the loose blocky corner pitch with the ¼” Leaper bolt and a fun step though a notch in a roof. The next pitch went long for almost a full rope length to the described alcove atop Nelson’s pitch 22. A good belay with nuts here and a great photo op looking down the whole buttress below. Two more longer pitches and we were at the summit at 5:30pm.

 

The climbing was not very difficult but the rock appearance gave the impression that whole sections of the mountain were ready to peel away at a given moment. I found huge hand holds and plenty of footholds the whole way up and even though the over hanging roofy sections which always provided some stemming option.

 

We weren’t on the summit long before we need to start moving and find our way down, daylight was limited. We had opted for a single rope so we were prepared to do some down climbing to get to the large lower ledge system. As we followed the cairn marked descent SW around the corner we only had a small 4th class down climb and then we discovered a new set of slings. Kurt and I figured this was recently set up by someone not too happy to down climb this section but who only had a single rope. So we rapped and of course found another station about 80’ to 90’ down. One more rap and we were at the large ledge which was easily walked to the other rap stations. I spotted a faint trail heading across the scree bowl and towards the wooded ridge so we knew where we were headed. Once we made it to the big gulley behind the north face we only had one task left. Follow that trail along the crest and down towards Slesse Creek. This is one arduous trail that seems like its’ steepness will never end. It will definitely give you a good thigh work out and when it finally hits bottom you’ll have another ~2 - 2.5 miles back to the car along the old logging road.

 

Overall our car to car time was 17 hours.

 

A BIG thanks to Kurt for being a great climber and a great partner.

 

Basic area map showing overall start and finish of the climb

 

Hazards on the road approach

 

Ominous Slesse in the early morning

 

Plane wreckage - landing gear

 

Look back at the approach up the basin from the memorial

 

Kurt heading for the gully

 

Approach gully with the tower on the right

 

Looking down the approach gully

 

East Buttress and cross over notch

 

Heading up the slabs to the East Buttress

 

A look across the pocket glacier cirque to the approach ramp

 

Remnants of the pocket glacier with the descent from the notch in the background

 

Crossing the slabs in the cirque

 

A sobbering find with the objective dangers above

 

The last bits of dangerous ice

 

A look back across the cirque - our line follows the shadow

 

The ramp to the Ne Buttress crest

 

The twin cracks on Becky's pitch 7

 

Short 5.9 on Becky's pitch 8

 

5.8+ Layback flake - Becky's pitch 9

 

starting the 600 ft of 3rd/4th class

 

Kurt with a twinkle in his eye as we simul to the headwall

 

 

the upper wall with the leaning pillar

 

5.8+ vertical wall with a fixed pin - Becky's pitch 11

 

nice exposure up high

 

is that block going to hold?

 

"the incredible 5.8" as Becky describes his pitch 13

 

looking down from the alcove belay at the top of Nelson's pitch 21/Becky's pitch 14

 

view from the belay

 

Kurt cruising up

 

Last sunlight for the summit shot

 

Baker in the south

 

What? We got to go 6000' down there???

 

Last light on the Border Peaks

 

Gear Notes:

For our one day climb we took 3L of water but soaked up a fair amount of water in the cirque and also on the pocket glacier slabs. We did find small snow chunks on the upper reaches of the route and on the last 2 miles of the Slesse Mtn. trail there was water. We each carried a Bullet pack. I ate 3 bars and 1 shot of gu but had an additional 2 bars and 2 packs of gu with me. Climbing gear consisted of ten 2’ slings, one 4’ sling, Camalot set from .3 – 3 and a set of BD wires from 4-13 and doubles from 10-13. I also recommend leather gloves for the descent as they come in handy for grabbing and swinging from trees and bushes. Our shoes consisted of simple approach shoes/trail runners and were more than sufficient.

 

 

One 60m rope is sufficient for the descent since new slings have been set up for single rope rappels further south from the original rappel stations. Just follow the cairns.

 

 

 

Approach Notes:

The most popular way to climb Slesse’s classic NE Buttress route is to approach from the Nesakwatch Creek on the east side of the mountain and then descend down the Slesse Mtn. trail towards Slesse Creek on the west side of the mountain. To facilitate this option a second car or other mode of transportation should be left at the Slesse Mtn. trail head on the west side of the mountain. A popular option is to leave a mountain bike at the end of the Slesse Mtn trail head and ride the ~15 mile trek back to the car on the Nesakwatch Creek side.

 

Drive – Take the Trans Canada Highway #1 east from Vancouver to Chilliwack. Take exit 119 / Chilliwack-Sardis exit and head south on Vedder Road for 3.4 miles. Take a left turn onto Chilliwack Lake Road (paved) just before the Vedder Bridge.

 

Part 1 - Follow Chilliwack Lake Road (paved) for 13.2 miles to the Slesse Creek Road. Turn right (south) on to Slesse Creek Road (dirt) passing a fork at ~3.7 miles and staying left (right goes to a bridge). At the next fork stay right as the left goes into the DND Test Area and is typically gated. Head uphill to another fork at ~4.3 miles at the top of the hill. Stay right at this one and head down to a small bridge. This road can be deeply rutted and may require a high clearance vehicle. At ~4.6 miles reach a three way intersection and ignore the right and left options instead heading straight through to a parking area at approximately 5 miles. The Slesse Mtn. trail currently begins from the south end of the parking area and this is the place to leave the 2nd car or stash a bike.

 

Part 2 – Return to Chilliwack Lake Road and head east for another 5.7 miles until you reach the second Riverside Recreation Site Entrance on your right. (Both entrances are within 500m of one another). Take the second entrance and pass over a small bridge, followed by a larger bridge. Keep driving straight until the road branches and go right. This is the Nesakwatch Creek Road (dirt). Follow this for road and in 3.5 miles from Chilliwack Lake Road you will find a small pull out and the “old” trail head for the approach as described by Fred Becky. A new trail head exists on the river side of the road about 1 mile further up the road but at the time of writing we had a hard time finding the pull out and trail head.

 

Approach – Starting elev. ~2000ft. Once you have found the new trail, head down towards the Nesakwatch Creek and cross it on a log. Three quarters of the way up the steep trail you will reach another log crossing over a small creek. Follow the beaten trail and occasional tape tied to branches until it meets up with the old logging road. The trail will then switch back gradually, crossing over several avalanche chutes & runoffs along the way. Once you start getting close to the memorial you will see two signs a short distance apart and eventually reach the memorial plaque at ~3900 ft. From here Slesse will be in full view and it is a good position for assessing the conditions of the pocket glacier and to gape at the route. From behind the memorial plaque a climbers trail heads down the slope and follows the drainage rock into the basin. Depending on the time of year, approach route conditions and the whether the party is doing the direct start or the by-pass, each party will need to negotiate their own approach risks from here to NE Buttress.

 

Descent - Walk south from the summit a couple hundred feet across a ledge system above the east wall. Move over the crest and onto the south west side of the summit ridge and follow cairns south until one has to make a short 4th class down climb to a good ledge. A rappel station will be obvious tied off to a large block. 2 raps will get one down to the obvious ledge system. Walk northwest down the deep gully with the tall gendarme on your left. Continue down to where the gulley becomes steep and begin traversing northwest along good ledges. Look for another cairn as you traverse around a corner to another single rope rappel station. After the rap, traverse the slopes to the north west and find 2 more rappels in a gulley. Traverse again to the north west and find the last rappel station. Make another rap; angling hard climber’s left to an obvious ledge (~50 ft. rappel). Walk up until able to enter the large gully (somewhat loose) and head to the bottom of the gully. At the exit of gully, find the climber’s trail at the top of the scree bowl that heads off towards the wooded ridge (cairns, turning to footpath). Follow this trail down, with occasional down scrambles past a saddle with many dead trees and on to a meadow at ~4,000 ft. The trail becomes steep in many places and is unrelenting in its descent. More trail, getting better as you go down takes you (after what seems like forever) to an old logging road in the valley bottom. More endless deactivated logging road leads (~1.5 hours) to the parking lot shortly after a wooden footbridge. ~4.5 hours summit to parking lot.

 

[gt5816v]

Nice one guys!

[kurthicks]

it was a fun route and a good time climbing with Chris. Not a bad first route together!

 

with all the beta from this post and steph's tr, everyone should have no troubles at least getting to the trailheads!

[clintcummins]

Chris + Kurt,

 

Nice report and photos! Many of them look so familiar, as Steph and I did the climb 2 days later. But a couple of times we belayed out of sight of the cruxes and didn't get all the same photos. Now I'm jealous! Maybe I can use photoshop and paste myself into some of yours, with a few beams of light to go with? :-)

 

Keep up the good work.

[512dude]

Clint...we really didn't do the climb, we just used some previous post's pictures and Photoshop'ed ourselves in. I'll send you the .psd files to save you some time

 

Cheers mate!