Climb: Slesse Group - Labour Day Summit -East Pillar & Gendarme
Date of Climb: 7/17/2005
Trip Report:
This was supposed to be an overnighter but my climbing partner, who is also a firefighter auxiliary, got 2 callouts on Saturday afternoon. Thus we turned it into a long, long daytrip.
sunday 6AM I met Shaun at the vedder bridge. drove out to nesakwatch creek
parked shauns truck at 7am and started hiking. the new trail to slesse memorial is nice al;beit a bit muddy. once it joins the old trail, significant bush has been cleared to slesse memorial making for a fast hike. 1.5 hrs from the car
from slesse memorial to the road end, NO bush has been cleared. there was a lot of dew on the jungle so we had to stop twice to empty water out of boots, wring out socks and steam a bit in the sun. from road end to prop cairn the trail is well marked and in good shape. about 2.5 hrs from the car
from propellor cairn we started traversing south across the moraines and talus. our destination was Labour Day Summit, the SE most of the Slesse Group peaks. you get a good view of this from rexford. the Labour Day Buttress (north buttress) was climbed in the 70s and a route on the E face, was done in 2003 but we knew that there was still steep granite left unclimbed.
we traversed to the base of the NE face and scrambled a few hundred meters to a snow gully leading up to the col between the east pillar, and a major gendarme. we were able to avoid most of the snow via slab climbing to its right, mostly class 4 with a few 5.7 moves. got forced onto the snow at the top, which was a bit worrisome as shaun just had stiff boots whereas i had floppy boots and had a 3rd tool. shaun kicked good steps and i followed with the tool out on some 45 degree neve. it was soft enough to kick steps but hard enough to be stable, so we made out OK. the last bit up to the col was a muddy, rotten basalt dyke that made for though provoking scrambling.
from the col, we first scrambled up the gendarme, although fearsome from most aspects the back side went at a pleasant class 3-4. however the final summit was a 4m high block, overhanging on 3 sides, with 200m drops below. shaun soloed the 5.7 moves to the summit while i took pictures; i was feeling too cooked to go up there myself.
back down in the col it was very hot and we were dismotivated. to go up would be difficult but to go back down would also be a sufferfest. we napped for an hour or so and finally started climbing around 2 pm once the face was fully shaded. shaun picked out a good looking but steep and hard line going almost directly up from the col. i volunteered to let him lead it all as i was feeling rather weak and worked over already. the pitches went at 30m 5.7 (soloed), 30m 5.10a, 45m 5.10d, 60m 5.10b and 50m 5.4 to the summit. amazing climbing up finger, hand, and knee sized cracks and then a loose chimney. the 10d pitch was one of the best alpine pitches i have climbed, shaun did a really good job on lead. i was forced to pull on a few pieces while seconding.
by the time we got to the summit it was 6 pm. great views in all directions especially with slesse looming to the NW, an unusual view of "The Fang".
to descend we scrambled down the south face of labour day peak and then traversed south until we could downclimb a ramp into the second cirque SE of Labour Day. then we had to climb through a ridge notch into the SE cirque, and finally could begin the long traverse back to the Prop Cairn over snow, moraine and boulders. we had been out of food since the summit, but took advantage of the many meltwater streams to stay hydrated.
back to Prop Cairn at 9 PM, great alpenglow from the sunset on rexford etc. made it to slesse memorial just after 10, headlamps on, staggering by now. neither headlamp had a new battery so the light was rather faint but we made it to the car by 11:25 PM and I was home in da Wack by 12: 30. I nearly fell asleep while drinking the victory beer, and arrived late for work today.
Pics to come, and we did not yet come up with a name for our new route.
Gear Notes:
One set of wires
Full set of cams (purple TCU to #4 Camalot), with doubles from yellow TCU to blue Camalot. Didn't have a #5 camalot but could have used it for the 5", 5m long offwidth off the belay on the 2nd pitch. no pins.
Approach Notes:
Nesakwatch Cr road 2wd/3km, 4wd/6km. Bring rain pants or something for dew soaked bush.
Climb: Slesse Group - Labour Day Summit -East Pillar & Gendarme Date of Climb: 7/17/2005 Trip Report: This was supposed to be an overnighter but my climbing partner, who is also a firefighter auxiliary, got 2 callouts on Saturday afternoon. Thus we turned it into a long, long daytrip. sunday 6AM I met Shaun at the vedder bridge. drove out to nesakwatch creek parked shauns truck at 7am and started hiking. the new trail to slesse memorial is nice al;beit a bit muddy. once it joins the old trail, significant bush has been cleared to slesse memorial making for a fast hike. 1.5 hrs from the car from slesse memorial to the road end, NO bush has been cleared. there was a lot of dew on the jungle so we had to stop twice to empty water out of boots, wring out socks and steam a bit in the sun. from road end to prop cairn the trail is well marked and in good shape. about 2.5 hrs from the car from propellor cairn we started traversing south across the moraines and talus. our destination was Labour Day Summit, the SE most of the Slesse Group peaks. you get a good view of this from rexford. the Labour Day Buttress (north buttress) was climbed in the 70s and a route on the E face, was done in 2003 but we knew that there was still steep granite left unclimbed. we traversed to the base of the NE face and scrambled a few hundred meters to a snow gully leading up to the col between the east pillar, and a major gendarme. we were able to avoid most of the snow via slab climbing to its right, mostly class 4 with a few 5.7 moves. got forced onto the snow at the top, which was a bit worrisome as shaun just had stiff boots whereas i had floppy boots and had a 3rd tool. shaun kicked good steps and i followed with the tool out on some 45 degree neve. it was soft enough to kick steps but hard enough to be stable, so we made out OK. the last bit up to the col was a muddy, rotten basalt dyke that made for though provoking scrambling. from the col, we first scrambled up the gendarme, although fearsome from most aspects the back side went at a pleasant class 3-4. however the final summit was a 4m high block, overhanging on 3 sides, with 200m drops below. shaun soloed the 5.7 moves to the summit while i took pictures; i was feeling too cooked to go up there myself. back down in the col it was very hot and we were dismotivated. to go up would be difficult but to go back down would also be a sufferfest. we napped for an hour or so and finally started climbing around 2 pm once the face was fully shaded. shaun picked out a good looking but steep and hard line going almost directly up from the col. i volunteered to let him lead it all as i was feeling rather weak and worked over already. the pitches went at 30m 5.7 (soloed), 30m 5.10a, 45m 5.10d, 60m 5.10b and 50m 5.4 to the summit. amazing climbing up finger, hand, and knee sized cracks and then a loose chimney. the 10d pitch was one of the best alpine pitches i have climbed, shaun did a really good job on lead. i was forced to pull on a few pieces while seconding. by the time we got to the summit it was 6 pm. great views in all directions especially with slesse looming to the NW, an unusual view of "The Fang". to descend we scrambled down the south face of labour day peak and then traversed south until we could downclimb a ramp into the second cirque SE of Labour Day. then we had to climb through a ridge notch into the SE cirque, and finally could begin the long traverse back to the Prop Cairn over snow, moraine and boulders. we had been out of food since the summit, but took advantage of the many meltwater streams to stay hydrated. back to Prop Cairn at 9 PM, great alpenglow from the sunset on rexford etc. made it to slesse memorial just after 10, headlamps on, staggering by now. neither headlamp had a new battery so the light was rather faint but we made it to the car by 11:25 PM and I was home in da Wack by 12: 30. I nearly fell asleep while drinking the victory beer, and arrived late for work today. Pics to come, and we did not yet come up with a name for our new route. Gear Notes: One set of wires Full set of cams (purple TCU to #4 Camalot), with doubles from yellow TCU to blue Camalot. Didn't have a #5 camalot but could have used it for the 5", 5m long offwidth off the belay on the 2nd pitch. no pins. Approach Notes: Nesakwatch Cr road 2wd/3km, 4wd/6km. Bring rain pants or something for dew soaked bush.