Slesse Crossover Descent Landslide

[G-spotter]

Heads up y'all:

There's been a bunch of rockfall from the side of Mt Parkes in the last few months, culminating in a large landslide (not quite Joffre sized), from right where the Crossover descent trail crosses the ledge under the summit of Parkes before beginning its descent through the meadows. Rockfall seems to be mostly to skiiers right as you descend the meadows but the top of the scar may or may not have taken out the descent ledge completely.

Please be aware of this if planning to climb Slesse and be prepared to use alternate descents to avoid the rockfall hazard. The simplest descent is probably the west side Slesse Mountain Trail to Slesse Creek. You'll need a car shuttle or mountain bike to get back around from there to a vehicle in Nesakwatch Creek.

 

Photo from Mike Garcia, taken from Slesse NEB

[JasonG]

Wow, that is pretty nasty looking if you have to traverse across the top of it....looks like more could go.

[shishcabob30]

My partner and I were thinking of going for Slesse earlier this week but bailed due to the pocket glacier conditions. Maybe we should have been more concerned about this rockfall...

[dberdinka]

The crossover descent has always sucked compared to just bombing down the south side to your pre-stashed bike.   Not a popular opinion though.

[G-spotter]

On 8/10/2019 at 8:35 PM, shishcabob30 said:

My partner and I were thinking of going for Slesse earlier this week but bailed due to the pocket glacier conditions. Maybe we should have been more concerned about this rockfall...

yeah because pocket glacier is easy and not very dangerous right now

[cmjreyes]

Anyone know what kind of clearance you need to get down Sleese Creek Rd? Is it in as rough shape as the Nesakwatch Rd or can a normal clearance sedan handle it with a bit of care for the purpose of shuttling?

[JeffMacNeill]

On 8/12/2019 at 5:00 PM, G-spotter said:

yeah because pocket glacier is easy and not very dangerous right now

Is this sarcastic or is the pocket glacier good to go right now? considering heading out in the next week or so...will descent the grueling southwest route...

[JasonG]

18 minutes ago, JeffMacNeill said:

Is this sarcastic

@G-spotter , sarcastic?   Never.  

I have no info on the pocket glacier condition, but if it hasn't slid I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that approach. 

[G-spotter]

Pocket Glacier is a nipple-hiding pastie on the giant boob of slabs at the moment. If it does slip, you'll enjoy it

[G-spotter]

On 8/14/2019 at 10:36 AM, cmjreyes said:

Anyone know what kind of clearance you need to get down Sleese Creek Rd? Is it in as rough shape as the Nesakwatch Rd or can a normal clearance sedan handle it with a bit of care for the purpose of shuttling?

it's 2wd to the washout at 6km ,then you have to walk around an hour to the Slesse Mountain Trail. and a bike won't help that hour at all due to trees on the road

[JeffMacNeill]

On 8/15/2019 at 4:10 PM, G-spotter said:

Pocket Glacier is a nipple-hiding pastie on the giant boob of slabs at the moment. If it does slip, you'll enjoy it

This is my favorite.

[mountainsloth]

I recall skipping the meadow traverse and we did a longer traverse around the back side of Mt. Parkes. We had to descend into a basin and head up to a notch but it basically dropped us on the correct side directly above the talus field that leads to the flagged trail.