Sloan Peak Corkscrew TR

[scot'teryx]

Left TH on Saturday morning at 530am after getting rained on in our bivies on Friday night????.

 

First 1/2 mile of trail was easy but overgrown. We reached the main fjord of the river and it was quite easy to cross, rather low. Made our way up to Cougar Falls and then through the Avi Debris to the first meadow with no problems. (Just a ton of logs and debris to cross every 100 feet it seemed) We passed a Mazamas group campsite where the scree hill is encountered and went right up a steep heather slope and then onto some snow. Stay left instead and follow the climbers trail that we did not see. After that we were totally off route and climbed some snow in the gully that ran out at a few places and had to downlclimb some snow and onto the heather slopes and ascend the wet granite slabs and snow slopes to the SE ridgeline. The climbers trail is way east of the basin and that slowed us down by taking the wrong route.

 

Once at the ridgeline the sloan glacier is sighted along with the summit. We contemplated where to get onto the glacier, whether or not to do the high traverse or do a low traverse. We started the low traverse and wound up zig zagging forever, running into dead ends etc, lots of gapers out there as well!

 

After we found a decent route, my friend Jessica (Alpine Chica) fell into a small crevase through a snow bridge, no big deal as we were 4 on a rope and she was in the middle. We finally reached the beautiful granite slab of the east side of sloan and got on the ridgeline. We ran into a group of mazamas with huge packs at that point as they started to head back to camp. It was 130pm and we decided that we had to start hauling ass to make this thing happen.

 

The 3rd scramble is very easy. Mostly a climbers trail at the start, then a chossy gully that is sandy, one 4th class move IMO, and then a 3rd class move here and there. We reached the summit, took some pictures and headed down. We thought that a straight traverse across the top of the glacier would be best and the quickest, so we headed out and found ourselves running into some gapers that we were able to negotiate, and then a rock band stopped us dead in our tracks. John downclimbed some wet slab and over a moat that could have ate him up. The rest of set up a sling on a large rock and a bail biner to lower ourselves off of (Booty for Fence Sitter!). That took way too long, and alpine chica was new to glacier travel so she was a little slower and more timid than the rest.

 

We reached the ridgeline and glissaded down to fresh water and hopped onto the climbers trail that was smooth sailing all the way down to the mazamas camp. We went as fast as possible from here on out, but did not reach the river fjord until 830pm. The trail back to the cars from there winds around here and there and was hard to follow at times, and we got lost a few times, but the main thing to do is to follow the orange ribbons. They will take you the right way every time.

 

We got to the car at 9pm, exhausted.............

The drive back home sucked, I might have been driving worse than a granite falls drunk.

[slothrop]

Good job avoiding the gapers, gaper.

 

[scot'teryx]

But I'm a "sprayprentice"

 

[Quien_Sabe]

Gaper

[catbirdseat]

Nice TR. June is a far better month to climb the Corkscrew. The glacier is simpler to cross, although, the river can be a problem then. Choose your poison.

[Quien_Sabe]

But w/o the spicyness of the glacier in late season, what fun would it be?

[Dustin_B]

I climbed the corkscrew in mid september last year and it was fine. I think this one can be climbed year round with out any difficulty.

[mvs]

Climbed the West Face yesterday, it was a very worthwhile climb. We ignored the (complex) Beckey description and just headed straight up from the high spur, finding climbing from 4th class to 5.7. The only sign of passage was a fixed nut in a steep chimney, and that curious kicked-steps-in-heather look on grassy holdless sections. I'm pretty sure mountain goats can't cause that! We met the corkscrew trail near where it begins scrambling up a gully after 5 pitches of simulclimbing, and 250 feet of unroped scrambling.

 

We seemed to have the whole Sloan/Bedal group to ourselves.

Views were a bit beclouded.

 

Hey Scott'teryx, what's up with "don't forget the stoppers" in the summit register?

 

We descended the ramps on the south, a little unsure of the way on the exposed ramps and slabs. But it went fine, as did the traverse back into Bedal Basin.

 

The Bedal Basin trail is good, but there are very brushy sections in the first half. The berries are a nice consolation prize though.

 

It took us 11 hours there and back from the car. There is loose rock, and it's easy to get onto scary terrain covered in black lichen. But the views looking down the face and across to the Gemini (?) peaks are steller.

 

 

 

[mvs]

Here are a cupla pihcs:

 

 

 

[ncascademtns]

Nice Job.

Did the Corkscrew a few years ago. A buddy of mine let loose a nice rock on the west side heading for the summit but grabbed it before it had time to pick up speed. Lucky he did beause two guys popped there heads up and over the west face route.

[mvs]

Whoa, it took us 13 hours not 11. Don't want to start another speed ascent controversy!