[TR] Sloan- NE ridge 7/17/2004

[Dru]

Climb: Sloan-NE ridge

 

Date of Climb: 7/17/2004

 

Trip Report:

Snoboy and I climbed this route in a day return from Squamish. Alpine Select says "fast parties" can do so so I guess that means we are a fast party.

 

I had been on Sloan twice before and in the area 3x before. It's pretty cool up there. First time in I got rained off the NE ridge at start of the rock/end of the forest. Second time I soloed the NW ridge after crossing the N face glacier. Third time was with stemalot and jordop on Mt Land. Still hadn't done NE ridge so this, my 4th trip, was specifically with that in mind.

 

This is a pretty good route, not "great" but pretty good. I had fun anyways. It took us about 4 hours up from the car. The rock quality features lots of shattered blocks in some places, solid in others.

 

Looking at the ridge from the start you think the first half is going to be the hardest then easy scrambling to the summit. But in fact the hardest climbing is all in the second half of the route.

 

The rating for this one is supposed to be 4th class by easiest line, 5th class if you stick to the ridge crest. I did do a little bit of 5.8 on the ridge crest but backed down because the 4th class bypass option was much faster.

 

We didnt take or use a rope, if you did a short one would be ideal because the longest section you'd pitch out would be like 20m. Helmets are good.

 

On summit we decided to go down via Ault Lakes rather than reverse the ridge. I think this option (Ault Lakes) is a faster descent, esp if you already know the area. We took the second gully west of the west summit and this is the one that will be in the new scrambling guide when Matt gets it out. The gully I had used before (first one west of west summit) still had snow in it and would have been tricky glissading in mtn. masters.

 

Time round trip from Squamish (including pie and coffee stops in P'town and Whistler) was ~14 hours. Left with a super alpine start sometime just after 8 AM, back in Squamish just after 10 PM

 

Gear Notes:

helmets

 

Approach Notes:

Ault Cr. road now goes to km 8, save time on approach but have to hike back to get car

[jordop]

Coo. Did you gain the ridge as per norm from the lake, or find some new way with the new road system(s)

[Dru]

We took a right after crossing the bridge and drove up that road about a km ,then took a left at the last fork and parked at end of that spur. After bushwacking for 20 minutes we came out on the road we would have driven up if we had gone right at the last fork , followed that for 500m to its end and then from the end of that road it took us an hour to treeline and the start of the scrambling.

 

Coming out the trail via the lakes was sooo overgrown we couldnt even really find a tread to follow.

[dberdinka]

Now that you're a "fast" party go do S Face of Ashlu in a day from Squish and give us a report!

[Dru]

The Unimog needs a repair

[JasonG]

With all of the flooding last October, is the road still in 2WD shape?? Thanks!!

[Dru]

This road is nowhere near any flooding. So yes.

[fern]

Heinrich this thread is about mt sloan in Canada. there may be a mt. sloan in washington that may or may not be near flooding

[Dru]

And here is a picure of snoboy on the ridge!

 

[JasonG]

Fern- Is that why this thread is in the BC forum?

Dru- Thanks for the info. With all the rain last fall I was wondering about washouts and such (having never driven the road myself), but I guess the road is just fine.

[Dru]

The road has been graded this season, and goes further than indicated in the MClane guide - 2wd to the base of the ridge

[peas]

I've been in there a little more recently than Dru, and I think it has rained since he's been in there. The new road they've put in to the base of the ridge didn't seem to have culverts installed, so all the runoff came down the road. When I went up it, it was a little more than 2wd. I drive an old beater Toyota truck and scraped the skid plate off of my gas tank.