Cpt.Caveman Posted September 17, 2001 Share Posted September 17, 2001 Rafael and I had a killer time on Slesse. The pocket glacier is tiny and is still a definite threat though. About 40 minutes after we passed under it shit was coming off all over. The rock is not as good as Stuart but the climbing is super exposed and still enjoyable. Study your descent and or bring a map. -Cpt [This message has been edited by Cpt.Caveman (edited 09-17-2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted September 17, 2001 Share Posted September 17, 2001 Congrats Cavey. Slesse was looking good - I was up Grant on Sat. and McGuire on Sunday. Some questions- 1) 1 day or two? 2) West side or east side descent? 3) Booty? 4) Bypass or direct start? 5) Beckey Ramps or crest direct? Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted September 17, 2001 Author Share Posted September 17, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Dru: Congrats Cavey. Slesse was looking good - I was up Grant on Sat. and McGuire on Sunday. Some questions- 1) 1 day or two? 2) West side or east side descent? 3) Booty? 4) Bypass or direct start? 5) Beckey Ramps or crest direct? We summited in one day. Then went down and bivied on the way. Descent a whole other story! We could not find one so we bushwacked down via the Borbon express army training. ~7hrs to trailhead and then the bike ride wasted me. No booty but Raf tried to retrieve one cam low on the route. Bypass. Direct looked pretty contrived at this point No Beckey ramp shit. But I am not sure if we did the exact shit either. We did go up some overhanging 5.9 climbing but it was not finger cracks. More like choss but pretty hard... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted September 18, 2001 Share Posted September 18, 2001 ray you is soooo bad. getting stuff done!!! nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted September 18, 2001 Author Share Posted September 18, 2001 And Erik comes out of the woodwork! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziff Posted September 18, 2001 Share Posted September 18, 2001 Dru, about the direct start, it is not recommended. I tried in a week before you found your booty with Buda a few years back. we did the first pitch which is nice, but the next pitch is gross and we bailed and did the bypass, after having wasted much time. Friends of mine completed the direct start two weeks after I was there and they do not recommend it. They said the second pitch was hard (5.10ish) and no pro. They did not follow the "5.8 magic carpet ride" pitch because they could not comprehend how to climb it. Anybody else been there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted September 18, 2001 Author Share Posted September 18, 2001 I think if the glacier was impassable it would be your only choice for sure. Therefore the info is and should be available for us if we choose to climb it. Right now you can simply walk past it though. Like I mentioned before: Considering it a large mountain myself I think it would be a little contrived to do these pitches under its current conditions. But if you are not in a hurry and want more climbing then it is there for you. Some might say it might be better style to add these but personally I dont care. I guess it is up to the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted September 18, 2001 Share Posted September 18, 2001 Didn't mneagle or someone else on this site recently (last few months) say they did the direct start and it was good?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafael_H Posted September 18, 2001 Share Posted September 18, 2001 From the pocket glacier the lower portion looked OK, I saw the pitches shown on http://naclassics.com/climbs/slessemt/beta.htm. I didn't do my homework (and, quite frankly think the Alpine Guide is very imprecise on the approach) so we lost 2 hours in the morning, direct start was out. I think it is not long and worth doing as it had the only actually crag climbing looking pitches. I consider the rest of the NE Butress a choss pile I will never go back to. The last pitch or two don't even seem to be climbed, apparently most take the 4-th class bypass. As we simul-climbed I neither looked carefully nor have a sense for the pitch breakdown, just one big non-stop jug pull. Per Dale's suggestion we stayed as close to the crest as possible. There is a red Metolius - very good shape - stuck there but I couldn't take it out, it'll come out with a nut tool, it's moving but would take more than 5 minutes, so we left it alone. West side descend, ha-ha, just as Caveman said, either know it well or take the Borbon Express Downslide Southwest variation, it is fuuuun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatboy Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Nice Photo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 GOOD JOB GUYS!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Dru, where was the photo taken from? What peaks are in the back? American Border Peak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Picture taken from rexford. tamihi, american and canadian are left b'ground, mcguire is right b'ground, crossover is far right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Very, very cool! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_Puget Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 If I remember correctly the initial pitches (first 2) of the direct start were the most difficult. They were a series of short corners between slabs and ledges. Rope drag potentially a problem here. The protection was bad in that if you fell getting out of a corner you would definitely hit the slab/ledge below. The corners (august) were also a bit wet and muddy adding to the fun. Not sure if I would say 5.10, but definitely the crux of the route in terms of difficult moves. Not the most fun climbing on the route. I climbed it years ago and at that time the Magic Carpet pitch was kinda fun. I can imagine with all the traffic that it quite possibly has changed quite a bit. After that pitch the rock improved and there was several hundred feet of very easy (mostly 3rd some 4rth) but fun climbing until a broken and vegetated section was reached. I think this is where the bypass joins. I had a blast on this section. All in all I’d agree, if you don’t climb the bottom section you aren’t missing much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted September 26, 2001 Share Posted September 26, 2001 Some recent Slesse route action: Guy Edwards and Kelly Franz did a new route on east Face of Slesse that goes from bottom of Navigator wall ( at top of initial buttress) up steep face to top of Mullen/Stoddard route. V 10+R. Andrew Dunlop and partner climbed the N buttress of the peak just west of Labor Day Buttress peak at III 5.8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mneagle Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Dru: Didn't mneagle or someone else on this site recently (last few months) say they did the direct start and it was good?? I was definitly not the person calling the direct start good. I tried it a few years ago and agree that the first pitch is nice followed by a very scary and unprotectable section that we bailed from in favor of the bypass. We ran into a couple of Canadians who were descending after getting rained on the day before, but as a consolation hit the mother load of booty. They found a new down jacket, shoes, a bunch of Aliens and other gear strewn about on some ledges. They hypothesized that some poor guy's pack opened up and rained treasure down the mountain. The only thing that rained on us was...well, rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 Who's this arron Dunlap fellow and how does Dru know him? Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted September 27, 2001 Author Share Posted September 27, 2001 quote: Originally posted by max: Who's this arron Dunlap fellow and how does Dru know him? Who cares who he is or how he knows him! The climbing community is small. Hooray for him climbing them. I want to see the routes in a book or some photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 http://bivouac.com/mtn/TripPg.asp?rq=TripPg&TripId=1419 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 Maybe it was Kalun D that did the direct start then. I just did a search but all I could find was me, erik and lambone dissing each other! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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