marc_leclerc Posted September 9, 2008 Posted September 9, 2008 Trip: Slesse Mountain - Northeast Buttress Date: 9/7/2008 Trip Report: After my first attempt on the route in July I really wanted to get back on Mt Slesse and finish this classic route. On labour day weekend BStach and I headed up in mediocre only to get snowed on below the bivi site and rap down / descend in the dark. Even after I had been weathered off the route twice I decided to go for it yet again. Reinhard and I made plans to do the route and I posted for a third partner to help with car shuttle in the partners forum. Brabbit (Neale) joined us for the climb and we all slept at the memorial plaque that (friday) night. We woke up when four climbers from Seattle hiked past our bivi on their way to do the route but we were not happy with the weather. We hiked all the way up to the notch stopping several times for the weather to clear, when it was 2:00 PM we decided that the weather was not going to clear and we would rap down a gully into the basin below the pocket glacier cirque. But as we descended from the notch the weather cleared up and we were at the base of the bypass ledges by 3:30. When we were on the bypass ledges there was a team from the chzek republic 4 pitches below the bivi. WE simul climbed a bunch, stopped to belay a sort 5.8 pitch, and simul climbed the north face ramps around the crux to pass the other teams in the crux section. Just below the bivi ledge I led a great 5.8 pitch to the bivi ledge and we topped out at the ledge just behind the team of four and a pitch ahead of the chzek team. I think we spent maybe four hours on the lower buttress. From the bivi the route looked great! We half-slept until first light , packed up, and started simul-climbing easy terrain to the upper headwall. Our progress was slowed by rope drag and the other team of four caught up as Neale started leading the fist steep pitch on the upper section. This was afun pitch with some nice exposure and great juggy holds. I led the rotten pillar pitch after this wich was pretty mellow and not very rotten. The end of this pitch required standing up on a detached (but solid) block with mega exposure, good stuff! We were now at the upper crux, I requested to lead this one and Neale handed me the rack. The crux started with some neat climbing in a corner into some wicked bomber flakes, then I passed an old bolt and weaved a line through a couple cool roofs (not loose as the Beckey guide suggests) I was really happy with this pitch. I belayed my partners up and Neale cruised up the 'very exposed' 5.7 pitch. The climbing was very steep with great exposure but the rock had lots of holds and was never too hard. My feet were hurting by then and I was climbing in my approach shoes, luckily the last couple 5.8 pitches were not to hard for me to climb in my runners and me and Neale swapped leads up the last 3 pitches to the top. The final pitch was also great, I led up a steep crack and then through some random splitter granite to the summit. It was great to finally stand on the summit of Slesse after two attempts, I felt really great. After chilling on the summit we descended the standard route without difficulty down the super steep trail on the west side of Slesse. We had to hike to our cars at chilliwack lake road but it wasnt too bad. After a long descent I arrived back at my house at 1:00 AM and crashed until 7:00 when I had to go to school Overall I really enjoyed this climb, next time I do it I want to do the complete buttress and the direct middle section, it looks fun. Thanks Neale and reinhard for beaing a great partners. Gear Notes: a full rack, a couple doubles in the 'thin hands' size were nice. Approach Notes: Slesse Memorial trail, cross slabs throught notch, cross cirque to route. Quote
olyclimber Posted September 9, 2008 Posted September 9, 2008 Nice! Way to stick with it and finally get'r done! Thanks for the TR. Quote
Braydon Posted September 9, 2008 Posted September 9, 2008 nice job marc! way to knock it off! wish i was there! Quote
bigeo Posted September 9, 2008 Posted September 9, 2008 Marc, It was great sharing the route and descent with you, neale and reinhard. What an amazing climb in perfect conditions. Look forward to seeing you in the crags again. Thanks again neale for the ride back to our car. I didn't really need the extra exercise of a 10 mile bike ride. Quote
WhiteLightning Posted September 9, 2008 Posted September 9, 2008 Marc, you were home by 1? Lucky you. By the time I hit a doughnut at Tim Horton's, dropped everyone off in Arlington, Edmonds and Lynnwood, I got home at 5. Neale, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to get me back to my rig. Quote
bstach Posted September 9, 2008 Posted September 9, 2008 Nice work, Marc, your tenacity has paid off. I'm totally jealous. I'll have to get back there next year as I am leaving Friday to PEI and Nova Scotia for 3 weeks. Just curious, how was the overnight tempurature? Bit better than when we were there? Surely we would have frozen our arses on the bivy ledge. Quote
marc_leclerc Posted September 9, 2008 Author Posted September 9, 2008 Nice work, Marc, your tenacity has paid off. I'm totally jealous. I'll have to get back there next year as I am leaving Friday to PEI and Nova Scotia for 3 weeks. Just curious, how was the overnight tempurature? Bit better than when we were there? Surely we would have frozen our arses on the bivy ledge. It was WAY warmer than last time... I did have a bivi sack and a down jacket though. Quote
Trent Posted September 9, 2008 Posted September 9, 2008 Marc: Thanks for the beta. Nice job on finally bagging the route. Tenacity pays off! We looked at the weather and elected to climb on Sunday and Monday. There were two other teams on the mountain on Sunday; a team of two that were attempting a one-day ascent, and a team of three that were doing the bypass variation. Both bailed and we had the "gigantic" bivy ledge to ourselves. We elected to do the entire ridge and not bypass the hard climbing to the bivy ledges. I would reccommend this variation if you climb it again. The climbing was exposed but fun and the pro was good. It felt like sustained 5.9 to me. Having only one car, we elected to do the crossover descent back to the memorial. This ended up being more involved than what we thought, and we were benighted in the brush below the memorial, and bivied on a talus field. With light the next day it was five minutes to the trail. We estimated that we passed the memorial by about thirty feet in the dark! Quote
marc_leclerc Posted September 9, 2008 Author Posted September 9, 2008 great job!^ isnt it a sweet route? We bypassed the harder climbing to pass other parties, not because they were too hard. Quote
Chad_A Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 Nice job, excellent pics! Way to get back after it, dude. Quote
ScottPick Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 (edited) Marc just took it this morning on a flight to the Pickett Range. Will upload all and add a link to them. Lots of tasty lines for you to ooogle over. Hows abpout another tease....can you see the line you climbed? I think its really hard to see in this photo. Edited September 12, 2008 by ScottPick Quote
marc_leclerc Posted September 12, 2008 Author Posted September 12, 2008 the line is super abvious actually, on the ridge coming toward-ish the camera Quote
AlpineK Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 This photo is interesting I remember doing the route and descending via crossover peak. The snow was plentiful, hard, and a bit icy coming back to the base of the route. We were in approach shoes. Fortunately we did bring ice axes. It was still hairball getting back to our stuff. Nice TR Quote
ScottPick Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 I was joking!!! I have been looking at that beast since you were in diapers lol. Quote
AlpineK Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 (edited) since 1964? I think I did the buttress in '90 or around then. I finally looked at some notes and I did the route in '88 Edited September 12, 2008 by Feck Quote
AlpineK Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 Photo of me at Slesse bivi in '88 You can see the snow on the crossover slope. I think it was in July. Quote
Rad Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 Nice work Marc. Perseverance is a quality that will take you a long way in life. Keep it up! Quote
TamaraSlade Posted September 15, 2008 Posted September 15, 2008 Awesome job!!! Im glad you finally got it off your list! Now you just get to do it in winter! lol Quote
Off_White Posted September 15, 2008 Posted September 15, 2008 since 1964? I think I did the buttress in '90 or around then. I finally looked at some notes and I did the route in '88 Well there Grandpa Feck, you're starting to slip in the comprehension business too, Scott was saying he'd been looking at the line since Marc was in diapers. Back in '88 I don't think Marc had even been born! Quote
marc_leclerc Posted September 15, 2008 Author Posted September 15, 2008 since 1964? I think I did the buttress in '90 or around then. I finally looked at some notes and I did the route in '88 Well there Grandpa Feck, you're starting to slip in the comprehension business too, Scott was saying he'd been looking at the line since Marc was in diapers. Back in '88 I don't think Marc had even been born! Yep.. I was born in 92' ... damn I feel like a little kid. Quote
pinegar Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 Great Photos and TR! I know how good it feels to succeed after a couple of attempts. Quote
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