[TR] Mt. Ballard - E Face via S Fork Slate Creek (New Approach) 9/28/2008

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Trip: Mt. Ballard (8,320') - E Face via S Fork Slate Creek (New Approach)

 

Date: 9/28/2008

 

Trip Report:

Mike Collins, Don Beavon and I made an ascent of the E Face of Mt Ballard from S Fork Slate Creek this past weekend. This route shaves many miles off traditional approaches and allowed us to summit from the TH in a tad over 5 hours. There is no record of any previous parties approaching this way. We finished the climb on the W Face of the summit tower, of which there are also no record of ascents.

 

A year or so ago, Stefan Feller mentioned S Fork Slate Creek as a possible route up Ballard from the East. Since that time, I have been meaning to get up and scope it out. This past weekend, I finally got that chance.

 

Ballard has traditionally been associated with long approaches and loose rock. On the map, S Fork Slate Creek seemed to mitigate the arduous approach and the E Face seemed like a pretty straightforward route. Nevertheless, none of us had heard of anyone actually approaching this way (although we knew Don Goodman and Dave Creeden had both climbed the E Face, via alternate, more strenuous approaches). Looking at it on the map, the S Fork Slate Ck approach seemed easy, but as is the case with many places in the N Cascades, maps and reality can be two entirely different things. But after a little bit of planning, Don Beavon, Mike Collins and I decided to give it a go.

 

On Saturday we made the long drive up to Hart's Pass, then down to the Cady Pass TH (rough road here, high clearance vehicles recommended).

 

After leaving the car (~3800') at 12:30, we were off. 1.5 miles of nice graded road led us to the bridge spanning S Fork Slate Ck. From here, we peeled off left, up the bank and through open forest. We gained about 100' from the creek, and immediately found a nice waytrail (very faint, but not too hard to follow). We continued on upstream through open forest, crossing several tributaries. The lack of brush was a relief, as we thought ahead of time that it was going to be brushy.

 

About 2 hours from the TH (~3.25 miles in), we came into a clearing at 5200'. Beautiful red heather slopes gave way to Ballard's dramatic E Face. We took a short break in the meadow, watching the sun disappear behind Ballard, looming 3000' above us. From here, we spied a possible camp at the base of the talus, and we headed up. Gaining 1000' through open heather slopes and rock bands (to class 3), we found no suitable camp sites. One could possibly excavate a campsite in the talus, but it wouldn't be comfortable. Instead, we pushed another 100' further up to the timber ridge mentioned in Beckey. Here, we found several possible camps, one on heather that suited our needs just fine (~6,300'). It was only 3:30, a mere 3 hours in from the car! We were astonished that we got in there that quickly after hearing accounts of fast parties taking 14 hours RT using other approaches. Thanks Stefan, for the idea!

 

We bivvied that night out under the stars, and wow, what a show. The stars were as bright as could be, thanks to the near new moon. After counting seven shooting stars and BS'ing with Don for a couple of hours (Mike was out as soon as his head hit the pillow), we finally went to sleep, planning to wake up as the sun hit the camp site.

 

Before the sun hit camp, though, we were already awake, ready to start the climb. We ate breakfast and headed up, leaving camp at 7:40. Lots of class 2, a bit of class 3, and a small amount of class 4 got us up to the notch between 8,301' and 8,320'. From here, we teased out a route on class 3 ledges, connecting us with the main summit block. Once on the summit block, we climbed class 4 to low class 5 on the W Face for 80 feet, before scrambling class 3 to the summit at 9:40 (2 hours from camp).

 

Looking at the route over Cady Pass, and the route in from Glacier Pass on the summit, we were astonished at how much faster our approach was. We felt relieved not to have to haul out 12+ miles to the TH.

 

We took summit photos, ate lunch, and generally kicked back. We remarked about how much lower 8301 looked than the true summit. In our opinions, it looked a lot more than 19 feet taller. Don went over and tagged 8,301 (the false summit) to take photos, while Mike and I relaxed at the notch, enjoying the views and the brilliant reds that dominated the landscape. It was about 70 degrees in the sun, and there was zero wind. What a gorgeous summit day in late September!

 

Don joined us back at the col, and we retraced our route back to camp. We packed up and in 15 minutes, were off again, headed back to the TH. It took us exactly 2 hours to get back to the car, where we had cold drinks waiting. Another awesome trip in the mountains!

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Helmet.

 

Approach Notes:

Short and easy.