[TR] Sloan Peak - West Face 9/15/2012

[benny h]

Trip: Sloan Peak - West Face

 

Date: 9/15/2012

 

Trip Report:

On 9/15/12 my buddy Andrew and I set out to climb the West Face of Sloan. We'd been excited about climbing Sloan for a bit and talked about doing it all summer. We originally discussed doing the Cork-Screw Route, but the West Face sounded more up our alley. We left Seattle at 6am, began hiking by 9am. Set up camp around 12pm. Ate a quick lunch, began climbing around 1pm. Summit at 6pm. Back in camp at 12am. Enjoyed a leisurely morning the following day. Began hiking out at 11am, back at the car by 2pm.

 

(Photo taken from summit of Columbia Peak, June 2012.)

 

(route in brief)

 

P1 -

Begin just below prominent left slanting “chimney” system. Not much for protection, better climbing out left on the slab. Fairly dirty. Ends at a small ledge with a rap station.

 

 

P2 -

Continue above rap station staying right in the crack then moving out left onto slab. Angle lessens, rock quality improves. We began to simul climb ~ 50 ft above P1. P2 ends on broad shelf. Appeared to be a rap station on large boulder left of the route. Not exactly sure where that would land a descending party. P3 (right slanting dihedral) becomes obvious.

 

Continued simulclimbing right up ledge system to a crack system the leads to the base of P3. Good tree to belay from just below the crack. Good spot for belayer to belay safely out of the way of rock fall. We found lots of loose rock and little in the way to build an anchor at the base of P3. If using a 60m or 70m rope it may be possible to begin P3 here, however rope drag would appear to be a big issue. (We used an 8.0mm 70m rope, folded in half, so we had 35m to work with per pitch).

 

 

 

P3 -

Right slanting dihedral. Most challenging pitch on the route. Most protectable pitch, #.75 - .3 size is most abundant. Perhaps doubles of cams #.75-2? We had a light rack (five cams: BD #.4-2; two tricams #1 and #.5; three nuts: BD #8,6,5) and ran it out a bit. Ends on a small ledge with a huge boulder. Sling boulder for an anchor; used a 20 ft piece of cordelette tied together.

 

(short section before P3. Dihedral is above the climber.)

 

P4-

Continue up short crack / gully system. Start straight up toward over-hang, then moved out left around corner back into gully. Watch for loose rock. There used to be a fixed nut (size 13?) protecting the crux move; a #2 cam works better. I pulled off a microwave-sized rock taking a lead fall. Rock missed belayer. Belayers may want to position as far right as safely possible. Above crux, angle lessens, easy climbing, however more loose rocks. Pitch ends when the gully opens up. Large rock out right, good spot to build an anchor.

 

 

Fixed nut, not any more.

 

P5-

Traverse left (downhill) into adjacent gully system, slightly over-hung face to the right. Pitch continues zigzaging up obvious weakness in the rock. Low fifth-class, good protection. We simulclimbed and alternated between running belays in 2 or 3 different places. Pitch ends at the base of large steep face, rock slung with webbing.

 

Summit scramble-

From here it sounds like there are a few options. We went left up another gully, unroped. Scrambling felt 4th class with one or two 5th class moves. We opted to go unroped to reduce rock-fall potential. As the angle eased off and the slope opens up to heather benches and ledges we changed back into approach shoes and continued up and meeting up with the Corks-skrew route which we took to the summit.

 

Route Overview:

 

Checking out the route over lunch.

 

West Face complex. Route follows slightly right of the skyline.

 

Ben's stoked on the summit.

 

Andrew enjoying the views. Rainier to the South.

 

Ben and Andrew on the Summit

 

View East to Glacier

 

View West to the Olympics

 

View North towards Baker

 

Sloan's Shadow.

 

 

Descent:

 

(Photo taken the next day: South ridge)

 

We chose to rappel the south ridge directly off the Cork-Screw route where the path makes a hairpin turn to descend toward East Arm that contributes to Sloan's unique profile. We made six 35m rappels, with two short traverses / down climb sections.

 

It was extremely useful to sight the south ridge from the Cork-Screw route, half between the hairpin turn and the East Arm. As we did not carry crampons, ice axes or poles on the climb, our plan was to descend to the open rocks as far south as possible so that we could traverse below the South-saddle and hike back to our campsite.

 

We build most of our rap stations, but we did encounter a few established ones along the way. As we rappelled into darkness with only one head lamp, some of the rappels felt utterly terrifying. Good luck with not getting our rope stuck at all and each 35m section ending blessedly upon something from which we could make an anchor, the descent went slowly, however, safely. Our 3rd rappel continued over an overhung section that ended on a precarious sloping bench with about 2 feet of rope from the knots lying terrifyingly serene.

 

 

I belayed my partner up and across a short traverse to our 4th rap station. This rappel continued left and needed a directional to reach the next section. From here I belayed my partner as he down climbed what's probably a short 5.0 section at best, but felt way more burly in the dark. In day light it might not be necessary to belay here, and to simply down climb and traverse climber's left toward the 5th rap station. From here one double length rappel should be able to get you off the ridge. We did it in two, 35m rappels.

 

Once off the ridge we followed talus and granite slopes down hill. Found running water, crossed a 50-ft snow slope, regained another ridge and traversed, scrambling westward toward the saddle on the south ridge to return to camp.

 

 

Comments:

 

The entire route was dry and snow free. Wetness and snow may obscure what we encountered as straightforward route-finding. The views on this iconic mountain in the central cascades are worth the trip. Its surprising there was not more evidence of folks doing this route (either online or on route). While there are hazards such as loose rock, possible wetness earlier in the season, not great protection in some spots, and as far as we could tell, no straightforward descent; Sloan's West Face presents a number of great mountaineering problems to solve without incredibly difficult climbing. If you're reading this prior to climbing the West Face, have a great trip its totally worth it!

 

Gear Notes:

Approach shoes and rock shoes

70m, 8.0mm rope (folded in half)

Light alpine rack (5 cams, BD #.4-2; 3 nuts, BD #8,6,5; and 2 tricams, #1 and .5)

8 – 10 slings, mostly doubles and triples.

Camping gear and trekking poles.

 

 

Approach Notes:

FS 4096 off Mountain Loop Highway. Continue past road for Goat Lake trail if driving from Barlow Pass. Take FS 4096 to the end of the road ~ 2 miles(?). Somewhat rough road, ends at trail head, small area to park up to 3 or 4 cars / trucks.

 

Hike established trail. Appeared to be well maintained. Recent trail work apparent. Trail follows a creak on right. Crosses the creak, trail steepens slightly, opens onto talus slope. Old sign post with no sign. Lots of cairns. Follow cairns / trail. View to the massive west face begins to come into view. Cairns lead back into woods, trail steepens and then exits into a low alpine meadow. Continue following stream beds, water courses up to the obvious saddle in a general South-Eastward up hill direction. Gain the saddle, turn left (ENE), follow path along ridge, exit onto talus / heather/ blueberry bush slope. West Face route begins in prominent left slanting gully (“chimney”) system just right of where this ridge ends. Access via the open slope, not the ridge.

 

Excellent camping SE on broad bench below saddle of the Sloan's south ridge, across the slope.

Edited September 19, 2012 by benny h

[patb]

Nice Ben and Andrew! Finally ticked Sloan (I've been hearing about it all summer

[mountainsloth]

nice work Andrew! Looks fun.