Sloan Peak – West Face

Given a forecast of hot sunny weather Reid and I decided to forego the glacier on the Corkscrew route and spend the day on the rock. We were eager to get up into high alpine country and soak up the ambiance on “The Matterhorn of the Cascades.”

 

After missing the logging road turn off we eventually found our way to a vacant parking lot at the Bedal trailhead.

We left the Bedal trailhead by 7am and enjoyed the recently manicured trail.

Two hours got us up to a basin and spectacular view of the west face, there is a lot of hard-man route potential here. Once we crossed over the first ridge and filled up our Camelbacks we climbed up to the prominent crest of the ridge and scoped out the route. See topo. Look for prominent dihedral as a reference.

Climbing was fun and on fairly solid granite.  We left the Bedal trailhead by 7am and enjoyed the recently manicured trail.

Two hours got us up to a basin and spectacular view of the west face, there is a lot of hard-man route potential here. Once we crossed over the first ridge and filled up our Camelbacks we climbed up to the prominent crest of the ridge and scoped out the route. See topo. Look for prominent dihedral as a reference.

Climbing was fun and on fairly solid granite.  

The center of the wall steepens for a few pitches before easing back to broken facets with heather ledges in between.

Bryan high on the peak

The center of the wall steepens for a few pitches before easing back to broken facets with heather ledges in between.

Connect to the Corkscrew trail at approx 7,000 feet.

A few 3rd/4th class moves to the summit.

One of the most spectacular summits in the Cascades.

Didn’t want to leave and begin the descent that took us longer to get down the mountain than it did up.

Over 7hrs later back at the trailhead just before we needed headlamps.

We had a great time climbing a spectacular peak on the intended route in perfect conditions (that’s not usually the case of most of my alpine adventures).

Gear Notes:
• Alpine rack single cams, nut and hexes up to 2″ (bring a 3 if you like to carry the bulk)
• Poles were very helpful for ascending the ridge essentially dry-tooling on slippery steep heather
• Ice Axe, running shoes with YakTrax and Talus Gaiters worked pretty well on the steep snow fields.

Approach Notes:
Hike 3 miles on Bedal trail to basin (2hrs). Ascend snowfield to steepening heather fields and bushwhack over ridge. From the other side there is assessable water. Ascend upward and left back on to crest of ridge find obvious climbers path to steepening rock where technical climbing begins. (Approx 3 hrs if stopping to get water).