Aidan, Michael, and I, the “Three Amigos”, discussed climbing Slesse Mountain together via the famous Northeast Buttress route shortly after we completed the Pickets Traverse.  Summer ended rather abruptly last year stopping those plans, but the time came to make the trip exactly one year later.  Our plan was to drive up to the trailhead past Chiliwack, British Columbia, and park one car at the Slesse Creek trailhead and then drive the other to the Nesakwatch Creek parking area where we’d sleep the night before.  The following day, we’d make the approach and climb halfway up the buttress to the bivy sites, and make the final climb and descent the following day.

This climb made me a little antsy.  Was I ready for something this big and committing?  This was one of the more serious Alpine Rock climbs of the Fifty North American Classics.  At dinner in Chiliwack, I asked Michael and Aidan if they were at all nervous.  They both said, “Nah.”  That at least calmed me down a little.  Back at the trailhead, we were a little confused by a sign which indicated that the Slesse trail was further up the road, while the guidebooks clearly indicated that the trail leaving the parking lot was the correct one.  Michael and I hiked up the rocky road a way, trying a little investigative work before we turned in before the big day.  Well, we didn’t discover anything so we returned intent on at least walking the standard trail in the morning.

After a pleasant night in the not-too-scenic camping area, we headed off down the trail.  Pretty soon, the trail took us down to Nesakwatch Creek where the trail abruptly ended.  After a minute or two of fretting over where to go, we concluded that because there was no bridge in sight both upstream and downstream, we should trust the sign and continue hiking up the road.  Some minutes later on the road, we did see a faint trail turnoff when descended steeply back to the creek and crossed on a solid fallen tree.  The trail then climbed steeply back up where it met up with the abandoned logging road.  We had received beta that the easy approach to the base of the climb took a mere hour.  That was way off.  It would take two and a half hours, not bad, but the alder had encroached on most of the trail and, despite the clear night, was soaking wet.  So, yet again, we enjoyed pushing through the dripping trail with branches slapping us in the face depositing wet drops that clung to our noses, ears, eye lashes, and aggravated.  I think it was really just me, but I got irritated at the approach!  The Slesse Memorial sign, commemorating the 1956 plane crash was a good spot to stop and take a gander at the massive route.  Beyond, more wet trail awaited us on the way to the grassy knoll and the Propeller Cairn.  We took a short break at the cairn then set off for the Pocket Glacier.

There’s a steep notch used to access the Pocket Glacier.  The super slippery descent from the notch was actually a little nervy for me.  We reached the Pocket Glacier without incident though.  It had thankfully released most of it’s ice.  There was a little bit still at the very top, so we didn’t wait around too long.  We’d all heard the stories of ice shifting frequently.  The Pocket Glacier cirque had probably the most granite I’d ever seen.  If you imagine a rough cube, there was granite on all sides except two:  above us and behind us.  It provided some pretty interesting echo opportunities.  The bypass ledge to get to the start of the climb was very obvious and again quite nervy up high.  There was one moment where Michael and Aidan were well in front of me (I’d been filming) and I made a super exposed and scary step across in my tennis shoes (no heavy boots for this trip) without any handholds.  “Oh my God!”, I thought.  “These guys didn’t even flinch at this move.  Am I ready for this?”  Turns out they’d found an easier way.  OK, no more of that, I was ready to rope up.  However, we continued climbing up less exposed, but still 5th class, slabs beyond the traditional rope up spot to a ledge where the climbing became serious enough to warrant roping up.  OK, we were here!  Finally!  Let’s get down to business.

Aidan took off on the first pitch, a 5.6 slab that was pretty much impossible to protect for a long stretch.  It required getting your nerves ready to go right away.  The pitch was fairly short, and, with the exception of the slab, was quite easy.  I led out on the next pitch, which was similar:  mostly easy climbing with a few 5.7/5.8 moves.  Aidan and I swung two more leads, each one started to get a little more sustained in difficulty.  Aidan led a fifth pitch up to the spot where we could bypass the crux on more 5.7.  But, Michael really wanted to lead the crux and he did a fine job of it.  It was super quality climbing and pretty challenging, definitely harder than the upper crux pitches I thought, but reasonably rated.  It was the sustained nature of the pitch that made it challenging.  The first part was a fun crack for about 30-40 feet.  The crux was exiting the crack onto conglomerate rock which formed a roof to be dealt with.  There were many pieces of the puzzle to put together – short steps here, quick bumps on handholds there – in order to complete the roof.  Once above the roof, the climb becomes very much like Canary at Castle Rock in Leavenworth – 5.8 exposed thin face climbing.

Now, it was pretty tricky for Aidan and I to follow.  We opted to climb on a single rope, with both followers tied within 15-20 feet of each other, following together.  This was pretty tough climbing to remain synchronized on.  A few times Aidan had to keep moving while I was fiddling with ideas on how to get through the roof and ended up getting some significant slack in the rope.  A fall would have yanked me off as well, though Michael kept a good belay going.  Needless to say, it sketched Aidan out a little.  When we arrived at the belay, Aidan needed to head out next (since he was at the end).  But, he obviously wasn’t too into it.  I volunteered but when Aidan saw the hassle, he went into his serious get-it-done mode and headed off.  Aidan did the same thing on Mount Terror.  When he gets a little weirded, he shifts into a serious mode then blasts through hard stuff really fast.  On this pitch, he continued up exposed 5.7 face climbing up to a ledge.  At the ledge was, what I thought, the hardest move on the climb:  a short strenuous 5.9 lieback.  I came up over that move panting.  “Dang, Aidan!  Nice job!”

At the top of this pitch, Michael opted to lead off again.  It was now about 3 in the afternoon and we suspected that we were very close to the bivy sites.  This was another fun pitch, rated 5.8+.  The Beckey topo described it as a strenuous lieback (I don’t think he was talking about the previous one).  Well, it wasn’t strenuous at all.  I recall a fun, solid crack with flakes all the way up to the top.  At the top, I immediately saw the famous view from the bivy of the upper buttress.  We’d arrived!

I’d lobbied hard for the bivy option.  It turned out we could have done the route in a day, but we probably would have needed to sleep on the summit and that would not have been too comfortable.  Plus, more importantly, I wanted to have a lot of time to relax on the mountain.  And what better place to enjoy some downtime than halfway up the Northeast Buttress of Slesse Mountain?  Turns out this was a great choice.  We had an awesome time just hanging out and taking it easy for many hours before the sun went down.  We drank from the pools of snow melt, filled our bottles, gawked at the ridiculous exposure over the east face, listened to music, joked around, etc.  Highly recommended!

Michael has a few pictures on his website of the bivy:

Precipitous drops from the bivy
The view of the final section of the buttress

After a long sleep and a leisurely start, Michael led out over the long sections of 4th class and brief encounters of 5th class.  Above the leaning tower, we re-racked and Michael led out again.  This was another 5.8+ pitch.  For the most part, it was pretty easy.  It started out as a crack and I thought the crux was, again, exiting out of the crack onto careful traverse moves near the crest.  Above that, I led out on the 5.7 “Rotten Pillar” pitch.  It was pretty easy, not being very sustained.  The only hard move was a delicate traverse above the pillar.

Above this pitch was the crux of the standard route (not including the 5.10 direct buttress pitch) – a 5.9 roof with an amazing 5.8 below it.  This, in my opinion, was the best pitch of the climb:  very steep, super bomber flakes.  The roof was big fun too – overhanging, but every hold was there.  This kind of climbing was just a joy to experience!  I led off for the next pitch, the exposed 5.7.  I ended up stringing this pitch along with the next one, a 5.6 pitch with a roof at the very end that deposited you on to the “Slesse Sheraton”, a great (small!) bivy site for two people.  You’d better be clipped in on this one.  Anyway, this was my favorite lead and my second favorite pitch.  The climbing was sustained 5.7 and super exposed.  The great void below me yawned and prompted me to protect this pitch frequently (as Aidan pointed out).  Near the top was another roof to surmount.  I climbed up to feel out the roof before placing any gear.  At this point, I was running low on gear.  I climbed back down, satisfied that this was the route and that I could do this without unreasonable difficulty.  So, I placed the cam in a marginal shallow crack, and went for it – ended up being really easy.  I was at the Sheraton.  I brought Michael and Aidan up and we all raved at our surroundings.

Aidan led out on the next pitch, the second to the last.  In the Beckey topo, it was listed as “moderate and fun” for 160 feet.  Aidan could have made it moderate by going left, but opted for fun by going straight up.  Great choice!  The climbing was mostly up a steep wall with good holds, probably 5.7/5.8.  Michael then led off for the final pitch, which was one more money 5.8 pitch.  The first part was very much like a Vantage climb at the Feathers – horizontally jagged rock with a crack in a dihedral.  Beyond that, was a very fun, ultra exposed, step across to gain easier ground.  Walking 50 feet on the easy ground gave way to the final short 5th class climbing to the summit.

So we were at last sitting on the summit of Slesse!  What a feeling!  We lounged around for maybe thirty minutes.  Everyone (well, not me) was eager to get going.

I won’t bother describing the descent in much detail.  It’s something I’d rather forget anyway.  It’s a hot, dry, steep, unyielding piece of work.  My left knee was really irritating me and I often gasped or howled at shock of the pain as we descended.  Thankfully, I brought poles or maybe Aidan and Michael would have had to carry me out (well, not really but still!)  We ran out of water early and were parched by the time we arrived at the bottom.  The abandoned logging road never seemed to end – and it went uphill!  The alders all around often blocked the sun but kept the heat in.  When we finally found some water splashing down a steep boulder along moss, Michael and I succumbed and drank straight from the source.  Aidan resisted the temptation (guess we’ll find out if that was worth it) but ended up essentially showering in the splashes.  I think that water gave me the energy though to actually enjoy the remainder of the hike out.  At the standard trailhead though, we still had maybe a mile or more of hiking to get to the car (my car didn’t have the clearance to go the whole way) and the process was repeated back at Nesakwatch (although I ended up staying and “guarding” the car).

Overall, this was a superb climb, my favorite to date, no doubt.  In 2003, my favorite climb was Triumph.  In 2004, it was Terror.  This year, it’s Slesse, and it trumps them all!

Interesting Facts:

“Fang” is English for “Slesse”
Michael hummed and whistled the theme to Jurassic Park during the trip
The Northeast Buttress is in the top 25 of the “Fifty Classics of North America”
Michael didn’t get stung once