Slippery Slab Tower
Having missed visiting the Cascades in the summer of 2008, I was eager to make a trip or two into the range this summer. sunday, Robert and i took the day to climb Slippery Slab tower, a relatively unknown little spire in the central Cascades near Stevens Pass. We left his house at 6am for the drive out. Robert was kind enough to offer me his cabin in Cashmere for a few days after our hike so I followed him in my rental car. After the climb, I’d just continue driving 40 minutes or so through Leavenworth and into Cashmere.
Robert set a brisk pace up the trail. We hiked a little under two miles to an intersection with the Pacific Crest trail and a lake (whose name now escapes me), turned right, and began the longer traversing hike to get to a pass above Trap Lake. From there, we could follow climber’s trails to the tower.
We had a perfect day for this hike. The forest and meadow greens were deep, and the sky’s blue was radiant. At a luxurious meadow, we had our first view of the tower. It was a typical Cascades view: a small dark spire sitting on a burly glacial ridge. It was good to finally have a view; I had been doubting if this trail was correct. I studied the trailhead map for maybe 5 seconds but it felt like we were traveling along in the wrong direction.
The climber’s path took us along the ridge, through tight scrub pine bands and finally on to easy snow that led us to the base of the tower.
Robert took the first pitch and elected to start at the base of the tower instead of the higher and easier start. This was easy enough, though I did remind him that I was climbing in boots instead of rock shoes and hadn’t climbed in about a year.
He passed over a small roof and was out of sight. The rope moved slowly up, indicating that maybe the terrain wasn’t so easy. Then, I heard a loud whirring and buzzing sound above me. Thinking for an instant that it was a giant hummingbird, I looked up to see a large spinning rock come flying past me. This actually shocked me quite a bit. I felt foolishly cavalier for being so ill prepared than I should be. Having no helmet was dumb – for the two of us.
Finally, I followed up, having to get creative with my boots. The rock was great below the roof, but was covered in lichen above. It reminded me of a sunny Johannesburg. The steepness relented and I emerged into some trees to meet Robert.
I decided to lead the second pitch, a solid leaning dihedral. The pitch was easy and fun, leading up to a belay station at another pine tree. I decided to continue on up a steeper wall to the ridge crest. From there, I turned left and we were at the top.
Back below the tower, along a small convex snowy shelf, Robert got in some bouldering on some large glacial rocks while I climbed to a high spot and took pictures. We said goodbye back at the cars and I continued on to Cashmere.
