It has been a great season climbing thus far but Slesse was still on my hit list and the summer drawing short. With the high pressure system that formed over the PNW last week I knew that it would likely be the last chance for a summer ascent on Slesse. My post for a partner resulted in a hook-up with a great guy and experienced climber from Bellingham.
After a quick stop at the Triple O in Chilliwack we rolled down the Chilliwack Lake Road and found Slesse Creek Road at the mileage quoted by Becky. There were a couple of tougher sections and so we pulled my gear box off the back of my van and stashed it to give me more clearance to get thru the wash outs. We tried to follow Nelson's and/or Becky's instructions but with new logging activity things got a bit confusing and we ended driving around looking for the Slesse Mtn trail head. I ripped open a sidewall and had to change a tire on a steep logging road but luckily that only ate up time and didn't strand us. We ended up finding the a trail but with no signs we had to only assume it was the correct spot. Our approach notes have the updated information with regards to finding the correct trail head. By the time we got to the Nesakwatch Creek side it was already dark and so we had to look for trails by head lamp. The best we could do was locate the old trail head at ~3.5 miles from the road. I had read about a new trail on the mountslesse forum but we had no luck locating it so we parked and crashed at the old trail trail head.
Fixing the flat as we look for the Slesse Mtn trail head
Alarms were ringing around 4am and we were up and going by 5am by head lamps. The first business was to cross the Nesakwatch Creek and the cold water ensured that we would not be sleepy for the rest of the approach. The growth on the far side of the creek is pretty thick so following the old logging road is best done by looking up and making sure there is no canopy cover above. A bit of bush whacking took us thru thickets and at one point we came across a large hornets nest hanging in a tree. I wasn't sure it was still inhabited so I tapped it gently and boy was I wrong. Within an instant the hornets were pouring out the entrance and surrounding the nest. We backed off quickly and with good luck neither one of us sustained any hits. A little further up the trail Kurt plunged into a dirt crevasse just catching himself before really going in! Luckily he also avoided injury. We discovered that this area of the trail had what looked like small mine shafts of sorts?!? We crossed a couple of wooden foot bridges and in about 45 minutes emerged from the brush to find a nice hiking trail with flagging tape. I believe that we just hooked up with the new and much better Memorial Trail. Soon thereafter we arrived at the Memorial Plaque and found the climber's trail leading up the bowl just behind it.
Signage as one approaches the Memorial to Flight 810 
www.mountslesse.ca for more info
The memorial plaque
Slesse at first light from the Memorial
We continued up the scree bowl following the rocky drainage and passing an old landing gear and various plane wreckage bits from the 1956 plane crash. We decided to take the gulley just SE of the East Buttress toe and then cross over the notch in the lower part of the East Buttress which would put us in the pocket glacier cirque. (Good map on pg.170 of Becky’s guide Vol.III) The good news was that the pocket glacier had slid and the objective danger in that area was now minimized. It allowed us the ability to cross quickly and in trail runners. Just as we were standing in the notch of the East Buttress we watched a huge avalanche let loose as the north side glacier broke away and swept straight through the headwall gully, a common approach for the Direct NE Buttress start.
Landing gear from flight 810
The approach from the Memorial
Kurt and I filled up with some water here
Heading up to the approach gully
Approach gully
Looking down the gully - lots of loose rock
Approach over the East Buttress and the cross over notch
Slabs to the East Buttress notch
We down climbed into the pocket glacier cirque and as we made our way across the cirque we came across a rope which had been cut through. We coiled it up and talked about whether or not this could be the rope from the accident back in early July in which a climber was killed by falling ice. A sobering and sad thought but a reality to remind us of the serious nature of this environment. We moved on quietly knowing that this mountain has been a place of many tragic events. As we reached the long ramp we gave one last look back at the cirque and the remaining glacier and were thankful for the safe passage.
The pocket glacier cirque...free of ice
Remnants of this years' glacier - note descent from the notch is in the background
Crossing the cirque
News story of accident
Abandoned rope and suspect glacier
A sobbering reminder
Last bits of objective danger melting out
A look back across the cirque
The approach ramp
The dude making good time
8:30am and we were now crossing onto the buttress through the treed section. We followed a semi-trail that wound its way through the 3rd and 4th class terrain and eventually took us on to the crest where we changed over to rock shoes for the 5th class terrain. It wasn’t long before we were through the double cracks, the short 5.9 (Becky’s pitch 8/Nelson’s pitch 13) and into the nice 5.8 layback where we bootied a very old stiff-necked Friend.
Kurt cruising the 5.8ish twin cracks
The short 5.9 crack
Kurt enjoying the 5.8+ layback where we bootied gear
After the large bivi ledge we simul-climbed the next 600’ until we reached the leaning pillar. A nice corner with a fixed pin took us into a couple of short pitches and more ledges. Then the loose blocky corner pitch with the ¼” Leaper bolt and a fun step though a notch in a roof. The next pitch went long for almost a full rope length to the described alcove atop Nelson’s pitch 22. A good belay with nuts here and a great photo op looking down the whole buttress below. Two more longer pitches and we were at the summit at 5:30pm.
Starting into the 600' of simul climbing
Upper wall and leaning pillar
The corner past a fixed pin
Will this block hold?
Kurt cranking out the loose corner with the 1/4" Leaper
Alcove belay stance
View from the alcove belay
Kurt in a happy place
Summit Man!
Mt Baker
We got to go 6000' down where???
The climbing was not very difficult but the rock appearance gave the impression that whole sections of the mountain were ready to peel away at a given moment. I found huge hand holds and plenty of footholds the whole way up and even though the over hanging roofy sections which always provided some stemming option.
We weren’t on the summit long before we need to start moving and find our way down, daylight was limited. We had opted for a single rope so we were prepared to do some down climbing to get to the large lower ledge system. As we followed the cairn marked descent SW around the corner we only had a small 4th class down climb and then we discovered a new set of slings. Kurt and I figured this was recently set up by someone not too happy to down climb this section but who only had a single rope. So we rapped and of course found another station about 80’ to 90’ down. One more rap and we were at the large ledge which was easily walked to the other rap stations. I spotted a faint trail heading across the scree bowl and towards the wooded ridge so we knew where we were headed. Once we made it to the big gulley behind the north face we only had one task left. Follow that trail along the crest and down towards Slesse Creek. This is one arduous trail that seems like its’ steepness will never end. It will definitely give you a good thigh work out and when it finally hits bottom you’ll have another ~2 - 2.5 miles back to the car along the old logging road.
Overall our car to car time was 17 hours.
A BIG thanks to Kurt Hicks for being a great climber and a great partner.
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