Sloan Peak Attempt, September 19-20
The forecast for the Darrington area was for rain on Saturday morning and high pressure building on Sunday. It was a little vague about what was supposed to happen between Saturday morning and during the day Sunday. On the theory that a rainy day outside is better than a sunny day sitting at home, we headed to Sloan Peak.
Sloan Peak is somewhat excessively pointy and features a wide, exposed west face with cracks, dihedrals, roofs, and blocks all over it. The aesthetics and relatively short approach make it popular with climbers, with a variety of routes including the third class Corkscrew Route first done in 1921 by miners Harry Bedal and Nels Skaar and a new “5.10++” route put up just a few weeks ago by Blake Herrington and Rad Roberts. We were aiming for something in between, the 5.8 Northwest Buttress.
On the drive up the weather was starting to look promising (or at least promising enough to give us a bit of hope). On the Mountain Loop Highway a few patches of blue sky opened up and we convinced ourselves that the water on the windshield was just splashing from the road. On the drive up the rattly logging road and the hike up the quiet, overgrown trail we convinced ourselves the rain was just dripping from the trees. One benefit of the dampness is the array of mushrooms of all shapes and colors.
Amanita
When we emerged into the final clearing in the basin and had our first fog-veiled glimpse of the West Face we did have to admit it was actually raining. Fortunately we found a giant boulder to use as an awning. It even had a couple of metal rods pounded in it to hang our climbing gear on.
At least we had a nice camp
After some recreational eating in the dry spot under our boulder, we settled in early for the night. Rain dripped, dropped, and sprinkled on the unsheltered back end of the tent all night and into the early morning. There might have been hope for the rock to dry out if the sun came out, but when we peeked out, we saw this:
Good Morning, Sloan
Heavy fog didn’t look good for dry rock, and neither did the snow on the upper half of the mountain that we saw when the fog blew away for a second. Sometimes the weather wins, but at least we could distract ourselves with snacking on our way out:
Huckleberries!