Craig
New member
Last year I climbed the north slide on N. Twin. The original plan on that day was to do a loop by ascending the north slide and descending the east slide. At that time I only had a parcel picture of the east slide as taken from below the summit of Hale. That picture along with Google Earth indicated the headwall of the east slide to be a couple of hundred yards below the summit. I decided if I could get a view of the headwall of the east slide from the north slide I might try to find it from the summit. Certainly not an easy task.
As it turned out, the ridge that the North Twin trail follows separates the north and east slide so you can’t see one from the other. Without more beta on the east slide I decided to take the trail down after climbing the north slide. The east slide would have to wait another day.
Last week my brother sent me a picture of the east slide as taken from Whitewall.
This rekindled my interest in the climb. Slide climbing hasn’t been at the top of the list this year with the wet weather and all. With plans for August already made, I decided that this Sunday might be as good a day as any.
The plan for the day was to follow the North Twin Trail from the parking lot to the last river crossing. Follow the Little River south until I reached the N. Twin east drainage. Follow that up to the base of the slide and see what it looks like.
I got a leisurely start from a filled parking lot at 9:30am. The walk to the last river crossing was quick and uneventful with the crossings being fairly easy.
Leaving the trail before crossing the river, I continued to follow the east side of the river where the old trail was evident. There were several fire rings and campsite left on and near the old trail by folks that obviously don’t know about LNT.
At about 2400’ the pathway petered out and a stream crossing seemed in order.
After an unexpected swim I quickly regained the pathway, which now resembled an old road cut.
I followed the west side of the little river, losing and regaining what was obviously a game trail, several times. Eventually, this too petered out and I climb the steep river bank into more open woods. So far this was turning out to be an easy woods walk, much to my delight.
Right on target at about 2700’ I came to the easterly drainage I believed to be the one heading towards N. Twin’s east slide.
Heading west I opted to stay on the north side of the drainage as the spur I was looking for entered from this side.
Climbing on the north side was fairly open. I would occasionally find a moose trail that paralleled the drainage and then loose it. So it was with this game trail for the next 300' vertical. I did notice that on the steeps the moose did not incorporate any switchbacks into their pathway. I found this to be somewhat inconsiderate, but when vulturing someone else’s path, you can’t really complain.
At about 3000’ I came to a well flowing drainage that appeared to be the one I was looking for. A quick check of the compass verified that it was heading the right direction. Checking the surrounding terrain further verified my assumption although my target elevation for this branch was 3300’. I followed this drainage about 300' vertical until I convince myself I might be following the wrong drainage.
Usually, you can follow the sound of rushing water to navigate a parallel path to a river or stream but with all the wet weather, this area had lots of water draining from every direction. The sound of rushing water was coming from all directions.
I figured the best course of action, before I ended up god knows where, was to backtrack to what I knew to be the main drainage and start again from there.
I downclimbed to about 2900’ and acquired the main drainage again.
This time I decided to follow the south side of the drainage as the contour lines didn’t indicate any tributaries into this side of the drainage bed.
The south side of the drainage proved to be steep and thick. Travel slowed to a crawl as I side sloped this steep boulder strewn side. At about 3000’, the area leveled off and after a hundred yards the drainage bed dried up. Rock hopping this dry river bed was a welcome respite from the arduous side sloping I was doing previously. After a 1/8 mile the terrain began to rise and with it the water started running again. Becoming somewhat complacent with my rock hopping I continued on in the river on the wet and slimly rock. Suddenly and without warning I was reminded that your inattentiveness can have its price.
Slipping on a rock, down I went in 8 inches of water in a rock/boulder strewn river. Thankfully, after dumping the water out of my backpack I was able to continue with minimal damages.
As the terrain start to gain considerable elevation, I was forced to stay in the drainage and climb wet rock as the surrounding terrain was to steep and thick. This made for slow and arduous forward movement as route finding was critical. As the slide came into view and the route started to open up, route finding would continue to dominate the climb. The rock was wet and slippery no matter where you went. The slide turned out to be fairly steep and is a mix of open slab and scree with an estimated mix of 70% / 30%.
The headwall of the slide narrows to about 15’ wide and is approximately 300 yds below the summit. The whack from the top of the slide to the summit has several overgrown cliffs that need to be negotiated, and is basically spruce swimming.
For anyone that enjoys slide climbing with good views, I would say this is a must do. However, I would recommend attempting this after a long dry spell. Hopefully this would allow you to ascend a mostly dry drainage bed.
Full album is here.
As it turned out, the ridge that the North Twin trail follows separates the north and east slide so you can’t see one from the other. Without more beta on the east slide I decided to take the trail down after climbing the north slide. The east slide would have to wait another day.
Last week my brother sent me a picture of the east slide as taken from Whitewall.
This rekindled my interest in the climb. Slide climbing hasn’t been at the top of the list this year with the wet weather and all. With plans for August already made, I decided that this Sunday might be as good a day as any.
The plan for the day was to follow the North Twin Trail from the parking lot to the last river crossing. Follow the Little River south until I reached the N. Twin east drainage. Follow that up to the base of the slide and see what it looks like.
I got a leisurely start from a filled parking lot at 9:30am. The walk to the last river crossing was quick and uneventful with the crossings being fairly easy.
Leaving the trail before crossing the river, I continued to follow the east side of the river where the old trail was evident. There were several fire rings and campsite left on and near the old trail by folks that obviously don’t know about LNT.
At about 2400’ the pathway petered out and a stream crossing seemed in order.
After an unexpected swim I quickly regained the pathway, which now resembled an old road cut.
I followed the west side of the little river, losing and regaining what was obviously a game trail, several times. Eventually, this too petered out and I climb the steep river bank into more open woods. So far this was turning out to be an easy woods walk, much to my delight.
Right on target at about 2700’ I came to the easterly drainage I believed to be the one heading towards N. Twin’s east slide.
Heading west I opted to stay on the north side of the drainage as the spur I was looking for entered from this side.
Climbing on the north side was fairly open. I would occasionally find a moose trail that paralleled the drainage and then loose it. So it was with this game trail for the next 300' vertical. I did notice that on the steeps the moose did not incorporate any switchbacks into their pathway. I found this to be somewhat inconsiderate, but when vulturing someone else’s path, you can’t really complain.
At about 3000’ I came to a well flowing drainage that appeared to be the one I was looking for. A quick check of the compass verified that it was heading the right direction. Checking the surrounding terrain further verified my assumption although my target elevation for this branch was 3300’. I followed this drainage about 300' vertical until I convince myself I might be following the wrong drainage.
Usually, you can follow the sound of rushing water to navigate a parallel path to a river or stream but with all the wet weather, this area had lots of water draining from every direction. The sound of rushing water was coming from all directions.
I figured the best course of action, before I ended up god knows where, was to backtrack to what I knew to be the main drainage and start again from there.
I downclimbed to about 2900’ and acquired the main drainage again.
This time I decided to follow the south side of the drainage as the contour lines didn’t indicate any tributaries into this side of the drainage bed.
The south side of the drainage proved to be steep and thick. Travel slowed to a crawl as I side sloped this steep boulder strewn side. At about 3000’, the area leveled off and after a hundred yards the drainage bed dried up. Rock hopping this dry river bed was a welcome respite from the arduous side sloping I was doing previously. After a 1/8 mile the terrain began to rise and with it the water started running again. Becoming somewhat complacent with my rock hopping I continued on in the river on the wet and slimly rock. Suddenly and without warning I was reminded that your inattentiveness can have its price.
Slipping on a rock, down I went in 8 inches of water in a rock/boulder strewn river. Thankfully, after dumping the water out of my backpack I was able to continue with minimal damages.
As the terrain start to gain considerable elevation, I was forced to stay in the drainage and climb wet rock as the surrounding terrain was to steep and thick. This made for slow and arduous forward movement as route finding was critical. As the slide came into view and the route started to open up, route finding would continue to dominate the climb. The rock was wet and slippery no matter where you went. The slide turned out to be fairly steep and is a mix of open slab and scree with an estimated mix of 70% / 30%.
The headwall of the slide narrows to about 15’ wide and is approximately 300 yds below the summit. The whack from the top of the slide to the summit has several overgrown cliffs that need to be negotiated, and is basically spruce swimming.
For anyone that enjoys slide climbing with good views, I would say this is a must do. However, I would recommend attempting this after a long dry spell. Hopefully this would allow you to ascend a mostly dry drainage bed.
Full album is here.
