Mt. Slesse NE Buttress

The NE Buttress of Mt. Slesse is a long and classic climb up a very intimidating mountain that draws climbers from all over. One of the 50 Classic Climbs of North America, the 25+ Pitch route up Mt. Slesse is just as amazing as it sounds!  Rated 5.9 with about 25 pitches of climbing the route is long and strenuous and requires an overnight bivy, often on the way up or at the summit. Challenging but immensely rewarding when standing on the summit looking down the Frasier valley at Chilliwack.

 The Climb:

Our guided climbs of the NE Buttress of Mt. Slesse are designed to spread that challenges out over a couple of days to keep things manageable. We tackle the 4 hour approach in the early hours of the morning while the air is nice and cool. This will typically allow us to start climbing between 10 and 11am. With a little luck and some efficient climbing we will find ourselves quite high on the route, often close to or even on the summit, before it time to set-up camp. The night is then spend under stars in an open air bivy, one of the big highlights of the trip!

The Descent:

For many people the climb up isn't the hardest part of the route! Most climbers find the descent to be the crux due to it's length, technical challenges and navigational complexity. But hey, that's what a guide's for!

After reaching the summit there's a short downclimb to reach a rappel which is in turn followed by a long section of downclimbing and scrambling. Once down off of Slesse a high alpine ridge is followed to in what's called the Crossover Descent that follows a big horseshoe in a mixture of hiking, scrambling and rappelling to get back down to the trail that was taken on the way in. From there it's an easy walk back to the cars and some cold bevi's!

Waiver & Risk Management:

As you know, outdoor activities involve numerous hazards including, but not limited to, avalanches, crevasses, rockfall, slips and falls, equipment failure, poor weather, etc. And while we do our best to anticipate and mitigate these hazards we cannot completely eliminate them. So, as with anything fun, you will be required to sign our Participant Release to take part in one of our courses or trips.