Sloan Peak

Sloan Peak - 2389M

1186M Prominence

48.04145, -121.34026

August 31, 2025

18H 40M C2C, 10H Moving

1800M Ascent and Descent

18.74 KM

After my quick trip in the Sea to Sky to bag my first S2S summits, I made my way down to Washington state for 5 days. The plan was already set to attend a crevasse rescue course over the weekend, then make my way up to Washington pass. Saturday was spent learning some rescue techniques, and Sunday was to be the field day. We decided Saturday night after discussing a few options as the group that we would go do Sloan Peak. I woke up in Arlington at the location of the workshop, then we got together to carpool to the trailhead. I drove the Tacoma up to the Bedal creek trailhead on a slightly rough and bumpy road, and the others joined in their Subarus. At 7:05 we were finally on the trail and everyone started hiking with the appropriate gear for traversing the glacier. We were a large group of 10 from the workshop, so I realized the pace would be slow, but was not anticipating it to be this slow. I and a few other guys hiked ahead and then sat down to wait for the rest of the crew to arrive, after the second of third waiting period, I realized that the day was bound to be a snails pace and unbearable. I wasn't even confident that we would summit. The trail was good and easy to follow. We made our way up to the Bedal and Sloan col on a steep trail after the easy start along the Bedal creek from the trailhead. After a bouldery outcropping the terrain started to open up and we got some great views of the summit. We then continued on past a small pond by the col, and after the col the trees quickly thinned out and alpine terrain opened up. The group made their way south east past a slabby area, and then eventually we aimed to make our way up past a small but relatively steep snow field, up to a small pass between the slabs and a small bump/viewpoint to the East. From this point views of the glacier started to open up. After more and more waiting eventually everybody caught up and we decided where we would get on the glacier to cross it in order to end up on the East ridge of the mountain. We all geared up and made three rope teams and began crossing the glacier. The navigation was quite simple and the glacier was never technically difficult. There was one strip of dry ice that needed some care to traverse, but all the crevasses were wide open and easy to avoid, the glacier offered a gradual ascent to the East ridge. We waited a while at the end of the glacier for the other teams to arrive. occasional rockfall was quite audible off of the East face of the summit. The rest of the teams finally arrived and the trip planner gave the eager members of the team a go ahead to summit. Only 3 of the 10 made the final short hike up to the summit while the rest just waited down by the glacier. The final part of the ascent on the "corkscrew route" started off with some interesting class 2 hiking with a bit of exposure There was then some bouldery navigation and one very short class 3 move in a sort of a chimney. The rest of the ascent was quite straightforward, with maybe one or 2 more scrambly moves up to the little summit. The three of us who made the climb didn't linger around for very long as it was already 4:40 PM and we knew that any time wasted now we would be paying for at the end of the day when we were hiking back in the dark. We scrambled our way back down to the ridge where the rest of the party were waiting for us, and then began to slowly gear back up for the glacier. The groups formed up again and we all carefully descended back down to dry rock where we could start the hike out. By the time everyone was off the glacier and starting the hike out, the sun was already started to set. It was some of the most infuriating and painstakingly slow mountaineering I have ever done, but the good group of guys and the sun set kept me minimally sane. We eventually made it back to the bouldery section before the forested descent, and by then we were really starting to lose it. One guy twisted his ankle and one guy was having foot problems, so this only made progress even slower. Once everyone had caught up, I solo speed ran down the forested climb and waited for the ret of the crew to arrive by a huge bench shaped half stump. I took a quite extensive nap as I was desperate for any sleep at all. The previous night I had less than 4 hours of sleep and I was on track for 3 hours of sleep for this night. I had to conserve as much energy as possible as I was to drive North a few hours the following morning to meet my climbing partner for the coming days. After at least an hour of attempting to nap most people had caught up. The crew then finally completed the hike out back to the trailhead some 18 Hours and 40 Minutes later, on a trip that should have taken less than 12 hours.

The trail was in good condition for the most part

The bouldery area before the Bedal-Sloan col

First good looks at Sloan Peak

The Tarn at the Bedal-Sloan col, reflections of Bedal Peak

A hollow snow patch we scrambled around before the glacier

Great views of Glacier Peak all day

Some wild crevasses on the glacier

The crew working their way up the glacier

Looking towards the jagged peaks around Monte Cristo and Kye's Peak

Hiking up some moderately exposed class 2 terrain up to the summit

A neat tower on the side of the mountain

Terrain up to the summit

Jacob scrambling his way up the last few meters

Summit shot, with Glacier Peak in background

Summit panorama shot

Graham descending the trickiest part of the glacier

Hazy skies over the North Cascades in late afternoon

Sun setting

The crew hiking out past midnight

Sloan Peak route

Route close up