Trip Report
Basic Alpine Climb - Sloan Peak/Corkscrew Route
Successful 2 day trip (via Bedal Creek) in the fog & rain
Tom Girard
- Sat, Jun 22, 2019 — Sun, Jun 23, 2019
- Basic Alpine Climb - Sloan Peak/Corkscrew Route
- Sloan Peak/Corkscrew Route
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road recommended for high clearance only
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Bedal Creek Road - my Forester made it, but barely. Spun tires in a rut, backed up and made it on the second try. Road is overgrown in places. Room for 5-6 cars at the trailhead.
Glacier and summit in good shape.
Take the Bedal Creek trail to about 3500' - look for flagging on the left. On the way up we followed the flagging, on the way down we made our own path. The flagging for the most part makes no sense, I recommend just heading up (following the bearing), and choosing the best path. If you stay more climbers right while going up, it seemed less brushy to me.
We camped just beyond the tarn at 5330', lots of running water nearby.
After setting up camp, we continued on to the summit (due to the rain forecast for Sunday). Couldn't see the glacier very well due to the fog, but it appeared in good shape. Took a long zig-zag around one crevasse that may have been avoidable had I been able to see.
Once past the glacier, the views improved somewhat as we had climbed through one layer of fog. The corkscrew was in good shape. After reaching the end of the bootpath, head straight up the sandy gully to where it narrows (class 3). Then scramble to the summit.
One bear hug move near the summit. 
Made it back to camp just as it got dark at ~9:30pm. Sunday was rainy and we were all 100% soaked by the time we made it back to the cars.