Slippery Slab Tower/Northeast Face

Trip dates weekend of August 1 and 2, 2015. The 6 of us left Olympia at 9am and made good time up to the Surprise Lake TH- started walking by 12:15. Heat, high humidity and a few flies made this seem a longer hike in than I remembered- around 3 hours for most of us and a swim in the Lake after camp setup. Started 6am Sunday up the steep, switchbacked trail to Trap pass then South on the ridge to Slippery Slab(an hour up to the pass, another hour to the base). Started climbing at 8am. Most scrambled the gulley to the Belay ledge, then 3 of the (Beyond Basic) students got a chance to rope lead the single pitch to the top. Double rope rapped back to the belay ledge then single rope rapped down the gulley. Down by 11:15am- total actual climb time was 3 hours. The day was sunny with temps in the 70's, a light breeze, and only a couple of hikers at the pass- this was a great back
country outing! Reversed course and back at camp by 1:15, out at the TH by 5pm. We had a wearying commute down Hwy 2 West, made me wish we had chosen Blewitt Pass as the route back to Olympia. Home by 10pm.