Two weeks ago Becca and I found ourselves pivoting hard after the weather looked worse on Slesse than we were hoping for. We decided (with some gassing up from Matt) to head to Darrington and try our hand at a linkup of two nearby ~10 pitch routes up Squire Creek, an area that Becca and I had never climbed in before. After a long and not too fast approach we arrived at the base of the Roan Wall as the surrounding mountains were all still shrouded in clouds, but nonetheless had a grand time climbing Center Stage. We arrived at the top of the Roan Wall and decided we didn’t have time to climb the second route that we were eyeing, Flight of the Falcon, but for sport we decided to drop our technical gear and scramble up to the summit of Salish Peak. We descended back into the Squire Creek drainage before it got dark, but still had a long walk out before eventually arriving back to the car at almost 1 am, at which point we were pretty tired!
After a late arrival the night before, we set off from the Squire Creek Trailhead at 6am or so and biked the washed out road for a mile or so before ditching bikes and heading up on foot. We left the trail at the requisite spot and descended towards Squire Creek, where we were able to pick up a very faint climbers’ trail, which with great care we were able to follow for a little over 1/2 a mile until it crossed Squire Creek. After some hunting, we picked up on the far side of the creek and continued along it until we ended up in a dry wash that was heavily blocked by avalanche debris and blowdown. We walked along downed tree trunks until through the debris, then continued past the base of the Roan Wall to the large boulder (Martha’s Place) in order to grab some water before heading towards our climb.
Becca hopping downed trees on the long approach up Squire Creek to the Roan Wall.
We backtracked down the wash until below the Roan Wall, then at the point that looked most promising, punched into the thick brush, bashing our way through maples for a few hundred yards past some large boulder until in the more-open watercourse coming down from the wall itself, which offered easier going. We followed this up for a few hundred more feet of boulder hopping, leaving our poles below the two approach pitches, which we soloed without trouble. We finally arrived at the base of the route proper at 11:00. Becca easily dispatched P1, then I led P2 which I linked into P3 with a bit of simuling with our 60 meter rope.
Becca soloing the first approach pitch
At the base of the route
Becca following P3
Three Fingers shrouded in clouds above us
In general, I thought the climbing was super fun with just the right amount of run-out (which is to say I was glad Becca led most of it). We agreed that there didn’t seem to be much of a discernable difficulty in grade between most of the pitches, although the crux pitch did seem more stout than the others. The swooping gear protected crack on P7 was super cool, and the scenery was awesome! Even though the route doesn’t seem to get much traffic, the hardware was all in good shape (except one spinning bolt stud on P3) although a wrench would be nice to tighten some hangers. We finally topped the route out around 16:00 and enjoyed nice overcast views from the top.
Becca leading P4
The cool swooping crack on P7
Becca enjoying some nice post-climb pizza, with Salish Peak in the background.
We agreed that with a long and involved descent, we probably didn’t have time for another 9 pitches of 5.10 climbing, but we didn’t want to let ourselves off too easily, so we started the walk off by scrambling west along the top of the Roan Wall before downclimbing into the basin to the north and dropping our packs to scramble up to the summit of Salish Peak via the walk-off route, which took about 45 minutes from where we left our packs. It was really beautiful in the basin, with flowers, slabs, heather, and peak-a-boo views of Three Fingers as it drifted in and out of the clouds. The (nameless?) twin lakes north of Three Fingers made for a particularly nice view from just below the summit of Salish Peak, which required a few moves of class 4 and some steep heather walking to reach.
Three Fingers, twin lakes, and Asters from just below the summit of Salish Peak
Becca on top of Salish Peak
We started our descent as more clouds drifted back in, mostly retracing our steps to our packs, then crossing the ridge west of the Roan Wall to start the descent in earnest back towards the base of the Roan Wall. With careful route finding I thought this really wasn’t so bad, although it was definitely most difficult at the bottom, with some exposed brushy scrambling. We reached the base of Center Stage at 19:45, about 45 mins after returning to our packs and an hour before sunset - but we still had the approach pitches and the bushwhack to contend with.
Descending Salish Peak in swirling clouds
Becca above the twin lakes
Slabs below Salish Peak - we’ll need to come back for Flight of the Falcon!
Walking back towards the top of the Roan Wall
One of the brushier parts of the descent back towards the base of the Roan Wall
Becca downclimbing near the base of the Roan Wall
It was here that the mosquitoes started to come out, and Becca’s spirits diminished. Our 60 meter rope wasn’t quite long enough to rappel the upper approach pitch, but by attaching all our draws and miscellaneous jingle jangle to the rope we were able to make it work. A second shorter rap brought us to the bottom of the approach pitches, and we descended into the watercourse after packing up the climbing gear. We made it back through the few hundred yards of thick brush as the setting sun was illuminating the clouds on Three Fingers, and were relieved to know that we just had several miles of (admittedly quite hard to follow) trail to exit. Follow the trail we did, but not exactly at record pace, and by the time we made it back to our stashed mountain bikes, we were pretty ready to be done. Back at the car, we decided to confront the flat tire after sleeping in the next morning. Still a great day though!
Becca rappelling the approach pitches, with Three Fingers in the background
The aforementioned jingle jangle rappel
Becca crushing the final few yards of thick brush as darkness falls