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Trip Report    

Basic Rock Climb - Slippery Slab Tower/Northeast Face

Tunnel Creek TH Thunder Lake and Trap Lake has become a popular route with outdoor re-creationists in western Washington. The SST is still less known to day-climbers, but this will change in the next 5-10 years.

Jason Hsu Jason Hsu
September 08, 2024
  • Road rough but passable
    • The route has clean rocks for the first and second pitch. Once in a while you will run into a loose that can be pulled of the wall. If you decide to remove it from the route, do it when no one is below you.
    • The first pitch cane either be led or scrambling. The only exposed move is at the first 10 first. If you can climb over this section, the rest of the pitch is easy to scramble. Sometimes, climbing party can set up fixed line on this pitch for other members to pruisk up and save some time.
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      First pitch of the climb. Photo credit: Dylan Fisher
    • The second pitch have some variations. If you go straight up into the dihedral, it general becomes more  difficult. To keep it easier for followers, you can move to the right side. It will have more ledges to stand on and take breaks, but also have more loose rocks. 
    • Summit: find the trail pass the "mini slab" and use it to walk/scramble to the summit. It can probably fit one to two people. Steep drops on both sides, so be carefully when standing on top.
    • Rappelling: two stations total. They are right next the route going up, so it's impossible to miss them. Tats of the rappel station  at the summit is a little wore, so adding new ones is recommended. Do two rappels anyway, so your rope is less likely get stuck when pulled.
  • When we started at Tunnel Creek Trailhead, there were already a lot of cars parked on the side of the forest road. It looks like most of the trail users are backpackers. When we asked the people that passed us on trail, they said they are heading to one of the lakes in the area to stay overnight. Thunder Lake was the most popular destination.
  • PCT was well-maintained, like it always does. Between Trap pass and Hope Lake, there was only one reliable location that has running water for filtering. To climb in late season, one should remember to fill water earlier rather than later.
  • There are two climber's trail to SST. One of them is a safer option and stays on the west side of the ridge line. Once reach the boulder field, do a "cork screw" ascend to get walk around the loose rocks and reach the bottom of the climb.
  • A couple of climbers went ahead of us and came down around us on pitch. We did not lose a lot of time to wait for them to rappel.
  • All of us made it to the summit, took some pictures, ate snacks, and rappelled back to the bottom of the climb around 1:30 pm. Transition between was very efficient.
  • Walk back to our car was very uneventful. We did see multiple backpackers passing us. Saw a couple of thru-hikers chilling at Trap Pass. One of them is appearing to lighting a cigarette to smoke it. I image this person is trying to set a new record on PCT call "Thru-Smoking".
  • Made it back to TH at 5 pm.