islandside
New member
Hiked the Tri-pyrimids loop on Saturday. Not many cars in the lot, or many people on the trail.
My concern that no-one has been hiking this loop much this summer due to the wet conditions making the North Slide dangerous were indeed warranted. The last time I hiked this loop with my son, about two years ago, we went right up the North Slide without any issues. Not so, this time....
Trail conditions were wet and muddy, stream crossings were high for August, but none were dangerous. At the base of the slide we ran into trouble. The slabs of ledge are all quite green and greasy, making it very dangerous. Many thanks go to Fred, who we met at the base of the slide, who had a section of rope. Without the rope I think I would have had to turn around! We inched our way up the lower portion of the slide, using the rope for added stability and confidence in a few sections that were quite exposed.
My advice - beware of the dangers on the lower third of the North Slide, if I had known it was this greasy, I would have taken the bypass up the Scaur Ridge trail. We met a younger couple ascending the South Slide as we descended, they were doing the loop, backwards, and I warned them strongly against descending the North SLide. They looked at the maps and made plans to descend Scaur Ridge.
Greg & Sandi
islandside 2000 (at) yahoo
My concern that no-one has been hiking this loop much this summer due to the wet conditions making the North Slide dangerous were indeed warranted. The last time I hiked this loop with my son, about two years ago, we went right up the North Slide without any issues. Not so, this time....
Trail conditions were wet and muddy, stream crossings were high for August, but none were dangerous. At the base of the slide we ran into trouble. The slabs of ledge are all quite green and greasy, making it very dangerous. Many thanks go to Fred, who we met at the base of the slide, who had a section of rope. Without the rope I think I would have had to turn around! We inched our way up the lower portion of the slide, using the rope for added stability and confidence in a few sections that were quite exposed.
My advice - beware of the dangers on the lower third of the North Slide, if I had known it was this greasy, I would have taken the bypass up the Scaur Ridge trail. We met a younger couple ascending the South Slide as we descended, they were doing the loop, backwards, and I warned them strongly against descending the North SLide. They looked at the maps and made plans to descend Scaur Ridge.
Greg & Sandi
islandside 2000 (at) yahoo
