Sloan
Summits: Canine Crag and
pics by Harlan W.
S. Earlier in the week I had been to Sloan
Canyon, Nevada, and seen these neat crags. I passed
by the base and didn’t see an easy route. Five days later I came back with CP
and DB, prepared for a semi-technical assault… and CP saw a class 2 route!
I couldn’t quite believe him, so we took a creepy route up the west
ridge… then took the class 2 way
down! If CP hadn’t been there, I probably would have risked life and limb on
the class 4-5 south side. My ankle is still on the mend; I’m a lot more cautious now, and do less jumping! |
|
Canine Crag as it appeared from the W side of Sutor,
5 days before. |
The magenta route is our path Jan 30. The red is my path Jan 25. |
DB climbs directly up the face of the Slick dryfall. Sticky rubber? Nope, she was in tennis shoes with worn-flat soles. |
|
|
|
|
|
DB and CP harness-up for the west ridge. We start up a chimney behind CP. At one point I saw a 500-lb boulder above me, resting on a fist-sized rock. Nominally the route was class 3, but you had to climb it class 4 to avoid dicey holds. |
After topping the bad stretch on the west ridge, I looked over and saw the very class 2 ramps CP had seen on the way up. Oops. But it’s creepy class 2, with large, unpruned boulders ready to tumble. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Like many sharp desert peaks, there is no room to back up and get a good perspective of the drop off each side. |
Why did we name it Canine Crag? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
gotten much more dramatic self-timed shots, but my desire to live trumped. |
As we descend slightly N of the peak, I look back at the last class 2 ramp. |
|
|
|
|
|
Class 2, but helmets are in order. |
Now we’re looking E, traveling up the W peaklet (Feline Fang?) |
Here we are on top of Feline Fang, looking W to |
|
|
|
|
|
View E back to Canine Crag. |
DB laughs at my request to pose. |
Feline Fang too has a creepy class 2 set of ramps down. |
|
|
|
|
|
View E to Feline Fang. Ecru has a quasi-knife edge |
The quasi-knife edge. |
A 5’ cave and arch. |
|
|
|
|
|
OK, maybe a bit of class 3. |
|
View back E. Canine Crag is hidden behind Feline Fang. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The “M” resort is visible in distance at R. We picked the name Ecru as sort of a joke; we were jaded with all the peaks named “White,” Black,” “Brown,” etc. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The NE side of Ecru had some interesting formations. |
While DB and I rested, CP scurried over. He decided these mini-crags were far too nasty for our modest equipment. |
Heading back E, past old channel-fill conglomerates. |
|
|
|
|
|
Looking up; Canine Crag at L, with the class 2 route shown as a dashed line, the ridge route shown as dots. |
More petroglyphs, of course. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Over the last significant (still small) dryfalls. |
Desert hiking is desolate and stark, but there are advantages – like no significant brush! |
|
|
|
|
