I finally made it up the Elden slabs, all the way to the top this time, without getting stung by bees. The mountain is literally right behind my house; the base is less than a quarter mile away and it goes straight up from there. I’ve biked and hiked the trails many times but the slab route eluded me for three years. It is what it sounds like; a fairly smooth surface of boulder slabs all the way to the summit of Mt. Elden at 9,200’. It’s roughly a 40% grade. Like walking a mile on tiptoes. Here’s the log from my gps. The mileage is longer because I started it at my house and drove to the trailhead, but you can see that it climbs about 2,300’ in less than a mile.
Last time I tried, we disturbed a bee nest and had to retreat in a cloud of bees. We had some 25 stings in our group of 3 people. Then we tried moving over a little ways and got cliffed out before reaching the slabs. It was getting late, so we called it a day and took our tired and hurting bodies home.
Today I had better luck. I parked at the Elden Lookout trailhead across from the mall and hiked up to Forces of Nature Trail and turned left. I went maybe a quarter mile to where the trail is very close to the bottom of the cliffs at the bottom end of the slabs. I cut up on the boulders just east of the cliffs and worked my way left across the face until I was above the cliffs. The route is marked by tiny cairns like the one in the top center of the picture below. Look before you reach or you may catch a cactus.
Another cairn at the top of the approach.
Then it’s straight up from there. The route is bounded by cliffs on the left and brush (and bees) on the right. Views are unobstructed and the rock has good foot and hand holds. Go.
Another picture taken at the top of the boulder field approach. If you’ve never rock climbed this is a bit intimidating. There are lots of long jumps with tiny holds at the end. There are some deep crevasses but most are fairly narrow and climbable.
Here is the start of the “fluted” slabs. They are like long columns laid up the side of the mountain and are easy climbing.
Nice views. It’s pretty steep but nothing that ropes are necessary for. The rock has good traction.
It’s always windy up higher.
Where the slabs end there is some more serious bouldering. I thought it was fun but acrophobic non rock climbers might not think so.
The bench just below the summit. Here it is windier and the trees only have branches on the leeward sides.
The towers are on the summit. It’s a short hike from this bench.
Looking north from the summit. There was 2-3’ of drifted snow on the back (shaded) side. I took the Elden hiking trail down rather than try to go down the face. Luckily the trail was packed by snowshoers so I didn’t have to posthole. It was a good climb/hike and I hope to do it again now that I know it’s doable.