I did the Blake slide in 2006 (with Julie Chevalier) and alone in 2008 so I was curious to see what had changed in 18 years. MJ did it the summer following the Nippletop Slide winter rescue. From Elk Pass down to where you leave the main drainage you lose 1,000 feet in about 2 miles of whacking (1.5 miles as the river runs). In spite of many cut trees and the discernible “herd path” for the long-ago rescue, the half-mile to the base of the Nippletop Slide was very gnarly due to all kinds of blowdown and many a sod hole. The drainage (West Inlet) was really flowing (and roaring loud!). It follows a narrow and very steep-walled cut between Colvin and Nippletop. There were many cliffs on the Colvin side and water was gushing over them at multiple points.
It took us a while but we finally made it to where you leave West Inlet and begin the 600 foot ascent to the base of the slide. Sadly we missed the falls, which are a great feature, but we got hung up on a long line of cliffs and only made it down to the creek 500 very difficult looking feet downstream from the falls. So we headed up through open woods until the slide. The slide was quite wet with water sluicing down it and our ascent options were limited to the dry channels. The rock that was dry, as before, was very grippy.
The central section is totally grown in. In 2008 I ascended in the central crack but it was flowing too strongly so we undertook a very steep bushwhack off to the side in thick cedars with the slabby rock only shallowly covered in moss. This for me was the hardest part of the day but after deploying a lot of energy we exited and enjoyed the upper section, which was quite steep and with fewer dry options. The weather was perfect (no bugs either!) and the views of Nippletop and the Dix Range was awesome and kept getting better every time we stopped to catch our breath. It was my first time hiking with Éric and he is as solid as one can get.
The exit from the slide to the Pinnacle Ridge Trail is short but brutal. The ridge line here is narrow and drops off the other side straight down. We scrambled up to the viewing rock and freaked out due to the spectacular views of the Great range and Upper Lake in the late afternoon sun. Wow! We now had a very long row to hoe. Blake, Colvin and the AMR road. It was 4 pm. 7 hours and 30 minutes out with hours of tough sledding ahead. I don’t know which was harder, the ascent of Colvin or the descents of Blake and Colvin. Somewhere on the AMR road we put our headlamps on. My device says 16 miles and 4500 feet of elevation gain. 13 hours car to car so 5h30 from the slide exit to the parking lot. I don’t know about MJ and Éric but I think I am done now with the Blake Slide.