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Rad’s lead starts out with what we’d expected to be 30′ of unprotected overhanging face climbing. It was actually 31 feet. But instead of no protection, he finds a hidden cam placement, and slings a protruding granite knob. The rock is unlike any I’ve seen in the Cascades. Huge fins, dikes, and scoops facilitate steep face climbing… and set up Rad for the sting in the tail, tight fingers in an overhanging corner.

Two more long pitches, and the angle relents. It’s 7pm, we’ve been out of water for hours and have one micro headlamp. But I’ve never summited Sloan, and if we don’t summit, is it a complete route? We eschew the most circuitous parts of the corkscrew scramble and solo directly to the top.

Forest fire smoke surrounds us, holding a place in the sky for gathering darkness. We begin downclimbing to the East. And soon we’re rappelling into a glacial moat framed by moonlit rock and snow.

The final crux: 2 people, one ice tool, 0 crampons, and an icy late-season glacier. Some minor bollard shenanigans and creative nut-tool usage land us at rocks below the snow, where the sound of flowing water has drawn us. We split our last chocolate bar, drink a liter each, and smile. We’re no longer racing the dark. And suddenly we’re not benighted on a strange descent without the proper equipment. Now we’re two friends at the end of a long day, awed by the stars and thrilled with the climb. As simple sugar and satisfaction course through our veins we breathe deeply and head off the snow, across the rock, and down into the night.

Watch Blake’s full-cut video of the Sloan Peak climb and check out his other adventures on his blog, blakeclimbs.blogspot.com or on his Vimeo channel.

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