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[TR] Eldorado - East Ridge 6/6/2009


KaskadskyjKozak

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Trip: Eldorado - East Ridge

 

Date: 6/6/2009

 

Trip Report:

Over the years I've had some bad luck on Eldorado, and, with one free day this weekend I had hope for another shot. Although the forecast was marginal (30% chance of showers) and knowing the area gets socked in a lot with this type of forecast, I opted to go for it anyways.

 

We car camped at Eldorado TH, and headed up at 5 am. It had not rained over the night, but we could see the trail would be socked in a few hundred feet up (and it was). The approach trail was its normal, cheerful self. I almost regurgitated the donut I foolishly downed at the TH along with a yoplait and a bagel with cream cheese. I kept thinking I was going too slow as my party kept up with me with no trouble. But we hit the boulder field in just over an hour.

 

The boulder field was wet, and we were still socked in. As we ascended wet rocks, then patchy snow, avy debris and, finally, continuous snow we held out hope that we would get above the clouds eventually.

 

After 3.5 hours we topped off on the ridge above the Roush basin. We quickly found the gully, dropped down, and roped up. Soon, we were slogging away.

 

At 7500 feet we finally broke through the clouds. The views on the Inspiration Glacier were awesome. Our persistence had paid off! We crossed the flats and took a rest at the rock islands near a bivy spot.

 

Eldorado_-_Jun_2009002.JPG

 

Excited to finish we ascended the last 1200 feet or so. Finally the elevation began to take its toll and we slowed a bit. Unfortunately the ridge was socked in, so the clear skies faded back into greyness. I hit the knife edge, and opted to go on top of it rather than on the boot path 4 feet below and to the climber's left of it.

We arrived at the summit around 12:30.

 

Eldorado_-_Jun_2009022.JPG

 

We were at the cloud level and got some sun on the summit but no views, so we descended back down after a short rest.

 

Eldorado_-_Jun_2009013.JPG

 

Soon we broke into clear skies and views again:

 

Eldorado_-_Jun_2009027.JPG

 

We had a nice long rest at the rock island to take photos. Here's one of yours truly:

 

Eldorado_-_Jun_2009035.JPG

 

Of course, while we sat at the rock island the summit cleared up completely.

 

Eldorado_-_Jun_2009042.JPG

 

We quickly descended to our gear below the ridge descent gully passing a large party and a few smaller ones. It would be a busy weekend!

 

View of avy debris on the upper boulder field:

Eldorado_-_Jun_2009045.JPG

 

We go to the cars at 6pm. 13 hours car to car including a lot of rest breaks - not a bad day!

 

 

Gear Notes:

Ice axe

 

Approach Notes:

Patchy snow beginning at 4500 feet (upper boulder field) and continuous around 5000 feet. Upper stream is passable low, on the right of the waterfall over a snow bridge. Gully to the Roush drainage is mostly melted out. The knife edge is still an "edge" but there is also a bootpath below and to the climber's left of it, and the edge will probably fall and merge with that soon.

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Glad to hear your luck changed with Eldorado. Too bad you didn't get the views (I was lucky last year with stellar weather). Way to steal a summit and earn hardman points!

 

Thanks to everyone! Not much "hardman" here - the weather was not that bad, just poor visibility. A big part of our success was the strength of the team - no slackers and no complainers, all smiles and good attitude.

 

 

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