[TR] Eldorado- Northeast Face 7/10/2004

[robert]

Climb: Eldorado-Northeast Face

 

Date of Climb: 7/10/2004

 

Trip Report:

We got out of town a bit later than we wanted to and after a stop in Marblemount for a permit we were fighting our way over the North Fork of the Cascade River at 5:00pm. I had it pretty easy, but Mike had the pickets on his pack and they were getting caught on everything. The approach was great. The trail is nice and steep and the talus fields were rock hopping fun. We arrived at our planed 5600 foot camp at 7:45. It was a great spot with plenty of running water and a good view. We saw and heard marmots and snaffles on the way up and I expected some nocturnal visitors and possibly some destructive chomping, but we escaped unmolested.

 

We were up at 4:00 and hiking by 4:45. We followed the trail up to the ridge dividing the Eldorado creek basin from Rouch Basin and found the gully pretty easily. Soon we were heading up the polished granite below the Eldorado Glacier. The cloudy skies overhead hinted that they might not be sticking around all day.

Sure enough as we were climbing towards the 7400’ plateau the clouds began to part yielding a great view of the Triad, and further along, the summit of Eldorado.

Inspired by the improving weather and firm snow conditions we headed for a gap in the East Ridge and our first view of the Northeast Face. The face was a bit underwhelming, and a bit soft. We roped up and headed for the steepest section. There were a couple of open slots, but their faces wouldn’t hold a pick so I lead up some not that steep snow shafting my tools. A long traverse above one crevasse and below the other was as interesting as the climbing got. Maybe the face gets steeper as the snow melts, but other than one ten foot section it didn’t seem steeper than 45 degrees.

We reached the intersection with the East Ridge just as a group of eight was getting to the arete. We could have raced them there, but I thought I would be courteous and wait. This was an example of nice guys finishing last as we sat in the snow for an hour and a half while the other group climbed the 200 feet, not vertical feet, linear distance, to the summit rocks. It did give us time to discuss the fact the Nelson says August and September are the best months for the climb. We figured with this being a low snow year we would be okay to go now, but it would probably be much better later in the season. The whole time we were sitting there it was snowing and we had only about 40 feet of visibility. We shot over to the summit snapped some photos and headed down.

 

The snow was quite mushy by now and limited the glissade possibilities. We got in some good slides and were quickly hiking back across the Eldorado Glacier into Rouch Basin. The climb back up the gully and down to camp was uneventful. It was raining when we got back to the tent and it probably had been for awhile. The trail to the talus field was a muddy mess. The decent of the wet mossy talus was the most technical section of the trip by far. Fortunately the forested section of the trail was in pretty good shape. The roots were slippery, but the tread was pretty firm. All in all the decent from 5600’ took almost exactly as long as the hike up had taken.

 

Gear Notes:

Took screws and pickets. Placed one picket. Two tools. Crampons and standard glacier gear.

 

Approach Notes:

Approach trail steep and efficient. River crossing easy but you have to fight through the tree branches.

It goes without saying, but decending the wet mossy talus was not fun.

[JoshK]

We did that climb in October, when the entirely thing was pretty much glacial ice. I would definitely agree it would be pretty underwhelming in more "normal" glacier conditions. Even as it was we had to go out of our way to find some technical climbing.

 

-josh