[TR] Eldorado- West Arete 7/24/2004

[Billy]

Climb: Eldorado-West Arete

 

Date of Climb: 7/24/2004

 

Trip Report:

Yea buoy! Jeremy, Misterbeer, Dick Pumpington, myself and our esteemed associate Mr. Machiatto went up to give the West Arete on Eldo a run.

 

We left the parking lot at 6:30pm fri nite and hit a nice bivy at 5700 or so by 9pm. We all slept through our alarms comfortably, even though one of our party neglected to bring a sleeping pad to go light.

 

We managed to roll out of camp at 5:30am, up and over the ridge, and across the slabs to Triad Col. A couple of members of the expedition elected to drop a Rumsfeld here, glad they had brought a few napkins from Mc Donalds. Climbing over Triad was a little tricky in one spot, but not too bad. The descent down the other side was in soft snow, pretty easy cruising. We then hopped talus and snow alternately over to a waterfall and then up to the base of the gully to access the arete itself.

 

By 9:50am, we were up in the loose gulley on our way to the arete. When we hit the crest, we broke out the rope, stuffed some smokeless in our lips, and tied in. Mr Machiatto led the first block on the right of the crest mostly, to the base of the Gendarmes. We kept thinking that we were at the Gendarmes earlier, but found that we actually weren't. The climbing here was mid-fifth for the most part, with the odd 5.7 move. It went on for a long ways and we simuled most of it, with a few belays. Jeremy and Misterbeer followed behind us, but soon we lost touch with our friends, and cast off on our own.

 

Next Dick took over and led us up through the Gendarmes, and around them. Now the climbing was getting good, and the rock quality was improving as we got higher. Still, you had to thump on everything you touched, so it took a while to be safe about things. This section as described in the guidebook looked to be short, but it was fairly long and quite "robust".

 

I took over next and led up on the final steep step, which was slightly tricky routefinding, but the way just unfolded bit by bit. We finally hooked up with the 3rd and 4th class at the top, took of the rope, and boogied to the summit arriving at about 8:30pm. The light was fantastic and we could see all the fires adding the trippy feel after climbing all day and being low on water.

 

Climbing down the snow arete on the East Ridge was ass tearing as all the peaks were lit up in red. When we got down to the glacier, we had a safety meeting, ate the last of the grub and cruised back to camp 2 hours after leaving the summit.

 

We were elated, but still we had not seen or heard from our friends all day long, and worries crept in. Should we wait for them, or just take off, hoping that they would be alright? We spent the night and decided to see what morning would bring. In the morning, still no sign of them struggling into camp. We decided to pack up, head down, and give them one more day before we called them in.

 

Turns out that they made it just pass the Gendarmes and had to endure a night out, and they came out a little later than us. Whew, what a relief! I have to hand it to Jeremy and Misterbeer for hanging it out there and sending it. It was Misterbeer's first route in the North Cascades and Jeremy's second. Kudos!

 

Overall, the route was only mediocre rock, but the setting and the length of it make it a classic in the genre.

 

Gear Notes:

nuts

cams to hand size

ice axe/crampons

 

Approach Notes:

butt tearing

[dbb]

Nice! Did you guys stay on the crest before the gendarmes (and after the scrambling of the lower ridge)? How far down did you climb 'right of the crest'?

[iain]

Mr. Machiatto was actually up at 5:30am? Unbelievable. I remember prodding him with a boot trying to wake him up while climbing EMS over there.