Eldorado Southwest Ridge-Buttress

[daylward]

Southwest Ridge-Buttress of Eldorado 9/29,9/30,10/1

Background:

The West Arete of Eldorado is a well-known if not super-popular way to get up this remote peak, second only to the relatively

easy east ridge, especially due to the fact that those are the two routes in volume one of Selected Climbs in the Cascades.

However, there is another, longer, roughly parallel ridge to the south of the standard West Arete that rarely (if ever?) has been

climbed. The green Beckey guide shows a 1951 line, the first ascent of the West side of the mountain, largely to the left

(north) of this "rounded rock buttress", but coming up to the ridge crest for a short while in the middle. Beckey notes, however

that "an attempt on the long SW ridge-buttress flanking the W face, in 1972, was halted after seven pitches because of

insecure and dirty rock, and scarcity of anchor points". We found a very old rappel sling in the grove of trees several hundred

feet up from the toe of the buttress, which may have been from that attempt. We saw no other signs of anyone having been

on the route. One of the factors in it not being a popular climb, I would guess, is that it doesn't go directly to the summit of

Eldorado, but rather to a sub-peak on the ridge that extends south from the summit towards Triad Col.

Approach:

Our intent was to take advantage of the good forecast and do the West Arete. Andrea Leuschke, Christopher Fast and I took

off from Seattle reasonably early on Saturday. We got to the Eldorado Creek parking lot at about 9:00 and wasted no time

taking advantage of the plush new outhouse the NPS has installed there. I wonder if that's a result of our faithfully paid

Northwest Forest Pass fees? We saw Dave Burdick and Phil Fortier's truck at the trailhead; we knew they would be there

because we saw their sign-out sheet at the ranger station. Hoof up trail through woods, hoof up boulder field, hoof up trail

through heather and blueberries... wait, blueberries! MMM, scarf gobble munch blueberries. Go W over spur ridge, up copious

slabs (this was the least snow coverage I've ever seen here!), onto broken Eldorado glacier... We had to hug the right edge on

the steep first part to avoid crevasses. Followed Dave and Phil's footprints around the crevasses over the flats to the east

shoulder of Eldorado where we found them huddled in their Marmot single wall tent at the bivy site on the rocks. Just as we

got there the clouds that had been threatening us with sprinkles all day let fly with some more sprinkles, so we quickly set up

the 2-person Sierra Designs Clip FlashLight tent that Christopher had brought for the three of us. We ate a scrumptious meal

of couscous, tuna, olive oil, parmasean cheese, and vegetables, and stuffed ourselves into that little tent where we slept very

little before the alarm went off at 3:00 am.

We got our stuff together and tied into the single 50m 9mm Stratos rope and headed out into the moonlight, which was quickly

shadowed by the bulk of Eldorado Peak as we traversed around the northeast side of it on the Inspiration Glacier. We spent a

couple hours winding between large crevasses on the badly broken sheet of ice in search of the col to the N of the Tepeh

Towers (also apparently called Dean's Spire?), where we could drop down onto the McAllister Glacier. Which we did. Another

set of crevasses thwarted us temporarily until we found a tiny snow bridge to cross and then it was a straight shot down

through the col to the left of Dorado Needle and down into the Marble Creek cirque. A large snow wall created by a hardened

wind scoop marked the top of the unnamed glacier below the col. We descended down the glacier, keeping right at first and

then angling left to avoid steeper ablated ice, then through the notch in the spur ridge, down past the toe of the West Arete,

down all the way around some broken ice chunks to the bottom of the Southwest Ridge-Buttress. Here's where we were

confused, and moreover, there was confusion as to whom to blame the confusion on. You see, we forgot to copy the route

description. All we had to go on was our memories. I remembered the picture in the Nelson guide showing the West Arete

being on the sort of northern side of the face. But we figured the real West Arete would be the one that so obviously pokes

the farthest down towards Marble Creek. We began our climb up our chosen ridge without a clear idea which ridge it was. In

any case, it looked like it would go. As we ascended, we kept looking across at the real West Arete and noticing how closely

it matched what we remembered of the route description...

Route:

Due to the relative inexperience on this type of climb of my partners, I led all the pitches, with Andrea and Chris tied in 30 feet

apart on the other end of the rope. The majority of the route was simul-climbing; we belayed 2 pitches. We got on the rock at

9:00 am right at the lowest point, by wandering into the moat and climbing reasonably-protectable glacier-polished granite. We

simul-climbed several hundred feet of class-4 and occasionally low class-5 up to the lone grove of trees on the ridge. From

there, another pitch started out as an unpleasant vertical-bushwhack through the grove of trees (where we saw that old rap

sling) and then out to the right and up more open and less-protectable but easy ground, finishing at the base of a steeper

headwall. I then led two belayed pitches (maybe 5.8 in places and hard to protect). Above the headwall, it eased off and

became very beautiful, lots of bright green moss-covered rock... we just motored for over 1000 feet. We then came to the

base of a second headwall, where the SW Ridge comes up from the right and causes the Southwest Ridge Buttress to do a

sort of zigzag. I led one simul-climbing pitch up essentially straight up (with a lot of meandering, but with infrequently placed

protection to avoid rope drag).

INCIDENT! I'm standing on a 2-foot wide dirty sloping ledge, my fingers on a crimp, I'm pretty solid. I'm 20 feet above my last

piece. I hear a yell. I brace myself. Chris had fallen. He pulled Andrea off. I feel the rope slowly come tight on me, thanks

to the extremely dynamic nature of the 9mm. My crimp holds, with most of the weight borne by my feet. I ask if everyone is

OK. They are, except for some big bruises on Chris' ass. I plead with him to take the weight off the rope. He finally does.

We continue climbing. I set up a belay the first chance I get, an uncomfortable hanging belay right on the ridge crest, and

belay them up... when Chris gets to me he informs me that my ice axe, which had been on his pack, is now missing, along

with the ice axe loop that had held it there. Apparently it came off in the fall. Doh! Chris is a bit shaken, and begins to doubt

his abilities. I calm him down and tell him he can do it, and I push him up onto the large ledge above the hanging belay. The

thought flashes across my mind of trying to descend the snow on Eldorado without an ice axe... In my track spikes (which is

the only glacier travel footwear I brought...)

Now we were on a knife-edge ridge of excellent rock, just in front of a big sharp gendarme with a notch on the other side about

at our same level. I led a traversing pitch across the southeast side of the gendarme to a belay just before then notch, then

another one up the steeper rock on the far side of the notch. We could see that our ridge didn't go to the true summit of

Eldorado now, and it was beginning to get late, so I made a beeline for the ridge between the main peak of Eldorado and the

sub-peak that our ridge went up. We started hitting new snow that had fallen the previous week, and the rock and protection

quality got much worse. As the sun was setting, we were traversing basically scree and dirt covered in most places with

several inches of snow. But we knew we were almost there. I made one last belay before it got completely dark, and we

donned headlamps and ate jolly ranchers and the last of our GU, which hit the spot. From there, I couldn't tell how far it was,

but as I led through slightly improved geology I began to notice that we were almost there, and then there I was, on the ridge,

overlooking the Eldorado glacier reflecting bright full-moon-light. 2 rappels got us to the snow, and 45 minutes later we were

back at our camp on the shoulder of the East Ridge, at about 10:30. We decided to stay there instead of hike out, even

though we had to work the next day... and I'm glad we did... as we lay down under the stars (we decided to go sans-tent), and

ate our makeshift meal of cheese, olive oil, and powdered milk, we were treated to the most spectacular display of Aurora

Borealis! The whole sky was pulsing and shimmering, with streaks running up and down, moving back and forth, even in the

bright moonlight it was clearly visible! When we awoke to begin our descent at 4:00 am, it was still going...

The descent was uneventful. We enjoyed a tasty breakfast of blueberries and got back to the car by about 9:00. The rangers

had already called Chris' wife Leah, who had stayed up all night worrying, but we found a spot where we got cell phone

reception and quickly allayed her concerns.

I was useless at work that day!

[This message has been edited by daylward (edited 10-04-2001).]

[This message has been edited by daylward (edited 10-04-2001).]

[daylward]

Oh yes, there are a few things I'd like to add... First of all, I was extremely impressed with the way both Andrea and Christopher handled themselves on the route. Though they have spent a lot of time in the mountains, it was the biggest thing either of them had ever done. I did lead everything, but I set a fast pace and ran it out, and they kept right up without complaining. At one point Andrea did ask me to put more protection in... and that brings up a bigger point: I think it was unwise to take them both at once on such a big climb. Climbing with the more experienced partners that I usually do, I get accustomed to taking more risks in the name of speed, and I feel that is somewhat justified because I can count on my partner to be solid and comfortable with the terrain and my decisions, and vice versa. In this case, it turned out alright, but the incident where Chris fell while simul-climbing illustrates that we were pushing it a little beyond his ability. That combined with 3 people on one rope makes it even more risky. If he had fallen while I was in a less stable position, the weight of the three of us shockloading one piece may have pulled it, and we all could have taken the big one-way ride. There were several root causes of the situation:

Chris decided to wear mountain boots instead of rock shoes, a decision that only benefitted him in the upper snowy sections. He is very fit, but not a super strong climber, and the mountain boots hindered his ability even more.

We chose the wrong route. If we had gone for the regular West Arete, which is a bit shorter, we wouldn't have had to floor the accelerator so hard to get up the mountain.

A learning experience...

Dan

[Smoker]

Nice TR Dan.

sounds like a fun route.

I find that I have to throttle back at times depending on partners as well.

Smoker

[Lambone]

Wow! Cool, I have allways wondered how hard it would be to hold a fall while simo-climbing. You held two(and no-offense Dan), but you are not a very big guy! Thats really interesting.

Sounds like a great adventure, thanks for the report!

[bonehead]

Dan, great trip report. Some friends and I went up the east route a few weeks back, but your trip sounds like much more of a cool challenge.

Quick question -- did you notice the Aurora making any noise? No, I'm not on the herb.... I've observed them once from my place here in Seabeck and they made a low rumbling noise, like far-off thunder.. I've read that others have heard them too.

Anyway, thanks for the info.

Jim

[Cpt.Caveman]

epics are good for your character. you should have them more often. Blueberries are good!

[This message has been edited by Cpt.Caveman (edited 10-11-2001).]

[Lambone]

Hey Bonehead,

Since when was was it possible for you to hear light? It happened to me once after a big bag 'o fungus!

[Dru]

Sounds like the Taos Hum to me.....

[philfort]

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF12/1257.html

[bonehead]

Philfort -

Thanks for the link! Geez, it was the spirits talking to me - not Lambone's bag o' fungus. It's ALL starting to make sense now...

It's odd to think that scientists haven't really come up with any definite explanation, but in any case I feel very fortunate to have seen AND heard them. No telling if I'll ever have the chance again.

As an aside - I've been lurking on this site now for several months and I must say all you regular post'ers are a great group. Even when the flames fly, good info and honest opinion abound. I'm constantly inspired by you all to climb more, even as I head over the hump (40...). I often wonder what the average age of the Cascadeclimber user-group is....

Keep up the good vibes...

Jim