west ridge of eldorado- tr

[Guest]

aug 11-12, 02 started up the climbers trail (eldorado creek) at noon- 4,000 ft in 4 miles- steep! 4 hrs to camp. might try sibley creek pass if i need to do this area again. camped on the ridge crest with the marmots- beautiful meteor shower. started at 5am and crossed the eldorado glacier to the triad-eldorado col. easy scrambling over to the triad glacier. soft snow with some icy patches- crampons were nice. long traverse to the buttress. 4 hrs to reach from camp. stay away from the glacier to the right of the buttress- lots of rock fall! easy start with some 4th class heather scrambling. when the ridge starts to steepen- stay right. a couple 5.6-5.7 pitches gets you to the first gendarme. follow the guide book here. a fixed titanium piton makes the 5.8 down climb/traverse only slightly less scary. lots of bail slings for the weak of heart and body. would probably bring some of my own rap slings to replace the worn ones we risked our lives on. about 4 more pitches of 5.6-5.7 climbing after the gendarmes and then another rappel onto a 100 foot snow ridge. boots were nice for this. class 4 scrambling to the top- watch out for big loose rocks- partner almost crushed himself in the last 20 ft of the climb. 8 hrs to summit from base of buttress. 2 hr desent back to camp- follow the yak route down. 2 hrs later back to the car- very sore and tired. a few black flies in the trees, but a slight breeze kept the bugs away for most the trip. perfect weather- could even see rainier from the summit.

[Alex]

nice!

[forrest_m]

a nice & concise TR, CM3! by the way, the sibley creek approach is very scenic, but takes longer than the standard approach. on the standard, you can just put your nose down and grind it out; sibley creek has a lot of route finding, up and down, etc. (not that it's not worth doing, 'cause it's cool, but it's not a time saver)

[To_The_Top]

Sibley creek approach is easier to get permits for the Triad area too, when the other approach usually is "sold out". The main problem was finding the "obvious decent gulley". Better views too.

TTT