Colin Posted December 1, 2002 Posted December 1, 2002 Yeah, I was sick of carrying bivy gear after hiking up to the East Ridge last weekend, only to discover that I'd forgotten my lighter, and couldn't use my stove. I slept at the trailhead, and headed out at 3 am. Quote
Ade Posted December 1, 2002 Posted December 1, 2002 Finally tagged it! "SHE GO". Paco (glutton for punishment a second time) and I went in Friday and climbed the route Sat and descended the same day. Snow above the treeline is rough going, especially in the afternoon, took us over two hours to get from the base of the meadows to the base of the E Ridge, I guess Colin and the other party, who bivvied in above the Eldorado basin, had better snow conditions early morning. As Colin says the route in in good shape, not hard but fun. Paco and I followed Colin up having caught the other party of three on the glacier. I think there's slightly more neve than previously making the route faster, we only did three pitches and simul-climbed the rest (four hours from shrund to summit). We had originally planned to take it easy and descend Sunday (being slackers and assuming 7 hours for the route) but having summited early opted to head out the same day. Fantastic views from Rainier to Baker/Shuksan and beyond. Bonus climb considering it's supposed to be pouring with rain/snow by now. Basically Paco and I had a great time, kudos to him for being willing to do that grunt of an approach again after he'd already done the route. Ade Quote
thelawgoddess Posted December 4, 2002 Posted December 4, 2002 i'm jealous y'all. i wish i wasn't such a wimp when it came to approaches ... colin, you're an animal!!! Quote
JoshK Posted December 4, 2002 Posted December 4, 2002 In defense of the approach, it really isn't *that* bad. It seems to have gotten a bad rap tho. At least it's a beautiful approcah, rather than a long boring approach. Quote
philfort Posted December 4, 2002 Posted December 4, 2002 How deep is the snow up there right now? The website says the road is gated at MP 20. Is that at the Eldorado lot, or the steep switchback? Quote
mattp Posted December 4, 2002 Posted December 4, 2002 Not to be snide, Lawgoddess, but Josh is right -- the approach is not that bad. In fact, it is not bad at all. You will find few North Cascade mountain climbing approaches that are easier. Go for it! Quote
DPS Posted December 4, 2002 Posted December 4, 2002 Mattp is right. No devils club, no slide alder, no annoying switchbacks. The approach gets you out of the valley into alpine nirvana right quick. Just stay out of the talus at night. Quote
philfort Posted December 4, 2002 Posted December 4, 2002 Agreed, the approach is "easy"... a lot of elevation gain, but it's on nice soft trail or meadow or glacier. Except for the stupid talus field. Go for it. But could anyone who was up there last wknd give a guestimate on snow depth (there was about 1-2 feet at 6000ft in Terror Basin last wknd, though it was patchy, so I assume something similar?). I was thinking about going into Boston Basin for some turns... Quote
Ade Posted December 5, 2002 Posted December 5, 2002 There was 6"-1' of newish snow all the way from 5500'. So you leave the talus fields, which thankfully don't have any snow on them, and then cross the meadows and ridge to get into the next basin on snow pretty much all the way. Try and hit it as early as possible because it makes the going slow where you have to cross the rocks when the snow is soft... hip deep holes to fall in yadda yadda yadda. The road was gated at the Eldorado lot. The approach's apparant rep as one of the toughest in the Cascades is patently undeserved. Quote
JoshK Posted December 5, 2002 Posted December 5, 2002 dps makes a good point...any approach in the cascades that doesn't involve slide alder or devils club (or god forbid both) is alright in my book. God I hate slide alder... Quote
wayne Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 There were ,believe it or not, 13 people this weekend wanting to do that route!! Because of this website!! There were 2 smart ones that did it in a day (Saturday), And 2 other smart ones who descided it was too crowded to bother! It seemed the rest of the "Invasion " made it up the climb. Quote
Skisports Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 sounds like some dinnerplates fell down that gully Quote
SEF Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 There were ,believe it or not, 13 people this weekend wanting to do that route!! Because of this website!! There were 2 smart ones that did it in a day (Saturday), And 2 other smart ones who descided it was too crowded to bother! Hey Wayne, sounds like you were up there. Were you one of the "smart ones"? TR? ---------- Quote
Lambone Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 Wayne, Too crowded, yes... But was it really because of this web site? Or because conditions are about as good as they could be for this time of year, and the climb is in the Selected Climbs...what did you expect? From the description it sounds like the Black Ice Coulior of the Cascades. What alpine climber in their right mind would not have wanted to be out there on the 8th of December... For that matter, perhaps you should get more specific with your acusation. Yeah, go ahead...just blame it on Colin. Hell he soloed the route and called it "easy"...if he can do it sans rope, we all should be able to right! Shoulda been at Big 4 with TLG, Scot'terx and the rest of the crew, it was a swingin good time! Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 TR - 9 people climbed route. 3 of us on one rope simul climb it in 5 pitches.... Almost feel sorry for the guys that came in from Sibley. Probably spent another night out. Quote
Highlander Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 Nice work Ray, and that was an excellent TR. Quote
allthumbs Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 Killer report Ray. Highlander, an true action hero like Ray is typically a man of few words. He painted the picture perfectly for me. Quote
thelawgoddess Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 Shoulda been at Big 4 with TLG, Scot'terx and the rest of the crew, it was a swingin good time! scott, i thought that might have been you. but you don't get brownie points for not coming over to say hi!!! btw, i've got somebody's fritos. they're pretty good with smokey black bean dip from trader joe's. just talked to pms today. sounds like he, cavey, and fleblebleb had a super day on eldo. nice work guys! Quote
Alex Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 pretty funny, from desperate obscurity to trade route in one month. time to find another project! Alex Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 Youre silly alex. it is a good route weather or not lots of people like to climb it. If there were that many people on the nr of stuart nobody would say a thing. It's not like anyone thought it was a testpiece project from what I understood anyway. Considering how long it probably stays in and the new guidebook (which you never would have looked at the route most likely if it did not exist) as well as the thanksgiving holiday being the previous weekend i was counting on lots of people. Discrediting the route because you have not climbed it and tons of people have, or because you were to lazy to go up there and went to the rockies instead is gay. But hey that is your loss- I guess I am not going to climb the Weeping wall because it has seen thousands of ascents and has 10 people on it during a weekday *stupid-rolleyes* everyone was friendly and some blood was left from Zee on the route. Cheers to the fellow climbers BTW kudos to Colin for the solo - pretty tough day trip I think. Also the 2 guys that came down the trail at 10 am from their day trip -hardcore- I think they soloed it too as well in micro time. Phukin A Quote
cs Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 Cavey, I was on that team from Sibley and we made it out sun night. Granted it was a little dark by the time we did get out. By the way, that is a bad choice for an approch. I will never come in that way again. Way to much elvation gain and loss. Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 cs hey bro- that is cool. I actually thought that might be the better approach too but after confering with my partner that had climbed the peak over 20 times I had to shut up ( I guess we call that beta ). No smart ass thoughts intended. You guys did good. Glad to see everyone had a great time. Quote
Alex Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 (edited) nevermind Edited December 9, 2002 by Alex Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted December 9, 2002 Posted December 9, 2002 (edited) Damn should I edit the Return of the Jedi every day Edited December 9, 2002 by Cpt.Caveman Quote
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