Paco Posted November 4, 2002 Posted November 4, 2002 On Sunday Nov. 3, danielpatricksmith and I climbed the Northwest Couloir of Eldorado under beautiful skys. 7 1/2 pitches of snow and ice, with 3 or 4 short (12-15ft) steps of steep ice to keep you honest. The route was longer and more difficult than we had expected given the one line desciption in Nelson's guidebook of a staightforward couloir that steepens to 55-60 degrees at mid-height. Gear: -60m rope: we really stretched some of the pitches to get to good belay stances. I think we would have been SOL with a 50m. Retreat via rappelling would also be difficult with one rope. -4 screws (2 short, 2 medium): not too many screw placements, but did have one solid screw belay -cams: gold, red, green camolots, red alien (very useful) -full set of nuts -set of pitons w/ small angles, knifeblades, and bugaboos -lots of double length runners (we ended up girth hitching a few standard length runners) Notes: - We saw bear tracks on the snow - There were old footprints following the approach route to the couloir, but they faded out in the snow 3/4 the way there. Wondering if others have done this route this season. - The route is a lot more invigorating (and a lot more mixed) when one looses their crampon while following pitch 6. If anyone heads that way and finds a Charlet Moser super 12 crampon along the route or at the base it would be cool if you would retrieve it for me. PM me if you want additional beta, or have found my crampon . Otherwise, go out and have fun, climb safe, and take advantage of this weather. -Paco Quote
JoshK Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Nice climb guys. That looked like an awesome line when I saw it a few weeks ago. Sorry about the crampon, the same damn thing happened to me on the price glacier this weekend. Quote
Lambone Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 No offense guys, but I have allways been bewildered when experienced climbers lose a crampon on a climb. you hear the stories all the time, but i just don't get it. Quote
Dru Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Bruce Hendricks finished off his solo of Supercouloir on Deltaform with one foot wearing 6 pairs of wiool socks anda Superfang after he dropped his boot from the bivi. That must suck worse than losing a crampon Quote
Ade Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Nice one. Serves me right for getting sick in the week else I'd have been up there for another try. Oooohh! I'm soooo frustrated! Quote
DPS Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 I have some photos that I will scan and try post to the photo gallery. I was very impressed with the quality of climbing on this route. In current conditions, it is one of the most enjoyable routes I have done in the Cascades. I do find it very funny that we ran into a couple of fellows who flatly said 'the route is not in shape' as if it were an fact as indisputable as the sky being blue. They had not even been there. I wonder how people feel like they can spew beta for routes they have not even seen? [ 11-05-2002, 06:19 AM: Message edited by: danielpatricksmith ] Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 quote: Originally posted by danielpatricksmith: I do find it very funny that we ran into a couple of fellows who flatly said 'the route is not in shape' as if it were an fact as indisputable as the sky being blue. They had not even been there. I wonder how people feel like they can spew beta for routes they have not even seen? People tell me stuff like that all the time on trails etc. It's funny Quote
Dru Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: quote:Originally posted by danielpatricksmith: I do find it very funny that we ran into a couple of fellows who flatly said 'the route is not in shape' as if it were an fact as indisputable as the sky being blue. They had not even been there. I wonder how people feel like they can spew beta for routes they have not even seen? People tell me stuff like that all the time on trails etc. It's funny Yeah or on this board like when Fence Sitter akas RedMonk aka Scott Harpell, and MountainMan said that TNF of Shuksan was "out of condition for the rest of the year" Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Back to the subject- it's nice to know the climb is that long at least. Quote
Paco Posted November 5, 2002 Author Posted November 5, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Lambone: No offense guys, but I have allways been bewildered when experienced climbers lose a crampon on a climb. you hear the stories all the time, but i just don't get it. No offense taken. In fact thanks for posing the question. It made me think about it more last night. If I had lost my crampon lower on the route or while leading one of the steep ice steps I would have been up shits creek. My previous pair of crampons were Grivel 2F's with the toe bail step in bindings. These lock on to my scarpa invernos rock solid, and the strap stays tight. The problem with these crampons is that they ball up ridiculously well. So this season I decided I had enough of that and bought a pair of Charlet Moser super 12's with step in bindings and toe strap (not the steel toe bail). This was actually the second time these crampons came off a boot, but the first time it was while flat footing on low angle styrofoam snow with a soft leather boot. I passed it off thinking that it happened because the boot was pretty flexible. This time it came off my inverno, and I also noticed the other one was loose when I got to the belay! I've noticed that the strap on the Charlet Mosers doesn't stay tight well. I've had to keep tightening it on previous trips. Also, I don't think that my heels were locked in tight enough, although I did a little testing last night and it really doesn't take that much downward pressure on the front points to knock the crampon loose even with the heal locked in super tight. Some sloppy footwork can easily knock the crampon loose. The only thing that keeps these crampons on the toe is the friction between the boot and two front posts (generated by locking the heel part), and the toe strap. I think what happened is that during the climb the strap worked loose and then I knocked the crampon loose while kicking around on the route. I think from here on out I will be using only crampons with the spring steel toe bail with my invernos. I think this style locks onto the boot better and the strap is just there as a back-up as apposed to the toe strap variety where the strap is an integral part of holding the crampon on. Quote
Paco Posted November 5, 2002 Author Posted November 5, 2002 The one line route description in the Beckey guide describes the route more closely to what we encountered than the Nelson guide indicated. Beckey says, "There are 6 to 8 pitches with snow and ice climbing ranging from 50 degrees to vertical." I have not seen the report from the 1987 AAJ of the first ascent, but would be interested in reading it. If it is short enough for someone to type up and post here that would be great. Or, if someone was willing to photocopy and either mail or fax me a copy that would be appreciated. Thanks. [ 11-05-2002, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: Paco ] Quote
kyagpa! Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 1987 AAJ " El Dorado Peak North Couloir. The north face of Eldorado Peak is a hazardous enigma. In October, Dan Cauthorn and I --carrying plenty of noodles and tuna packed in oil--emerged from the depths of the Cascade forest empire to investigate this hidden facet of the "Queen of the Cascade River." There were no clouds to cause concern (still, you never know.) We left our camp below the west face of El Dorado at six A.M. and walked toward the Dorado Needle-El Dorado col until we could climb onto the glacier beneath the north face of El Dorado. The elegant and unmistakable couloir required 6 to 8 pitches of frozen snow and water ice between 55 and 90 degrees, finishing on the knife-edged summit arete. On the summit at one P.M., Cauthorn summed it all up:"Good climb, good climb....I think so, dont you" (III) William Pilling " Quote
Alex Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Paco: "There are 6 to 8 pitches with snow and ice climbing ranging from 50 degrees to vertical." yeah however beckey states that the vertical is at the bergschrund..! Quote
JasonG Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Hey JoshK- Is a TR forthcoming on the Price??? Sounded spicy with a lost crampon . . . Quote
JoshK Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Lambone, to answer your question directly, there is no real good excuse for it. I was pretty embarrased by the mishap, not to mention pissed about losing a $100 crampon and having to downclimb with one crampon on. As to why mine came off, my guess is I loosened it when I jumped a **large** crevasse moments before. I landed hard on the ice and tripped myself up a bit on the crampon, requiring myself to spin around, hit the deck, and get a tool in. It was fairly low angle ice, so it wasn't a big problem, but I think it may have loosened the front bail a bit. As I started to backstep to the other side of a second crevasse we were climbing in and out of, the crampon popped off and the safety strap didn't do a damn thing. I made a very similar observation as paco; the charlet moser safety straps don't seem to work so hot. I've popped a grivel before and it held fine. My partner's BD Bionics also seem to have a much better design for their safety strap. So...here are the lessons I took away from this little episode: 1.)It never hurts to double check your crampons after doing something that could have possibly loosened them. This would have saved my butt. 2.)I'm rigging up my own safety strap configurations on these crampons that I am comfortable with before I use them again. Quote
JoshK Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Heinrich, fortunately the spiciness was kept to a minimum due to the fact that we weren't high enough to make retreat impossible. I will post some pics (hopefully later today), however, as I know a few people showed interest in seeing some current pics from this seldom visited side of the mountain. Quote
DPS Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 I posted some photos of Paco and my trip up the NW Ice Couloir. They reside in the North Cascades folder. Fair warning, I am a poor photographer at best. Also, the thumb nail of 'steeping out' appears as a duplicate to the previous one. Click on it and you will get the correct larger version. Thanks for posting the AAJ article, Kyagpa!. I was beggining to think I was a Scot'teryx for thinking the route was so hard and so long. I think the Nelson guide could be a bit misleading as to the technical difficulty. [ 11-05-2002, 11:14 AM: Message edited by: danielpatricksmith ] Quote
DPS Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Thanks. You did not see the really bad ones. Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Shows what the route is like to me. I'm convinced it's good now. Was skeptical before. Too bad I don't have the time to do it this season. Oh well. Quote
vegetablebelay Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Nice going guys. Thanks for the pics! Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 Hey Paco do you wear those spandex to work too Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 After seeing those photos that routes is definately on my to-do list. Quote
David_Parker Posted November 5, 2002 Posted November 5, 2002 quote: Originally posted by danielpatricksmith: I do find it very funny that we ran into a couple of fellows who flatly said 'the route is not in shape' as if it were an fact as indisputable as the sky being blue. They had not even been there. I wonder how people feel like they can spew beta for routes they have not even seen? Dan, This was the same bullshit that Wayne and I got from TWO parties when we went to do it. Unfortunately it kept us from even attempting it. I hope my post after was helpful in your decision to go. I'm jealous, but good job! [ 11-05-2002, 11:43 AM: Message edited by: David Parker ] Quote
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