iain Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 With the nice window of weather, we decided to head up north and plow our way up Cascade River Rd to check out the Eldorado area. We were able to drive to just before mile 19. We could have gone farther, but there comes a point where your diff is dragging deeply through the drifts and you start getting nervous about turning around. A short hike up to the gate led to a pretty casual log jam crossing and onto the canada-style approach trail. Aggro skinning commenced: After an acceptable amount of skittering, things turned pretty: The Eldorado Glacier was a cruise, but unfortunately it was also glop city. I could not lift my foot off the snow a few times, due to about 1ft of attached snow. Rarely do you worry about bindings releasing due to glop. We ended up camping on the Inspiration, probably on a bergschrund The approach to Eldo is a cakewalk from here: Looking back at our ittybitty camp: The classic Eldo shot from the summit: We had been pretty spoiled the past few weeks with all the powder skiing, so there was a touch of grumbling about the windpack but really you can't complain when you are skiing here. We were interested in ticking off some other stuff in the area since it is such a long drive for us. We dropped down towards Kalwatti to go ski the south couloir, but on the way over we were stuck on the Inspiration Glacier in a whiteout. We sat down and waited. It didn't seem to be clearing anytime soon, and we wanted to be on Kalwatti earlier than later, so we bagged it and went back to camp in the soupy fog. Of course, it was completely clear all the way back down the forest to the road. The ski down through the trees is a bit gripping in places. Oh well, we'll be back for sure. Quote
Dru Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 You camped on a burkshard?!?! Uncage the SOUL, brother! Quote
ilookeddown Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Nice job. Wish we would have stayed after we saw you guys on our way down. We were a little concerned the weather might be changing when we turned around at about 6900ft. What was the weather the rest of the day? Quote
olyclimber Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Awesome Iain! All this AND you put some loving on my kitty and jacked my house too??? Those are some great pictures. Quote
iain Posted February 13, 2006 Author Posted February 13, 2006 Hey there, it turned mostly cloudy in the evening and we were definitely staring at the sky and the bigger peaks around trying to figure out our future. Eldo and others were in the clouds in the morning, but they cleared off briefly when we topped out. Then it socked in and was snowing when we were leaving the glacier. It looked threatening to the west, but it turned out to be a localized thing. olyclimber has a killer guard cat at his fenced-in compound, beware. Quote
Alpinfox Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Who is "WE"? Were you accompanied by ChuckNorris, TheNodder, CobraCommander, or... GASP.... Dr_Flash_Amazing? Quote
skykilo Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Eldorado's always fun; too bad you didn't get Klawatti, it's a kick. Whiteouts rock! I really like the sitting on ?what? suspended between skis, looks like a great idea. Can you take it one step further and make a hammock with two pairs? Take a little rigging for skiing with your lady friend... Quote
DirtyHarry Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Skiing and clipping bolts at the same time, would be TOUGH! Quote
ilookeddown Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Glad the weather cooperated somewhat for you guys. I was going to post some of the pictures I took. Do you mind if I just stick them here? Quote
iain Posted February 13, 2006 Author Posted February 13, 2006 DFA was of course not present due to the thigh-developing nature of this outing. I have not met the other people you mention above but they sound interesting. Quote
iain Posted February 13, 2006 Author Posted February 13, 2006 I really like the sitting on ?what? suspended between skis, looks like a great idea. Can you take it one step further and make a hammock with two pairs? Take a little rigging for skiing with your lady friend... Trick ski lounge with poles across bindings. Apparently in Europe you can actually buy hammocks designed for this. I was waiting for his dynafit toe tabs to rip off. ilookeddown: post away, of course Quote
AllYouCanEat Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Powder is good. Here is a patch on eldorado a few years back. BTW nice TR. Such an awesome place. Quote
Tom_Sjolseth Posted February 14, 2006 Posted February 14, 2006 Did you use/need AWD or 4WD to get to Mile 19? Would a high clearance 2WD have sufficed? Quote
iain Posted February 14, 2006 Author Posted February 14, 2006 High clearance was definitely necessary. As for 4WD, I think it would be a good idea, but I was in 4wd when the snow started so couldn't say if it was completely necessary. It was mainly just plowing straight on, so once you got going it was not bad. However, you have to turn around at some point, and later in the day on the way out, the truck was sinking in a bit more. There is now a pretty good set of tracks in there to mp 19 at the moment. Also, an extra bit of walking/gliding on the road doesn't really feel like much compared to the energy you expend once you leave the road. Quote
iain Posted February 14, 2006 Author Posted February 14, 2006 pics from ilookeddown taken on Saturday Dude, Freerides on Dynafit skis? Isn't there a law against that somewhere? And are those Dynastar LP's on the other guy? Is his back okay? Link to bigger photo: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=16238&size=big&sort=1&cat=500 Quote
ilookeddown Posted February 14, 2006 Posted February 14, 2006 Yea, it should be. I was suprised to see that myself when he showed up with that setup. Adam, with the Dynastar skis just likes the abuse. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.