[TR] Early Morning Spire- SW Face (photo TR) 8/19/2006

[Chad_A]

Climb: Early Morning Spire-SW Face (photo TR)

 

Date of Climb: 8/19/2006

 

Trip Report:

DonnV mentioned the SW Face as a potential climb, and I took the opportunity to do it this past weekend with him. dberdinka's TR covers everything (couldn't have been timed better; we were discussing the climb, and then it pops up here. I don't think anything really surprised us, but it was nice to hear the impressions of the route, nonetheless.) So, here's a couple handfuls of pics for you all to enjoy. Cheers!

-Chad

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Usual alpine rack,

aluminum crampons, ice ax.

Maybe next time I'll bring some scotch.

 

Approach Notes:

The usual Eldorado approach is in good nick.

[DirtyHarry]

Nice guys. Did you do it in two days or three? How many hours would you say the approach took?

[Chad_A]

Well, technically we did it in two, but we hung around for a third day, with the thought of maybe doing the SW Buttress on Dorado Needle; instead, we headed out for cotton clothes, beer, and on the way, we snagged the summit of Eldorado.

 

The first day, Friday, we did a chill approach...I didn't time it, but we were at the col at Dorado Needle in the early afternoon. Next morning, we left the col at 7400 ft, and dropped down to about 5600 ft (eventually); with a blue bag break in there, it took us a little less than three to get to the base of the climb.

[DirtyHarry]

Cool. Confirms what I've heard - NOT reasonably doable in a day.

 

Nice pic's, BTW, and nice jorb!

[RogerJ]

Nice pictures Chad... thanks for posting them.

 

-r

[Alpine_Dreamer]

Thanks for the pics! The recent TR assault is great - been thinking about this one for Sept. If you'd left the trailhead at the a$$ crack of dawn (say 4-5am) on day one, would it have been feasible to hit Dorado Needle - SW Butt that day, then do EMS - SW Face on day two? It'd be a couple long days, for sure - but what a weekend!

[Chad_A]

Thanks for the pics! The recent TR assault is great - been thinking about this one for Sept. If you'd left the trailhead at the a$$ crack of dawn (say 4-5am) on day one, would it have been feasible to hit Dorado Needle - SW Butt that day, then do EMS - SW Face on day two? It'd be a couple long days, for sure - but what a weekend!

 

Depends on how fast you move, but you'd almost be guaranteed to be heading to camp in the dark after the climb, IMHO. Good luck with whatever you do, and thanks all for the responses. Really, it was Donn's climb; I was just along for the awe-inspiring ride

[mneagle]

When we did it in late season we had some problems on the descent from EMS. The snowfield below dorado was all melted out and we had to climb down and through a lot of crevasses and got cliffed out to the left so we had to descend a long ways to get around a huge slab before making our way back up to the col. Still totally doable that time of year but with the melt out and short daylight we ended up making a 24 hr round trip from the base of Eldorado East Ridge. After a few hrs of sleep we bagged Eldo and then headed home for a total 2 day trip with not very much sleep.

 

Also, we got confused on the descent in the dark and instead of going all the way down to the col behind EMS we just rapped the face down to the glacier. It cost me a cordelette to make the anchors.

 

Enjoy.

[W]

Nice report and pictures! Brings back some memories.

 

I wouldn't totally discount a one day attempt, but one would need to be very fit and fast, and even so, you would likely be starting and finishing in the dark. I calculate that the total elevation gain, car to car, ends up being about 9400', due to the descent to the route and then climbing back out of the Marble Creek cirque after the climb. With such awesome scenery, though, a bivouac somewhere along the way only enhances the experience.

[Chad_A]

With such awesome scenery, though, a bivouac somewhere along the way only enhances the experience.

 

Oh, man, I haven't heard a truer statement in a long time

[ckouba]

I hate you (read: nice work brother and wish I was there with you fools though I bet Donn doesn't).

 

CK

 

PS - One day it WILL get soggy up there and you'll have to drag your asses down here so we can make others jealous.

[RogerJ]

PS Chad... Scotch is aid.

[iain]

this would be quite a long day. We started from a bivy not far from the route and still wound up stumbling down that lame ass trail well into the night.