[TR] Isolation Traverse (Colonial-Eldo) 5/29/2007

[tvashtarkatena]

Trip: Isolation Traverse (Colonial to Eldorado)

 

Date: 5/29/2007

 

Trip Report:

Isolation Traverse

 

Forecasted high pressure forced me to pressure Don Brooks into forgoing work to join me for a high traverse from Colonial to Eldorado this past week. Unfortunately, and I’ll be up front about this, El Senior Bozo here left the camera on the kitchen table. I did capture this one image after the trip’s conclusion, which tells a bit of the story:

 

 

First completed on foot by Joe and Joan Firey, then on skis by Gary Brill, Lowell Skoog, Mark Hutson, and Brian Sullivan, this strenuous but fantastically scenic trip takes you through the glaciated heart of the North Cascades. We completed the route in 3 long days (2 nights out), with an unplanned 3rd night out at the endpoint trailhead.

 

We decided to go North to South in the hopes of catching a ride from the Eldorado trailhead at the end of the 3rd day. This would avoid an expensive and time consuming car shuttle. This worked out in the end, but not exactly as planned. The North to South plan, although more strenous than the opposite direction, turned out to be for the best due to conditions at the route's crux: the Backbone/McAllister col.

 

After ski jousting our way up the pleasant Pyramid trail (TH: Hwy 20), we burst into the brilliant Valhalla of the Colonial Glacier, then onto the Neve Glacier across disappointingly mushy snow to bivvy near the base of Snowfield Peak.

 

The following morning, Don took advantage of two skiers' steps (thanks, guys) to climb Snowfield’s NW face, while I (having done Snowfield) remained behind to melt water and bask in my own laziness. From there, we traversed the ridge to Isolation Peak, passing under some large cornices and kicking down not a few surface slides. We got very good at clearing slopes in this manner prior to descending them. Rounding Isolation Peak clockwise required a little ski-off trudging before the steep descent to its northern ridge. Our best human triggered sluffs were here, I think. From here we skied up and over an easy col, booting down to a deep cirque filled with avi debris from all sides we dubbed the Death Hole. There is actually a good bivvy spot on a safe knoll at the mouth of the Hole with spectacular views of the disintegrating McAllister Creek Glacier. Such a bivvy would enable a party to do what we could not: climb the Death Couloir while still frozen.

 

The Death Couloir enjoys regular housecleaning services from a ridge coiffed with impressive cornices, half of which were still intact during our passing. No worries, it was only about 70 degrees that day. The debris tends to funnel in a narrow runnel, so we climbed on its far skier’s left in relative safety, quickly scampering across the luge track near it’s top.

 

After topping out we followed bear tracks (we figured he knew where he was going) to the col leading to the Backbone Glacier. The slopes down to this Glacier will probably break up soon, required some scrambling or rapping.

 

After a long, mushy, sluffy traverse, we bivvied at a col on Backbone Ridge about a mile and a half from the Backbone/McAllister col. Our climbing skins were shot at this point, so we began to treat or duct tape with the reverence such a precious resource in such circumstances commands. At one point, our roll of tape tried to escape by, well, rolling down the glacier. I had to make a diving tackle on one ski to prevent it from winding up in Newhalem.

 

The following morning, our last canister of fuel decided it had had enough and spewed it’s contents into the clear mountain air as I unscrewed the stove burner. At least it was considerate enough to wait until after breakfast.

 

With most of the unknowns out of the way, we figured that we were home free at that point as we ascended (ski crampons came in very handy here) to the Backbone/McAllister Glacier col. Well, OK, the wrong col, but after not much backtracking we put ourselves on the straight path.

 

We tried climbing on snow around the half a pitch of rock required to gain passage, but no go. I climbed halfway some 4th class to a small ledge before deciding that I’d have more fun without my skis trying to knock my ass off the mounting. Don, right behind me, suggested that I put a chock in to hang my pack from. "Do you have any chocks?" He said "Sure", as he handed me a prusik. I wedged the knot in a crack, clipped the pack to it, and finished the airy but straightforward pitch. From the top I hauled the packs up.

 

Not one, but three bergschrund’s divided the steep, unstable slope on the other side. We salvaged a black runner, re-slung it around a nice, solid horn, and dropped our 30 m rope. It cleared the first schrund by 2 feet. I asked Don to find me a long, flat rock. "Like this?" He said, as he picked up the perfect 16 x 8” specimen.

 

I rapped down, knocking half the slope down beneath me, rock in my free hand. Once at the first schrund’s lower lip I stomped a deep trench, and dead manned the rock with a ridiculously long sling, which I tested by jumping on it while on rappel.

 

After Don was down, I rapped off the rock into the next schrund; ten feet of vertical followed by ten feet of free hanging, followed by a swing over to the lower lip. Thanks to our ridiculously long sling, our rope barely made it.

 

From there Don boot axe belayed me around the third schrund (the first two spanned the entire slope), which I managed to punch through with one leg anyway.

 

With this col so well guarded, doing this traverse from South to North would be problematic. There might be work arounds, but none of them looked very enticing.

 

After that we traversed a steep slope strewn with fresh debris under a long ridge of enormously overhung and undercut cornices, feeling a bit like hunted rabbits, before gaining mellower terrain to the gentle McAllister/Inspiration col. We had both previously bivvied in this spectacular place, beneath the knife fins of the Tepeh towers.

 

Finally, we could rip our traitorous, surrender monkey skins off of our skis for good. Our ski bases looked like they’d been victims of a grease fire. They had all the glide of uphill facing porcupines. Still, it was a pleasure to finally be on the downhill, and on great corn snow, to boot. Why just the Inspiration?

 

Passing above a party of Alpine Ascents students, under a lone skier on the summit of Eldorado, and past one of the Alpine Ascents student’s dropped sleeping pad, we skied to the top of the upper Eldorado Creek boulder field. On the way, we stopped to inspect the Lone Skier's camp and found a half a bottle of red wine resting innocently in the snow. This is where an Irishman’s morals do battle with his cravings, but we left Lone Skier to his luxuries and continued down.

 

The Cascade River was raging. We crossed by via wading/logjam just west of the parking lot, then realized, Wow, the road is gated right here. This concept hadn’t really registered in our hitchhiking plans. There were two Alpine Ascents vans and one Lone Skier’s car in the parking lot. We heated water over a small fire, split up our remaining food (cookies, Werner’s candies, and Cliff Bars), and bedded down.

 

At 7:00 am, I was awakened by the sound of gravel crunching. A blue Toyota circled the parking lot, stopping momentarily as I sat up. I waved. He waved back…then drove off. I bolted up and waved both arms. Break lights. OH YEAH.

 

I didn’t want to wake you guys up Jerry, the driver, told us as we loaded up our gear. Jerry had just gotten off his shift as a commercial painter in Seattle, and was enjoying a couple of beers and a scenic drive before heading to his six acre homestead in Marblemount. Don offered him gas money to take us to our car on highway 20. "Sure, no problem, let me just check in with the wife." Jerry had been a crab fishermen for 17 years, three of them in Russia, before ‘settling down’. A wirey, 2 pack a day smoker, he still ran up and down the North Cascades and knew the backcountry quite well.

 

On the drive, the talk turned to fishing. "Sometimes I like to impress my camp mates by caveman fishing," he told us. "You gather up some flies at the muddy edge of the lake, rip a wing off each one, wade out into the lake so that your shadow points towards the shore, and toss them onto the water, with your club ready on your shoulder."

 

You never know what tidbit of knowledge you’ll pick up on one of these trips.

 

Photos and a topo of this traverse can be found on Lowell Skoog’s website:

 

Topo

 

Alpenglow.org: Isolation Traverse

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

1 30 m 8mm rope (this short length requires rapping off of a deadman at the Backbone/McCallister col), 6 m webbing, prusiks, toy axes, ski crampons (recommended), aluminum crampons (used only when climbing Snowfield).

 

Approach Notes:

Tennies might be nice for the hike up and down. The Cascade River must be partially waded about 100 yards west of the parking lot.

Edited June 3, 2007 by tvashtarkatena

[Weekend_Climberz]

Will somebody please give me Tvash's job. It's obvious he's not working hard enough. Nice trip :tup:

[Tony_Bentley]

Awesome trip! I'm sick with the flu so this really helps me get better.

[Alex]

Does he even have a job? Nice, once I've wanted to do for some time!

[plexus]

Great read. Very ingenuous of you in dead-manning the stone. Will have to try caveman fishing sometime. But I think the hardest part will be pulling one wing off of the flies.

[AlpineK]

That was a cool thing to do. I skied up Snowfield peak last year. We headed back to the car, but up high I spent a while druling and looking at the rest of that traverse.

[ivan]

wooooord. the fishing advice is invaluable, too.

[MisterMo]

Cool Trip.

 

Your nomencature past the "Death Hole", esp. "Backbone Glacier", has me a bit confused. Did you traverse on the Marble Creek side or the McAllister side?

[tvashtarkatena]

We followed the Skoog/Brill et al route. The 'Death Hole' is the headwaters of a creek just South of Isolation Peak that feeds into the McAllister. You drop in and climb back out before passing through a col to the 'Backbone Glacier' (A term I just made up to describe the large unnamed glacier on the Marble Creek side of Backbone Ridge).

 

Traversing the McAllister side of Backbone Ridge would be interesting, to say the least. It's quite broken up, subject to cornice triggered slides, and divided up by several steep rock ridges. A project for a less lazy team, to be sure.

[MisterMo]

Thanks. That's sort of what I figured.

 

(In summer at least) You can stay high & go around the death hole thingy. We didn't know that & couldn't see well due to clouds & so did the joyous DOWN and back UP there as well.

 

I'm pretty sure the original Firey route went down at that point to the McAllister and then ascended climbers left of the lower McAllister icefall to the Tillies Towers area. Nobody had anything nice to say about that route.

 

Colonial to Eldorado in 3 days, BTW, is hardly lazy.

 

 

 

 

[tvashtarkatena]

The 'Death Hole' bypass this time of year would involve running along a cornice festooned ridge and negotiating some steep rocky steps that we were loath to deal with in ski gear. According to Topo, at least, the elevation gain/loss of the high verses the low route is roughly the same, but the low route is much more straightforward this time of year.

 

I could see how the tables would turn in the summer months when the brush reveals itself in all its terrible glory, making the high route more recommended.

[tvashtarkatena]

Those Fireys. Energetic. The McAllister icefall is spectacular, BTW. It would be great to see it doing its thing up close and personal...but not too personal.

[Lowell_Skoog]

Cool report, Pat!

 

I'm curious about where you crossed the Backbone-McAllister divide? Was it at the "7800-foot notch" that I mention on my webpage?

 

http://alpenglow.org/skiing/isolation-1994/index.html

 

The divide between the McAllister Glacier and the southwest flank of Backbone Ridge does not have a skiable crossing. There are two alternatives. The best is a notch about a half-mile north of Dorado Needle at about 7800 feet elevation. It requires roped climbing in summer but can be somewhat easier in spring. The other crossing is about half-way between Dorado Needle and the 7800-foot notch. Although it is at a higher point on the ridge, with a good snowpack it is less technical. We took the latter route because I was familiar with it from 1983.

 

I wrote that the 7800-foot notch was the "best crossing", but from your account it sounds like maybe it's not. To be honest, I've always used the higher crossing (farther south) on ski trips. I only used the lower 7800-foot crossing once in summer (from east to west) and it was rather sketchy. I assumed it would be better with lots of snow, but maybe not. The higher crossing can be quite easy if there is enough snow. I had a glimpse of it from Eldorado Peak yesterday and I think it would have been okay.

Edited June 4, 2007 by Lowell_Skoog

[Lowell_Skoog]

I took another look at the description on my webpage. I found some errors in it, and I decided that my advice was probably bad. I've now reworded it as follows:

 

The divide between the McAllister Glacier and the southwest flank of Backbone Ridge does not have a skiable crossing. There are two alternatives. The lowest crossing is a notch about a half-mile north of Dorado Needle at about 8000 feet elevation. It requires roped climbing in summer, especially on the McAllister Glacier side. In spring the rock may be snow covered, but it often has big crevasse obstacles. The best spring crossing is about half-way between Dorado Needle and the 8000-foot notch. Although it is at a higher point on the ridge (nearly 8400 feet), with a good snowpack it is less technical. We took the latter route because I was familiar with it from 1983.

[Billygoat]

[tvashtarkatena]

Strangely, we 'accidentally' skied towards the upper notch, then discovered our 'error' and, after discussing our options, decided to backtrack, then ascend to the lower notch. The lower notch is reached by ascending the upper glacier's westernmost lobe (separated from the larger east lobe by a rock ridge with a large wind scoop at its base).

 

I would recommend avoiding the lower notch this time of year (a month ago when the schrunds were buried probably would have been OK, the rock climbing is straightforward). A 60 m rope would be necessary to rap the top 2 schrunds from the notch, but you'd still need to rap a second time to get over the 3rd (lowest) schrund, which was already nearly open from end to end when we were there. Alternatively, one could just point the skis straight down hill and make three well-timed jumps.

 

Having said that, negotiating the lower notch was the most 'interesting' part of the trip.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2007 by tvashtarkatena

[lunger]

"The following morning, Don took advantage of two skiers' steps (thanks, guys) to climb Snowfield’s NW face, while..."

 

That was us, you're welcome. Nice trip and report! Looking S from Snowfield def. inspires an urge to return for a tour akin to yours--views hard to beat.