[TR] Dorado Needle - SW Buttress 8/6/2010

[jiri]

Trip: Dorado Needle - SW Buttress

 

Date: 8/6/2010

 

Trip Report:

With one day of good weather on Friday Jens and I decided to climb Dorado Needle. Having done the NW ridge a few years ago I was mainly interested in the SW Buttress route. After reading previous TRs doing this climb in a day seemed possible but we kept our options open. We left Seattle at 1am and were leaving the parking lot of Eldorado TH almost exactly at 4am. I guess we didn’t break any speed records but still got to the Eldorado-Dorado Col in a nice time of 5 hours. It seemed to us we were doing fine on time so decided to give the SW Buttress a try.

 

Eldorado Glacier

 

We stashed extra gear and food at the col to make our packs as light as possible and slid down the other side. There we gained the prominent snow-filled gully that took us to the climber’s right side of the blocky toe at the lowest point of the buttress.

 

South-West Buttress

 

Looking down the snow gully[/i]

 

Climbers on top of Eldorado

 

We gained the rock with minimal difficulties, geared up, switched to rock shoes and were ready to rock by 10:45am. To start the climb we picked a left-leaning, left-facing (summitpost calls it right-facing) corner. Going left from the alcove described by Nelson and Becky this corner is left of a chimney and is visible from below while the chimney is not. Halfway up the corner Jens send down a report of pretty solid rock and fun climbing so we decided to simul-climb.

 

Jens climbing the corner

 

With 45m of rope between us the rope drag was taking some of the fun away from the climbing so we free-soloed the next lower-angle section until a point where the route goes to the left side of the crest of the buttress and gets steeper again.

 

Getting ready to free solo the next section

 

Climbing a short chimney to gain the left side of the buttress

 

We gained the left side of the buttress by climbing a short chimney and kept simul-climbing until we got around a small tower where 3 fun pitches of slightly more technical climbing are encountered. By this time some clouds started rolling in from the west and prompted us to keep our pace at maximum as the prospect of being caught by rain or a thunderstorm didn’t sound good.

 

The last technical pitch

 

From the end of the last pitch we climbed down into a gully, packed the rope for good and scrambled to where our route joins the NW ridge route. We left the packs there and climbed to the summit where we arrived around 1:30pm in 9.5 hours from the car.

 

Jens and me on the summit

 

From the numerous mountain tops I have been to the summit of Dorado Needle is one of my most favorite ones. I wish we could stay longer but the clouds kept coming. We down climbed back to our packs and to the snow which is still continuous and reaches a short distance from the crest of the ridge. After a short snow run down the McAllister Glacier we got to our stashed gear and potato chips at the col by 2pm.

 

Down climbing the ridge from the summit

 

Back on Inspiration Glacier

 

Eldorado in the clouds

 

I’m not sure about Jens but the lack of sleep and the tiredness caught up with me on the flat of Eldorado Glacier. Coming down the boulder field felt longer than on the way up. We still made it back to the car unexpectedly before dark by 6:30pm.

 

It’s not always that everything including you, your climbing partner, route conditions and weather comes together and creates a great climbing experience. This time it did. Thanks Jens and thanks for trying to keep me awake with climbing stories on the way back to Seattle.

 

 

Gear Notes:

45m rope, small rack to 2" (no small gear used), rock shoes, ice axe, crampons

[scottgg]

Wow, thats sounds great!

[jstreet]

Looks like alot of fun guys... and way to move! Did you really climb the whole 1000' buttress in 3 hours?

[zoroastr]

Sweet! We C2C'd the Needle a few years back, but had to stumble over the boulder field in the dark on the way down--not recommended. I also think we took a different route...never went above low 5th. Thanks for the gr8 t.r.!

[goatboy]

That is a huge day. Nice work!

[Jens]

Good times. Jiri's potato chips were the hit!

[mountainmandoug]

Nice work guys. I do have to agree Jiri, that summit is one of the most "alpine summit" feeling places I have ever been.

[bivchad]

Thanks for the great TR! Heading up there this weekend...

[SmilingWhiteKnuckles]

Dang! Way to blaze it! Love that route and those wild spires on the buttress near the top--fantastic exposure.

 

A lot of snow in the Marble Creek basin still...for August.