Devin27 Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 Trip: Eldorado and Kliwatti - The easy way Date: 6/3/2011 Trip Report: My first post on the forum. Boealps Basic Climbing Class Grad Climb. We turned the standard overnight for the Boeing alpine club grad climb into a 3 day so we could hit Kliwatti as well as our original goal of Eldorado. About 30 yards back down the road from the parking lot was the O so fun wet log crossing There is a very distinct boot path leading past a few blowdowns, but nothing that gave us any trouble. Our first crossing of the boulder field was quick and painless. Snow still covered most of the boulders and ice bridges were soild. There is a very nice waterfall right before the ridge for water fill up. Hop over the ridge around 6200 ft for the rough creek basin and the glacier assent. We couldnt tell where the glacier began, so we roped up here and continued up Rough Creek Basin and the glacier. The weather was overcast and it was early in the day, so snow was firm and crampons were not needed. No open crevasses the we could see, though small slides and rockfall were pretty common off the right ridge. We hit the Eldorado Plateu after gaining 5,500 ft in 7 hours and set up camp on the ridge. The clouds were starting to clear and turned into a beautiful night for star gazing. Milky way Stars over Forbidden Peak We slept in a bit and woke up around 6am for our hike over to Kliwatti. The snow on the glacier for the walk over was fantastic. Crampons were needed and held great with no posting. This would not last for the walk back, but first we have finish the climb. There is almost no elevation change to get over to the peak, which was nice after the gain yesterday. After some contemplation of the route, we climbed up the couluier and ascended the summit ridge to the top of Kilwatti. The top was still well covered in snow as you can see, but we found the summit register and signed in. This peak isnt climbed much and the register was pretty empty. Our trip leader had no trouble finding his entry from 2007. The walk back to our camp was long and miserable. The nice hard ice had now melted in the cloudless sun to become a wet mushy mix. After much thigh deep postholing, we made it back to camp and made an early night. Stars over Eldorado On Sunday we made a 4am start so we could watch the sunrise and be back down in town for lunch. We watched sun come into the vallery as we climbed the last 1700ft of the summit ridge to the top of Eldorado. The ascent up the knife edge ridge was intense, but there was a nice frozen boot path. The top is full of cornices, so be cautious. We couldnt have picked a better weekend for this trip. You could see everything from the summit, Rainier, the Olympics, Baker, Glacier, it was fantastic. The hike back down was uneventful except the hot weekend had turned the boulderfield into a dangerous mix of rocks and unstable snow bridges. Overall it was a fantastic weekend in the North Cascades. Cant wait to get back out there again. Devin Gear Notes: Glacier travel gear, ice axe, crampons (for cold morning ice), pickets for the Eldorado summit Approach Notes: Good bootpath and no major obstructions. Log crossing is in good shape. Quote
Lisa_D Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 Beautiful photos. It looks quite wintery out there! Quote
LukeShy Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 Rad pictures Devin! Glad to hear the climb went well. Quote
Whatcomboy Posted June 9, 2011 Posted June 9, 2011 Eldorado is a fun climb. Like the summit ridge pic. Quote
Le Piston Posted June 9, 2011 Posted June 9, 2011 Nice first posting and sweet pictures. I hope we see a lot more of these from you. Brought back good memories of those peaks...except for my own postholing hell coming back from Klawatti! Quote
zeroforhire Posted June 9, 2011 Posted June 9, 2011 Nice job! Looks great. Did you wish you would have brought snow shoes? Quote
Devin27 Posted June 10, 2011 Author Posted June 10, 2011 Snow shoes: I wish I had them late in the days when the snow was getting soft and we were postholing like crazy, but unless they were airdropped they wouldnt have been worth the weight. We might have used them twice the entire 3 days. Quote
momoney Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Hey remember that time when those skiers bombed Inspiration? Awesome pictures man keep it up! Quote
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