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[TR] Eldorado and Kliwatti - The easy way 6/3/2011


Devin27

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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

 

5810814576_2b7d75f5c6.jpg

 

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.

 

5810824248_af45947d40.jpg

 

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.

 

5810264237_a69f0097f1.jpg

 

Milky way

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Stars over Forbidden Peak

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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.

 

5810838668_216b266f17.jpg

 

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

5810277419_7b86edf593.jpg

 

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.

 

5810291537_fd87db1749.jpg5810285867_16e8e75abd.jpg5806557185_a698241c3f.jpg

 

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.

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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.

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