lazzara Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 (edited) Went for the long walk up to the Inspiration Glacier on Monday with Allen T. A smattering of snow in Roush Creek prior to gaining the ridge. Up to a foot of snow through the talus and slabs to gain the Eldorado Glacier. Travel conditions mildly tedious - many thanks to folks up there over the weekend who kicked in the boot track! Climbed the E Ridge in the evening for some recon - very cool to be up there that time of day. NW couloir looked very "powdery" from our perspective and the walk to Dorado Needled looked long. Settled on the S Face of Eldo. First ascended in June 1970. The description in the Beckey kind of made sense. We just walked up to the high point of the glacier and hunted out a line with a reasonable moat crossing. There's much room for variation on the face, but only a few moderate lines off the glacier. In Scurlock's photos the cliff band is pretty much gone late winter. Started with a 50' chimney (5.6 in crampons?) to more moderate mixed terrain for four pitches. Could've solo'ed easier snow after two pitches but stuck to the ribs instead for more interesting climbing and to avoid dribbles of snow and ice loosened up by the warming temps. II 5.6 60deg - seems a fair summary given the conditions and equipment required. Looking down the first two pitches. Allen leading into a snice groove. Edited October 20, 2011 by lazzara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Neat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurthicks Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 yeah, we thought the couloir would be a wallow-fest. Looks like a fun way to salvage the trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannible Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Cool! Nice to be getting some conditions updates, I'm sure a lot of people have been wondering about that couloir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Yes, love to see this kind of thing. the accidental good time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazzara Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 You know, we walked in there thinking the NW Couloir might be a wallow, so we had three or four other things in mind around the Eldorado-Inspiration-McAllister Glaciers, the S Face being one of them. There's a handful of objectives up there that with some snow on them become alpine-y enough to be worth the walk. We just chose the best one based on what we found that also suited our motivations. Plus we couldn't turn down alpine climbing in T-shirts . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Lewis Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 many thanks to folks up there over the weekend who kicked in the boot track! Your welcome. I figured someone would appreciate it. It was a beautiful day when I went up. Thanks for the South Face beta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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