July 8, 2006, Eldorado

7/7/06

WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)

4474

10

Posted by Lowell_Skoog on 7/9/06 2:42am

Eldorado from Austera Peak (1987 photo).

"I need Carl's password," I explained to the tech support operator. "You see, my brother died last fall and we need to archive his website."

"Well, I can't give out the password to just anyone over the phone," she countered. "What is your father's middle name?"

A bit flustered, I gave her my brother's middle name.

"I'm sorry, but that's not correct," she replied.

"Who's name did you want?" I asked, determined to listen better this time.

"Your father."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here it is..."

I gave her the right answer this time, and the technician typed a few keystrokes into her computer.

"Here's the password," she said. "Make sure to write it down... E-L-D-O-R-A-D-O."

"Eldorado," I sighed. "Thank you."

Carl's password solved the website problem, and it also resolved a question I'd been mulling for several months. After my brother's funeral, I took home three small cannisters of ashes. I wanted to scatter them somewhere in the mountains. I scattered one on a peak near the North Cascades highway in May. I thought another should go near Cascade Pass, one of Carl's favorite places. But which peak? Carl's password gave me the answer.

I resolved to climb Eldorado Peak on Saturday and was happy when Paul Russell offered to come along. We left Seattle at 4:30 a.m. and Paul generously drove to the trailhead. There were no other cars there. We hiked to timberline and found continuous but rapidly melting snow in Eldorado Creek basin, about half-way between the bottom of the meadows and the crossover into Roush Creek. We switched to skis to climb the basin.

We carried our skis over the ridge into Roush Creek and then put them back on. Except for a short gap at a rock terrace, the snow was continuous all the way to the top of Eldorado Glacier. We passed the climbers' camp below the East Ridge route (no one there) and skinned to the top of Eldorado Peak, arriving about 12:30 p.m. The day was perfect and we enjoyed a long lunch on the summit. Later, I unpacked some mementos and Paul graciously took a few photos for me. Then I scattered ashes from Carl and from my mom, who passed away three months after he did.

We finally decided to head down, enjoying good summer snow from the summit down the northeast flank of the mountain. We greeted a party of Mazamas who'd walked in from Sibley Pass, the only other people we saw all day. The snow below the glaciers will melt soon, but on this day bringing skis seemed well worth the effort. The sky was blue and the scenery was spectacular.

Carl would have approved.

Left: Scattering ashes atop Eldorado Peak. Right: Paul Russell skis the northeast flank of Eldorado.

7/9/06 4:50am

paul_russell

Thanks for a great day in the mountains Lowell, and for being part of remembering Carl and your mother in such a special place. To have it mostly to ourselves on such a beautiful day was really amazing and somehow appropriate to the occasion.

Lowell skiing the NE flank of Eldorado

Approach on Eldorado Gl
Skinning on summit
View of the Triad
Lowell ready to ski ;D
Summit descent
Inspiration Gl descent
Back to trail, lots of green

7/9/06 8:00am

lowell_skoog

Thanks for the photos, Paul.

It looks like you might want to use a blower bulb on your camera sensor. You'll notice some spots in the sky in some of your pictures (e.g. skinning on the summit).

As I mentioned yesterday, I've noticed spots on some of my pictures and, in fact, I know that my sensor could use some cleaning right now. (I've used my blower bulb as well as I can, but I haven't been able to get rid of all the spots.)

I did a test a few weeks ago, taking pictures of a clear blue sky at every f-stop that my camera supports. I found that for f-stops above f8, the spots were visible, while for f-stops below f8, the spots disappeared. (There was a transition, of course.) So for now, I'm careful to keep the f-stop around f8 or below when I'm shooting a clear blue sky. To do this, it is best to switch the camera to aperature-preferred (Av) mode.

If anybody out there has experience with other ways to clean a digital sensor besides a cheap hand blower bulb, I'd be curious to hear about it.

p.s. The good news is that with Photoshop and such, it is really easy to get rid of spots in a blue sky.

7/9/06 8:35am

paul_russell

Thanks Lowell. I noticed that and thought it to be some spots on my lens filter which was dirty. But I did a test after cleaning it today, and you're right it was the sensor. I was able to clean it with a hand blower and that appears to have done the job. BTW, I've never had a problem with my Nikon 8400 that way (non-SLR) after LOTS more rugged use than with the new Cannon D-20. Will have to keep an eye on it.

7/9/06 11:27am

atnicholls

Re: Dust on digital sensors...

To clear dust from my sensor, I've been using a floor pump with a basketball needle pump attachment similar to this ----

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BYMWE/103-7823698-0244612?v=glance&n=3375251

It gives a good, accurate blast of air. You'll obviously want to be carefull not to touch the sensor with the needle, and be sure to switch the camera to "sensor-cleaning" mode.

A great way to check the dust buildup on your sensor is to throw the camera out of focus and shoot a single-color frame, such as a gray wall or a medium blue sky.

Let me know if you need more info.

7/9/06 12:14pm

paul_russell

Thanks for the clever solution, and of course you would find it on Amazon. ;)

7/9/06 12:17pm

kam

Lowell: what a great report. i enjoyed reading it. also, to you and Paul: eye-pleasing photos! with Paul skiing in shorts, the weather must have been fantastic.

edited to add..
Paul: i just noticed your signature with respect to the "hibachi". that's pretty funny!.. ;D you know i find myself significantly more aware of your actions after that incident.... ;)

7/9/06 12:29pm

ron-j

Thanks for sharing that, Lowell.
Paul - Great pictures.

7/9/06 12:57pm

paul_russell

Hey Kam - thanks, the weather was fantastic as were the conditions. and of course, I'm no longer to be trusted ;D......my favorite action shot of the year from Greg. btw, I liked your pyrex incident this past weekend, a close second to the hibachi.

hk

7/9/06 3:21pm

michael

Great trip report - thanks for sharing. What a great sign to know which would be the right summit to go to!

On the dust issue: what did people do as the next step once the blow technique doesn;t work? Shops will clean it up, but also charge a good chunk of money for it...

7/9/06 3:35pm

gregl

Wonderful story and a fitting tribute to Carl - thanks for the posts and pictures!

I thought of Eldorado and actually mentioned it to my wife as we headed out of Rockport enroute to Mazama this weekend . . .

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