June 7-8, 2003, Eldorado
6/7/03
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2825
2
INSAAAAANE. This is what one of the guys of the group that had just descended from Eldorado had called us when we told him that we were going to take our skis. "You guys are INSAAAANE, carrying up your skis on these boulders up and down is just nuts!" he told us, shaking his head. Soon after though, other members of his group reacted to that with "oh no, don't listen to him, he is not a skier, the skiing will be very nice!". This made us feel a little better as we started our way up to the camp at 4 PM.
Crossing the river on the famous log was quite intrrrrrrresting (as Gur would have said) with our heavy packs and our ski boots. But we made it ok. I was expecting a terrible trail up to the camp after all the reports I had read about it, so I ended up being quite happy with what I found unlike Corinne who had not read these reports and therefore hadn't set her exspectations low enough.
Two hours of climbing later and we would be 2000 feet higher in the boulder fields. Yes, "Insane" seemed like the right words now :). One more hour and we were at 5000 feet where we finally got on snow and put our skis on. From there on it was great, finally the temperature dropped a bit, we got this amazing view of Johannesberg, skinned up to the camp on the ridge at 6100 feet. (4 hours to camp).
We bivyed next to 2 other climbers for what would be a windy night watching stars and mice - which were coming from the rocks next to us to "study" us.
Next day we left just before 6 am, went down a small gully for 100 feet and put our skis on as we skinned up Eldorado glacier. What a view from there on all the peaks around us! We quickly came on the flat Inspiration glacier with a great view on the summit. At around 9 am we were just below the "famous" summit ridge. The ridge was in excellent condition, we still used two pieces of protection as we went to the summit. Quickly, we went back to the place we had left our skis and enjoyed an extended "early lunch" in the sun and admired the amazing views from there.
We started our ski down at around 10:45, were back at camp at 12 - after having skied on some really good snow and fun terrain, packed everything up and were at the car at 2:30 PM.
Was glad I had skied it down...but frankly - am not sure I would do it again; or I would try to come up a little earlier in the season when the boulder fields are still largely covered in snow.
Crossing the river on the famous log was quite intrrrrrrresting (as Gur would have said) with our heavy packs and our ski boots. But we made it ok. I was expecting a terrible trail up to the camp after all the reports I had read about it, so I ended up being quite happy with what I found unlike Corinne who had not read these reports and therefore hadn't set her exspectations low enough.
Two hours of climbing later and we would be 2000 feet higher in the boulder fields. Yes, "Insane" seemed like the right words now :). One more hour and we were at 5000 feet where we finally got on snow and put our skis on. From there on it was great, finally the temperature dropped a bit, we got this amazing view of Johannesberg, skinned up to the camp on the ridge at 6100 feet. (4 hours to camp).
We bivyed next to 2 other climbers for what would be a windy night watching stars and mice - which were coming from the rocks next to us to "study" us.
Next day we left just before 6 am, went down a small gully for 100 feet and put our skis on as we skinned up Eldorado glacier. What a view from there on all the peaks around us! We quickly came on the flat Inspiration glacier with a great view on the summit. At around 9 am we were just below the "famous" summit ridge. The ridge was in excellent condition, we still used two pieces of protection as we went to the summit. Quickly, we went back to the place we had left our skis and enjoyed an extended "early lunch" in the sun and admired the amazing views from there.
We started our ski down at around 10:45, were back at camp at 12 - after having skied on some really good snow and fun terrain, packed everything up and were at the car at 2:30 PM.
Was glad I had skied it down...but frankly - am not sure I would do it again; or I would try to come up a little earlier in the season when the boulder fields are still largely covered in snow.
Micheal,
Sometime try accessing Eldorado from Sibley Creek with the Triad bypass. A lot less pain and mucho more views. There's one tricky part bypassing the Triad, but otherwise fairly straightforward.
Bill G
Sometime try accessing Eldorado from Sibley Creek with the Triad bypass. A lot less pain and mucho more views. There's one tricky part bypassing the Triad, but otherwise fairly straightforward.
Bill G
I've not done it, but a friend of mine did the tour earlier, like as soon as the road was clear (several years back). The transition zone in the woods sucked on the ski out, but otherwise he said it was great, especially with the boulder field well-covered. He did it as a long sick day trip, and so was travelling pretty light up the approach. But for what it's worth, he won't go back to do it again with me.
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