Basic Alpine Climb - Eldorado Peak/Inspiration Glacier

Weather changed our plans from a 2 day to a 1 day climb. We left the cars at 3 am and headed up. I have read about the logs being changed but route finding was relatively straight-forward. There were 3 bigger log crossings before finding the forest trail. 

The boulder field was a little challenging in the dark but follow the cairns and stay to the right when going up. 

Once in the Eldorado basin there are many cairns to follow. We roped up at ~6600' when the glacier began. Crevasses are much more apparent in August as compared to my last visit in July. 

We paused at the high camp at 7600' (use the composting toilet with a view you won't regret it) and then headed up to the summit. 

There is one main snow bridge crossing to continue up the route. Additionally there is  a crevasse opening at the base of the knife edge (or not so knife edge when we were on it) that from below appears to cut into the route. It had not opened onto the top of the ridge when we crossed but care should be taken in the coming weeks. 

We did this climb in 17 hours with a few climbers struggling with fatigue and blisters on the descent. Overall it was a great day!