Basic Glacier Climb - Eldorado Peak/Inspiration Glacier

Trip Report

When we planned this trip, we found that by choosing the dates we did, we could reserve a backcountry permit for the Eldorado Cross Country Zone. That sounded better than getting to the Marblemount Wilderness Information Center early in the morning to try for a first-come-first-served permit.

The three of us, Laura, Audrey and me, carpooled, leaving from the south side of Bellingham at 8:15 AM on Monday, June 30. We arrived at the Info Center in Marblemount at 9:50 to pick up our permit. (Even though we had reserved it, we had to collect it in person.) By 10:50 (about two hours and thirty-five minutes after leaving Bellingham) we were at the trailhead parking area (just past MP 20 on Cascade River Road, 2170 ft.) and we started walking at 11:00 AM.

The first challenge was crossing the North Fork Cascade River. From the parking area, we walked the road downstream and across the bridge, where we found a flagged trail on our right (north) leading toward the river. Following the trail, we soon crossed an easy log over a small braid in the river, then looked for the next crossing. Audrey had downloaded several GPX tracks to her phone, and noticed that most went further downstream. We also noticed to the left (downstream), immediately after stepping onto the sand, was a cairn on a log. We stepped over the log and followed a trail to another log over a larger, faster part of the stream. (Photo below.)

We found the trail on the north side of the river and followed it east, back upstream. It wasn’t long before the trail turned north. Passing a signpost, the route soon got quite steep and we hiked slowly up, over roots and up small switchbacks. We could hear the stream on our right and to our left the cliffs of the ridge above became more apparent as we climbed.

Reaching the boulder field at 1:00 PM (about 4500 ft, after about 2 hours of hiking), we started looking for cairns. The day was hot, and now we were out of the shade of the woods, moving slowly over boulders, finding our way a little at a time and pausing now and then for food or water or to chat about which route looked best. Audrey’s multiple GPX tracks were helpful. At 3:00 and 5200 ft we met another party who had reached a stream crossing just before we did. The water was fast and the step-over looked improbable, so they went to look for another route. We watched them briefly, then chose the crossing as our best option. We took off our shoes and crossed carefully but easily in a couple steps. Just as we got across, they returned and asked us to take an end of their rope and tie it around a tree to give them a handline. We did that, then continued up the trail as it snaked along, close to the waterfalls.

By 5600 ft we reached a meadow with gorgeous views and sustained snow. We kept our approach shoes on through the snow, which was soft enough to kick steps but firm enough that we didn’t posthole. We carefully made our way by rocks and over running water, probing before crossing, to where the trail intersected the ridge that had been on our left the whole way up.

Our route was across the ridge. The boot pack split here, to a lower and higher route over the ridge. We chose the lower route (6100 ft) over the ridge, along what appeared to be a gently inclined snow ramp, then some gneiss slab. From our vantage point, the higher route (starting at 6200 ft) appeared to be a muddy slog over steep slab, but that’s the one I’d recommend. The snow ramp that appeared gentle from below was steeper than we’d expected and the slab had water seeping over it. We found a safe route across but weren’t as happy with it as we’d hoped. At the top of the ridge, we found our way up along its spine until we came to a clear but improbable looking trail down its west side. This dropped us into the Roush Creek Valley at about 4:35 PM – five and a half hours after leaving the car.

We changed from approach shoes to boots here. The snow was soft, but there were also clear wells around boulders as we walked the boot pack between the cliff and the moraine. Our trail climbed steadily up the snow-filled valley and by waterfalls, passing cliffs of gneiss that had been carved and polished by the now-receding Eldorado Glacier. We roped up at 6:25, at about 7400 ft, just below the Torado Needle, high on the eastern edge of the Eldorado Glacier. Walking up to the small ridge, we could look across the flat landscape of this part of Inspiration Glacier, where we saw several small cracks of crevasses starting to open and across it the rocky ridge with the camp.

We arrived in camp at about 8:00 PM. A party of two was in one of the dry tent sites, but we found two others where we could pitch a small tent and bivy bag. There was a sustained south wind in camp. While Laura and Audrey made their way to the nearby water source below the camp to the north, I started boiling water for dinner. We were all in bed by 10:00.

The next morning, we left camp at 6:00 AM on our way to the summit. The boot pack took us generally north, around the bottom of the exposed rocks on the east end of the ridge, then turned west and climbed the ridge along the edge of Inspiration Glacier. I was leading and looking for the easiest route I could see that kept us away from the larger crevasses and not too close to the exposed rocks on the ridge.

We took a couple breaks on the way up. In a flat area at the base of the final knife-edge ridge to the summit, I collected our pickets in case I wanted to use them. The final climb along that ridge was in soft snow, easy to kick steps into. The narrow boot pack and exposure made it an exhilarating climb, but the pickets stayed on my harness.

We summitted at 7:45 AM – one hour and forty five minutes after leaving camp. Views were of mountains as far as we could see, with Glacier Peak and Rainier to our south, our home mountains of Shuksan, Baker and the Twin Sisters to the north, and the craggy peaks of the Cascade Pass right in front of us.

Descending the knife-edge, I found the snow so soft that my plunge-steps sometimes gave way, so I placed all three pickets on the way down. That was enough to get us all the way to the more open slope below.

We paused several times for photos. The views were incredible! It’s so easy in these mountains to see the ancient tracks the glaciers left as they carved cliffs and valleys in their flow downhill, then left piles of debris behind as they retreated. Amazing and awe-inspiring.

We arrived back in camp at 9:00 AM; three hours camp to summit to camp. By 10:00 had eaten more snacks and finished packing up camp. We roped up with Audrey in the lead and headed back down the way we’d come.

We un-roped at around 7000 ft and reached the ridge crossing (6100 ft) at 11:30. This time, we went over the ridge in our boots, and we stayed high, coming down a muddy but easy and secure trail to meet the snowfield on the east side of the ridge at 6200 ft, where the higher branch of the boot pack led.

We watched and listened carefully for running water beneath the snow on our way down the snowfield to the trail. At the bottom edge of the snow, we changed back to approach shoes, refilled our water and continued to the stream crossing and boulder field, arriving at 1:00 PM.

Making our way down the boulder field was probably the most difficult part of the climb. By now we were tired, our legs were starting to complain, and we used all our concentration to maneuver safely around and over the boulders.

By 2:30 we were back in the shade of the woods and on a trail that was steep but comparatively straight-forward to navigate. At the bottom, we found our stream crossing again and were back at the car by 4:00.

It was hot and we were elated and sweaty. There was still plenty of daylight left, so we found a place to dunk into the river! On our way, a cinnamon black bear and her cub came to the edge of the road. We yelled to let them know we were there, but they weren’t very interested in us. We kept our distance, though. It wasn’t long before we were on our way back home.

Map