Basic Glacier Climb - Eldorado Peak/Inspiration Glacier

Our group of 7 arrived at the trailhead Tuesday night. This was a mentored lead for me, Krissy was primary leader and additional climbers were Jimmy, Thomas, Jamie, Casey, and Gabe. Krissy and I went and scoped out the river crossing while it was still light out. The trail was easy to find and the crossing straightforward in sandals. We socialized a bit, made sure we all had required gear packed. Gabe had a pack scale so we weighed our packs and most were 20lbs or less. Most of us only packed 1L of water because we would be starting in cooler night temps, and beta showed there was plenty of water access along the way. We ate dinner and crawled into our cozy sleeping quarters by 8:30 with alarms set for 1:30

2:15am we were packed and leaving the trailhead. The trail and water crossing was easy to find with headlamps since we checked it out the night before. There were 2 sections to cross with a sandy river bed in between. On the second crossing I had a little slip of a foot into the water, to get a solid stance to get back out I had to just commit to putting my other foot in, Jimmy reacted quickly and pulled up on my backpack as I climbed back up unscathed but a little wet. We all made it across. I was thankful I decided to start in shorts and trail runners, it was mild out and I would dry out quick. 

We were soon on the climbers trail gaining elevation. Before we knew it we reached the boulder field. We steadily continued gaining elevation taking short breaks to eat and check our track. A few of us alternated leading as we all had gpx tracks downloaded and it was nice to get a fresh set of eyes searching for carins in the dark. By 4am we were high enough above the trees and almost out of the boulders to start getting views of Johannesburg behind us. 

5:30am we came to our first water to filter just as some of us were out. Took a little break here. Soon after we reached the meadow which was completely melted out. Some soggy ground here and there but overall dry and easy travel. As we continued to gain elevation we reached slabs, some had water running over them but it was easy to find good footing through here.

Our next challenge was finding the route over the ridge. We got a little off track but re checked the gpx and by 6:30 we gained the ridge and found the trail on the other side.

Descending the ridge on the other side and across some more slabs and rock. We  finally hit solid snow and views of the Eldorado glacier. We took a break here and those of us that had approach shoes on changed to boots. The sun was still low in the sky, and the snow had a nice firm crust, footing was probably fine without crampons but we decided to put them on here while we took a break rather than stopping again in the snow. So we all put harnesses and crampons on.

8:30am we were making our way past Torado Needle. We scanned the glacier for any crevasses or hazards and the path up to high camp looked straightforward so we decided to continue to move unroped.
9:30 We were all at high camp and ready for a leisurely break before the final summit push. Some of us checked out the high camp toilet with amazing views. We ate, caffeinated, and set our ropes up.
10:30 We were tied in, did safety checks and headed off to the summit. I set a steady slow pace that everyone could comfortably follow. The sun was full on us now and it was definitely heating up. At the base below the knife edge we had a short break and I grabbed pickets from my climbing partners. We made a plan that if I set pickets the first rope team would clip through them and leave them for the second rope team. We were the only ones on the summit block at this time so we decided we would leave the pickets in for our descent and pull them on the way down. Travel up the knife edge was straight forward. Snow was a bit soft. I placed 2 pickets on the way up.

12:00 summit! There was plenty of space on the rocks at the end of the knife edge for us all to gather. We used a mix of prusik belay and hip belay to bring all of our climbers in. We took a nice 30 minute break up here to take in the views and refuel.

12:30 headed back down to high camp

1:30 back to high camp for a short break. We coiled ropes and put away crampons. Filled our pockets with snacks and prepared for the long descent. Descending the snow back to the valley was quick. Once off the glacier some of us did some glissading where there were safe runouts and no rocks.

2:45 back near low camp to filter water and snack up. The route back to get over the ridge was easy to find on the return.

3:30 back to the Boulder field to descend now. Probably the crux of the day on tired legs and now in the daylight and heat it looks like it goes on forever.

Slow and steady forward progression got us back to the forest. Vibes were still high while energy was fading. Talk of favorite movies, games like “would you rather” and trading snacks got us down safely. We got a little off track finding the water crossing on the way back but didn’t waste too much time finding the right spot and crossed with no issues.

7:15 we arrived back at the cars for a 17hr car to car successful summit. We snacked, debriefed and celebrated our climb. Overall our group of climbers did amazing as a team.