Inspiration-McAllister-Klawatti Ice Cap Traverse

July 3-5, 2015
This was a Women's Climbers Northwest climb, but I include it here since there are no other trip reports listed from Mountaineers groups. We hiked in July 3rd on the standard Eldorado approach, camping in the Eldorado basin around 5500'. The basin is completely snow free but there are lots of streams. On July 4th we started at 3:30 AM to avoid the heat, up to the high camp on the final ridge below Eldorado, reaching it around 8:00 AM. We continued across the Inspiration glacier to Klawatti col, arriving around 10 AM. The drop down to the Klawatti glacier would have required a 20-30' rappel which we decided would take too long due to the inexperience and size of our group. The glacier had some awesome crevasses opening up but was still easily traversed. On our return, we went to the summit of Eldorado, reaching it around 2 pm and returning to camp by 5 pm. The glacial traverse is absolutely stunning and well worth the effort whether or not you intend to summit any of the surrounding peaks.