Eldorado
the short:
up: 1hr : 53 minutes
down: 47 minute
all around: 2hr:42min:50sec
the long:
After dropping friends off to begin a Pickets traverse (go Jenny & Kaytlyn!), I was hoping to get into the alpine before driving home. Eldorado beckoned. With limited daylight, I planned to turn around wherever I found myself at the two hour mark.
On the drive up the Cascade River Road, I saw that the summit of Eldorado was completely socked in with fast moving clouds. I figured it was still worth attempting, knowing the clouds could blow off by the time I reached the top.
The start of the route on the Cascade River Road leads you to a logjam crossing that has been the standard way to cross the N Fork of the Cascade River for over a decade. That logjam is now gone. I checked up and downstream for a dry crossing but eventually opted for wet feet.
The ascent through the forest went quicker than expected and I reached the bottom of the boulder field in ~24 minutes. The boulder field was fragrant with wildflower blooming in all the crevices. The smell reminded me of the inside of a beehive full of nectar–delicious!
At the top of the boulder field the snow-line started at the waterfall crossing. It took a moment for me to find a good crossing spot and to see the boot tracks in the snow on the other side of the stream.
At the one-hour mark I hit the Eldorado - Roush divide and scrambled on bare rock slabs to jump across a moat on the other side. I never recalled having to do undercling moves on a ledge in that spot before and afterwards saw that I had crossed the ridge a little bit lower than the gulley that most folks use and where I’ve crossed in the past–whoops!
From there the snow started to get pretty soft and it was easy to blow out steps. That changed a thousand feet up as I entered the cloud that was forming over the Eldorado Glacier. The temps dropped, winds picked up, and the snow firmed up. I felt comfortable about the route even in whiteout conditions from prior experiences up there. The boot-pack was clear enough to follow with additional confirmation that I was still skirting the base of the ‘Eggplant.’
I broke out of the clouds briefly before hitting the east ridge and could see clouds whipping and forming around the summit of Eldorado. I climbed up the east ridge’s mix of rock and snow reaching the summit in 1hr 53 minutes. I ran down the knife ridge of snow past the true summit since it was hard to tell exactly where the tippy top was with such a big snow fin parked up there. I spent a few minutes on the summit, taking in the views of the growing inversion around me and putting on a layer for the descent.
The snow was perfect for downhill running and thankfully I didn’t find any hidden moats along the way. I stopped once in the boulder field to delayer and stash my poles in my running vest to keep my hands free for the tree swinging ahead.
*safety note: normally for fast & light mountain runs I think it would be better to have daylight on your side and not attempt something like this so late in the day like I did. These late starts only guarantee you’ll be in the dark if you get a sprained ankle or worse. I did factor that into this run and ran conservatively in the places where ankle rolling/leg breaking seemed possible. Just want to acknowledge the risk that time-of-day adds on top of the already small margins for error that come with this style of travel.