El Dorado Peak

Climb: Eldorado Peak/East Ridge
Elev: 8,894ft
Climbers: Judy, Rick, Lori and Chris

We had originally planned to climb Mt. Rainier this weekend with Judy and Rick, but with the predicted weather coming in Sunday afternoon, we thought it might be nicer to do a one-day climb. We ambitiously chose El Dorado Peak in the North Cascades' Boston Basin. Chris and I have each done this climb as an overnight-- which most normal people do-- but I persistanly claimed that carrying a one-day pack would make the climb 'much easier'. I learned there is no easy way to the top (or bottom) of El Dorado.

We left Seattle Friday evening, arrived at the trailhead 3 hrs later, slept in the Subaru and we're up at 4:30 Saturday morning to climb. We spent about 2 hrs climbing up through the trees, then a couple more hours through the talus fields. I remembered the snow field being after this point from my previous climb, but I love climbing on snow, so I think it was just wishful thinking. More steep trails, muddy slopes, and big boulders before finding the snow. The slushy, sloggy snow. That's the disadvantage of the one-day climb-- all the snow is traveled upon with the sun shining brightly. This slowed us down a bit making our summit almost an hour later than planned. We roped up with less than 1,000 feet to climb. Probably wasn't necessary, but if you know me and my feelings around heights, you'll know why I needed it to get up that knife-edge ledge. El Dorado has one of the most amazing summits I've ever been on. You feel truly on top of the world. However, I did hyperventilate to get there.

We knew we needed to beat the clock to get down by dark. It's such a steep climb, you don't go down too much faster than you go up. So, we tried not to take too many breaks-- just enough to tend to blisters, eat sandwiches, and refil water. Judy and Rick surprised us with their endurance and tackled the down-climbing of the boulders with pure strength. We followed their lead (begrudgingly) and we're back to the forest by 6 PM; just enough time to get down the difficult trail before sunset. At 7:40 PM, just over 14 Hrs later, we had crossed the logs over the river and were at the cars.

Our legs were tired to say the least, and our knees were angry about all the shock loading, but otherwise we were all in pretty good shape. After a quick dinner at a Mexican restaurant, we were back on the road to finish the 3 hr drive home. Rick kept talking about a 50 mi Sunday bike ride, but Chris and I will be content with staying in our pajamas all day and watching movies. Did I mention that our legs are sore?

The whole time I climbed El Dorado in two days, I was convinced it would be so much nicer as a one-day climb. Well, now I've decided that it is, in fact, slightly easier as a one-day, but much, much more enjoyable as a two-day. The views are too spectacular to rush by.