Ice cap slam (July 4th - July 8th 2012)

Given an impeccably sunny forecast for the foreseeable future after a near month of grayness, what better can one do than spend 5 days up high in the North Cascades? Susan, Jack, Jeff and I planned a 5-day trip starting from the North Cascades Highway at Colonial Creek, traversing a few glaciers and climbing a few peaks, and returning to a second car at the Cascade River road 5 days later. Pure delight!

View Ice cap itinerary in a larger map 

Day 1 (4th of July): The approach day

We met Jack and Jeff at the Marblemount ranger station to get our climbing permit. Susan and I arrived a bit early, before the ranger station open. As we waited in the car, we glanced over to the car next to us, and spotted our friend Brian in a sleepy horizontal position, with his head showing through the back seat door. Brian and Diana (his wife) had spent the night there to make sure to be the first ones in line for the popular Sahale camp where they planned to spend the next few days.

We got our permit for the Klawatti zone and Eldorado zone (last night) without any issues, since the area is fairly remote and not as crowded as some of the more popular spots. Not because they are less scenic, but mostly because it is a bit of an ordeal to get there :) Shortly thereafter, Jeff and Jack showed up, and since we had planned the trip as a through hike we dropped one car at the ending trail head (trail tail?) of Eldorado Creek.

After an hour's drive from Eldorado creek TH, we arrived at the to Thunder creek TH at 10am, with a light overcast which was pleasant for the hike in. The hike started with 6 miles through the forest, from Colonial Creek campground along Thunder Creek to McAllister creek camp. The packs were relatively heavy, and for our first lunch we had a lovely tortilla with fresh tomato and avocado, while overlooking the river below us. It is such a joy to hike in through the forest on a nice trail.

Susan enjoying the steep tree climb.

Shortly after our lunch it was time for the actual work to begin. We crossed Thunder Creek on a nice trail bridge, headed off trail and straight up McAllister ridge. 4000 feet gain in about 1 mile - wow it was steep, at times hiking along ledges of cliff bands, and other times using trees as hand holds to help pulling ourselves up. Overall I have to say though that the approach was pretty good with a tread defined for at least the first 2000 feet of elevation gain.

In the early afternoon we found the purpose of our trip, as soon as we peeked out of the tree line. we were rewarded by 270 degree views of Snowfield Peak, Mesachie ridge, Logan, Ruby and many of other peaks.

Another thousand feet of gain brought us to our camp at the Borealis glacier moraine. Spectacular! We found running water from the lake at the edge of the glacier and did not have to melt snow for water. our camp has grand views of our trek up and our way for the next day. we cooked and hangout on big dry rocks. Susan and I had ramen noodles with eggs for dinner, and enjoyed the setting sun over camp.

Jack crawling out of the forest, with Ruby in the background

Given the perfect weather we had pitched the tent without a rainfly so we'd be able to see the stars at night but didn't count on it being close to a full moon. At some point in the night I woke up seemingly with a torch in my eyes - the moon was rising (or setting) between Tricouni and Primus peaks, just the two peaks were were going to climb tomorrow/today. I tried taking a picture of it, but it turned out quite blurry. Either way, I quickly fell asleep again, and got some more sleep in.

Sunset over our tent

Lets keep it small so it doesn't look quite as blurry

Day 2 (July 5th): Climbing Tricouni and Primus

Apparently no one in our party had the intention of getting an early start after yesterday's hike in. It was a quality night's sleep and I think we only woke up once the sun had warmed up the tents enough that we had to get out. we left camp at a leisurely 10:30am after oatmeal breakfast.

Tricouni and Primus from camp (the evening before). Borealis Glacier going up the middle towards Lucky Pass.

Going up the steep part of the glacier.

Since we were about to cross the Borealis Glacier, we roped up in camp, even though we would not technically be on the glacier for another few hundred meters. It just made it easier to do everything at one time, rather than start going, then stop and rope up, then start again. Jack who had been through here the year before, warned that the glacier was steep in places, and we had been looking at it from camp. It had looked impossibly steep - as in "I'm not going to do that" steep. Of course, when we got closer it was not quite as steep as it looked, but enough for us to set a few pickets, wear crampons and be careful with our footing.

The glacier took us up to Lucky Pass, the gap between Primus and Tricouni above which I had seen the moon during the night. It is funny when you reach a pass how all of a sudden you see everything on the other side. This time it was spectacular with the north side of the Forbidden/Torment ridge taking up the horizon.

Lunch at Lucky Pass.

A little windy at the pass, so we left our overnight gear where we were, had a quick snack and started heading up towards Tricouni peak via the obvious snow finger. We felt it too was pretty steep and the runout not so good, so we stayed roped up and out came a few more pickets. (Thank you Susan for kicking all the steps :)

Climbing up the snow towards Tricouni

Once on the rocks, a bit more scrambling followed up to the summit itself and more great views. It is truly at a cool location, in the middle of Thunder Creek, looking up and down the Thunder creek itself up to Park Creek pass and down to Lake Diablo, plus direct views into McAllister and Fisher creeks and up Skagit Queen creek. Not to mention all the peaks around us. Summit #1 for the trip - and more to come!

View from the summit of Tricouni, with Klawatti, Eldorado (the highest) and Austera.

Susan on top of Primus Peak

Looking across Lucky pass we had Primus peak which was our next objective. Primus is an easy walk up peak, but another 1000 feet from Lucky Pass made it somewhat strenuous. Even though it was probably technically the easiest peak of the trip, I think this had the best view of the bunch. The great thing is that you can see the north sides of tall the peaks we're about to climb, as well as some vertigo inducing views down to the McAllister creek and glacier.




"I have a problem" says Jack all of a sudden, "I think I left my camera at the top of Tricouni". Wow, that quite a place to leave it, with probably only a handful of visitors per year. Looking across it is 2 hours back to the summit of Tricouni and an hour back. "Goodbye camera" we probably all think. Given that it is late afternoon we decide not to go back to fetch it. Goodbye camera.

Now where do we camp? Lots of flat snow everywhere, but we'd really like a flat spot on the rocks. We had spotted a promising site 500 ft down from the summit which looked relatively flat and was clear of snow. Let's try it! However, upon getting there it proved to be rather rocky and uneven, not really good for placing tents on the rocks, and to boot no running water. So we ended up pitching our tents on the snow again and hanging out on the rock for dinner and breakfast, while melting snow for water. The views down to the North Klawatti glacier icefall and Klawatti lake made the choice still an excellent one.

Camping at the 8000 ft level, below Primus Peak.

For this trip we had just purchased a new camping stove, a Jetboil. our original plan had been to bring 5 bottles of white gas for the entire party, but because of the new stove we decided to bring 3 canisters for the Jetboil and 2 bottles of white gas for the other stove. To test out the new stove and see how efficient it was (or not), we tried using it exclusively until running out of the 3 canisters. Well, turned out that never happened - by the end of the trip we had only used 2 canisters between the 4 of us for 4 nights (2 of which we were melting snow for water)... Wow, next time let's bring less fuel!

Day 3 (July 6th) The unexpected summit day

Well, day number 3, I'm already sunburned and really quite content just hanging out in camp. However, the goal of today is really just to put us in a good place for tomorrow when we are supposed to climb Klawatti Peak. The morning comes by as it usually does, the sun wakes us up once it hits the tent and warms everything up, to the point where staying under the sleeping bag is too warm. It is time to get up and it is about 8:30am. Ok, start boiling some water on our the new stove, take some morning pictures of the surroundings, and other people waking up :)

Susan not quite waking up

It took until 10:30 for breakfast to be consumed and everything packed up again and us being ready to leave, seems to be a nice habit by now. What a nice morning out in the wild!

While in camp we had seen two people traversing the North Klawatti glacier coming towards us in the direction we were to be heading. We intercepted them at the edge of the glacier, and it turned out to be Chris and Radka, out of which I knew Chris from a previous climbing trip (Clark) and Susan knew Radka from I don't remember where.


A bit of friendly cheers and we soon realize that they are about to be heading up to Tricouni where Jack left his camera. We asked them to look for it. Chris and Radka are in for a strenuous day - they were camped at Eldorado east ridge, climbed Austera before we met them, and are heading up both Primus and Tricouni, then back to camp in the soft snow. We wish them luck and hope to see them back in our future camp.

Getting around the corner between the N Klawatti and Klawatti glacier.

Dorado Needle is the highest pinnacle to the top left.

Ok, back to business, ropes are on, and we start descending the North Klawatti glacier to a gap in the cliffs separating it from the Klawatti glacier. Then of course, what goes down must come up, and we hike up the Klawatti glacier towards Austera Peak. Jack and Jeff are looking at just hiking up to the false summit, but Susan and I are thinking of getting to the real summit. We had tagged Austera summits a few years ago, requiring some 4th/low 5th climbing. However, we get much past the false summit until we saw class 4th gully was covered in the snow/ice. Neither of us were prep mentally for the challenge, especially since Austera wasn't on the trip plan. Instead we spend 30 minutes napping in the sun with Jeff/Jack at the false summit area, enjoying the spectacular views towards Dorado Needle and down to the McAllister glacier. We are aiming to climb Dorado Needle on the last day so we took a good look at it.





An ice fall woke me up from my nap - what a way to be woken up. Must be from either the McAllister or Klawatti ice falls. Of course we were nowhere close to them so no danger, but always interesting being woken up by loud rumbling across the valley:)

Crossing the Klawatti- Austera ridge.

The traverse towards our intended camp at Klawatti Col is uneventful and the crossing of the Austera/Klawatti ridge turns out to be easy because of all the snow lingering, creating a giant ramp for us to walk up on. Other years or later in the season this can require a little bit of a climbing step to get up. Mid afternoon we arrive at Klawatti col and set up our camp on the snow - another night of melting snow for water, but again what a view!
Susan has the great idea of at least checking out the route up the south face of Kalwatti for tomorrow, and maybe if all goes well even summiting tonight? We all fall for the idea, melt some snow to fill up our water supply and set up towards the face which is only a few hundred feet away from our camp. Of course the summit is 1000 feet above.

Interesting moat problem on the south face of Klawatti

The snow turned out to be quite soft, given that it is a steep south facing slope, but still reasonable and we decided to give the summit a try. We reached the moat, the crux of the climb, and found a way across that seems safe, placing a few pickets as we go. We only brought three pickets for the climb, so at the third picket I stopped and belayed Susan, Jeff and Jack up to me, then Jeff led the next pitch of snow climbing.

Jeff is funny - he pretends he doesn't know much about climbing, but really I think he does.... Anyways, he reaches the top of the snow slope just after placing the last picket and can belay us from relatively flat ground, within sight of the summit. He brings us all up and then it is just a bit easy rock scrambling to get to the top. This was a very satisfying summit, as we had tried it a few years ago and had to abandon any attempt up the south face due to the large moat that year, and instead we tried climbing the North ridge, a class 4 route. However, we didn't make it very far up the N ridge until we realized how loose the rock actually was when a member of our party deposited a truckload of debris onto the glacier by being less than careful. So we turned around that time, and as we often say, the mountain will still be there, and this time it actually was!

Snow belay with one picket and one ice axe.

Klawatti summit picture. Jeff on top, Jack below.

Jeff on the summit of Klawatti

Wow! I know I keep saying things like great and spectacular views, but this really was quite nice. Of course, it being late afternoon or even early evening, we cannot stay long at the summit, but have to climb back down again. dinner at camp is another round of ramen noodles fortified with boiled eggs, asiago cheese and salami. Yum yum yum!

Coming back to camp, there was a perfect ray of sun illuminating our tents.

I turned in a bit early as I didn't feel too well, maybe dehydrated from all the sunshine during the day, and the nice memories of the summit. I remember it being windy at night, with Susan tightening the guy-lines to our rainfly (only night with it on) several times to prevent it from flapping in the wind.

Day 4 (July 7th): Another beautiful day!

I woke up early, since I had also been the first one to go to bed, and started the stove to make some hot water for our regular oatmeal breakfast and something to warm myself up with. I dug a small wind wall to make sure we all had somewhere to sit for breakfast out of the wind. Such a fun hobby to make things out of the snow!
What is the plan for today? Well, Dorado Needle of course that we had been looking at for the past day! Jeff and Jack did not want to climb the peak itself since it is a technical rock climb, and they have no interest in such things. However, they didn't mind us spending the day climbing it, while they enjoyed the sun.

Jeff created a nice flat bed at this spot, and read for the next few hours. 

We left Jeff at the saddle separating the Inspiration Glacier from the McAllister glacier, where he dug quite a fort in the snow, and spent the next 4 hours reading, and probably napping too if I'm not mistaken :) Jack on the other hand decided to come with us up the the base of the climb, which was nice since it is always nice to have more than 2 persons for glacier travel. What great and patient partners!
So, getting up the McAllister glacier towards "the needle" was uneventful, but hot. The sun was shining and there was absolutely no wind on us as we labored up the soft snow on the glacier, at times post holing to our knees. Maybe we should have had a less leisurely breakfast to make the snow a bit more manageable?

Looking down on the Northwest ridge of Dorado Needle from close to the summit.

Dorado Needle summit!

Well at the base of the actual climb, Susan wanted to take the first pitch, or steep snow. She cruised up the pitch and soon had be on belay and brought me up as well. I think she may have felt a bit cheated since the fist pitch was all snow and no rock, so she also took the lead on the second pitch and of course cruised that as well. Even thought the climbing is relatively easy (5.4) there are some very nice and exposed moves.



I got to take the last pitch, with the one signature section where you are basically straddling the ridge and scooting your butt forward while bracing with your legs on both sides, just like a horse back. Exhilarating!




Soon we were both on the summit and celebrating the 4th peak for this trip :) Views lived up to the expectations set by other peaks during this trip.








The evening brought us another great camping experience at base of the east ridge of Eldorado. There were no flat spots left on the rock, as there were already two tents there. Jeff and Jack pitched their tent in the snow, just at the side of the rock outcropping, while Susan and myself found a small flat area where we could sleep, but not enough space for a tent. So, it had to be tent-less camping tonight, but with the weather as nice as it was it seemed like a good idea. Our sleeping area also doubled as the groups cooking and hangout spot.


This campsite got a new shiny toilet installed 2 years ago. we spent the evening contemplating whether to start putting in toilet sign pointing people here from the TH...

Jack, enjoying the camping.

Soon enough Radka and Chris also arrived back in camp - they were one of the two other tents placed in the same area. We cooked some food and all chatted and had a jolly good time until the sun set over the mountains. When it was time to go to bed, all we had to do was to lie down where we had ate, and slumber on. A great night's sleep followed with no wind and very mild temperatures.

Wow, I'm redder than my jacket!

Day 5 (July 8th): Eldorado and milkshakes

Not wanting to wake up 

The last morning came earlier than it felt like it should. Susan and I planned to climb Eldorado in the morning via the standard East Ridge. Jeff and Jack had climbed Eldorado enough time and passed on the peak this time. We woke up at 8 and left camp around 9, a bit later than planned.

Susan and I made fairly quick progress towards the summit, about 1.5 hours from camp, with only the last bit along the knife edge being roped up. It really was a knife edge this year, with a little cornice right on the edge as a bonus. Wow, the rope was handy, as were the pickets we brought. The last summit also had a good view.

Knife edge summit ridge of Eldorado

Right before the summit we met "Randy likes to climb", a solo climber who we also had briefly met the previous day when camped at Klawatti. He seemed like a nice guy and took some pictures of us climbing up, and then proceeded on his way down, merrily with his hiking poles :)

Quickly remembering that there is plenty of greenery around.

Back in camp, there was only one thing left for us to to... Pack up and get back to the car. Didn't entirely look forward both because the trip had been so fun, but also because it was a relatively warm day and the hike back is steep (down) and long. The promise of warmth held true, but soon enough we were down by the river, crossed it on the regular log, but interestingly there is a new sign by the "trailhead". The sign is ~100 yards into the forest, after you have crossed the river on two logs, hiked into the brush at the edge of the forest on another two fallen logs, and there it is - the trailhead sign! Quite funny how there is a nice sign seemingly in the middle of the forest.

Milkshakes from Good Food and Fish Tacos and beer at the Skagit River brewery marked the ending of this most excellent trip.

Group gear list
- 1 50m glacier rope
- 3 7.5oz fuel canister and jet boil (used 1.9 canister)
- 3 pickets (wouldn't mind a 4th)
- water filter
- two 22oz white gas + stove (did not use)
- shovel
Rock rack for Dorado needle:
- 8 singles,
- 2 doubles,
- 2 mid size hex (did not use)
- cam #.5, #.75, #2
- 6 mid size nuts
- used pickets for the snow ramp