Summiting Eldorado Peak - Washington

Eldorado Peak stands 8,868 ft tall in the North Cascades National Park, Washington. This video documents my 24 June 2023 summit.
The trailhead is socked in at a low elevation of 2,170 ft. After the initial creek crossing, a roughly 4,000 ft push through the trees and boulders will take you up into the snowfields. After crossing and descending the main ridge, the glacier travel is not too steep until you pass the high camp area below 8,000 ft elevation. The summit ridge includes some potential for crevasse activity, as seen in my video, but it should be relatively straight forward to navigate. The final push up the summit ridge can be technical. The knife edge is narrow, but is wide enough to stay on top of if the snow is good quality. I was pretty fortunate in targeting an ideal climbing condition during this late week in June.
Route info links:
www.summitpost.org/eldorado-p...
www.alltrails.com/trail/us/wa...
www.outdoorproject.com/united...
Video content:
00:00 - Intro
00:20 - Approach
03:45 - Glacier travel
04:56 - Summit Ridge
06:39 - Summit
07:04 - Descent
09:47 - Sign off

[@jaredempey5706]

Great job explaining the route. Looks amazing. This one will definitely need to be on my list

[@spifffffff]

That’s a lot of vertical for 4 miles! Love the vids Alex, look forward to more

[@summitspecials]

Indeed, this route has a steeper, shorter approach than most of the big loan standing peaks around the PNW. The canyon you start out in is narrow and deep. Thanks for the comment!

[@nathanway803]

Great vids. Thanks!

[@summitspecials]

Thanks for watching!

[@jacobwolf9840]

Cool video, super informative. Can't tell if the fart at 6:25 was dubbed in 😂

[@nickradner5325]

Good vid Alex. I get a lot of Beta from your stuff. Appreciated

[@summitspecials]

Thanks for the comment!

[@arcadegamesify]

whoa, how do you know where you can walk soloing over glaciers with no rope? Won't you die if you fall through into a crevasse??

[@summitspecials]

Not sure I have the best answer lol. In this case, the formations were easy to identify and avoid. That crevasse on Eldorado is more of a collapsed edge against the ridge, not a deep, complex glacial crack. Where I crossed over was not steep so risk of slipping in was low and it was wide enough to stay several feet away from all edges. Could have tumbled down a few meters or so if I fell in. Would be able to climb out if uninjured. But I just did my reasearch and studied the snow condition as I went, so there were no surprises. In general, I think it is critical to understand the difference between early and late season. Research can tell you what areas are more likely to be unstable/active, and experience can tell you exactly where crevasses were years prior, but there is no way I'm stumbling around a crevasse area by myself when there is fresh snow coverage. A good start for crevasses being revealed is two weeks of full sun with no new snow. I do research and scouting missions to determine best times of year for each route to reduce risk as a solo, and climb early before sun weakens the snow. I also prefer putting myself between climbing groups if there are any. A lot of times I only step where others have been stepping. Still can't apply all precautions and generally take on more risk than a roped team. I've gotten used to going up to my own risk tolerance and knowing when to stop and turn around as soon as I hit that limit. Cheers!