Eldorado Peak — Saturday, Jun. 3, 2017

A golden dream of ice and snow awaits in the heart of the Cascades. It's Eldorado, the Queen of the Cascade River, rising tall above its immense ice cap, beckoning you to come and explore as you see it from your car, at a bend in the road to Marblemount, for no more than a couple of seconds.

This is a long trip that can be done in one day, if you're motivated, in good shape and you wake up very early, but it's best done in two days. You get the benefit of spending the night on a glacier at 7500 feet, with sweeping views of the Cascades in every direction, and you can take advantage of the hard morning snow which, unlike the afternoon slush, offers good purchase for crampons when you ascend the East ridge to the summit.

The camping spots are abundant on the large expanse of flat snow; there's no risk of getting too crowded. The night we spent there was unfortunately very cold; I had to put almost all my upper body layer clothes on, two pairs of socks and the Goretex rain pants over my hiking pants to get warm enough to be able to sleep.

Since the summit is actually somewhere on the famous the knife edge, only one team can go for the summit at one time, as there's no place to maneuver and go around people, and everyone has to wait their turn. An afternoon ascent can lead to long wait lines, whereas climbing the East ridge in the early morning means the mountain belongs to you, as few parties spend the night.

In these early days June there is still so much snow in the Inspiration glacier basin you'd be temped to think global warming was a myth, but alas, those beautiful glaciers are receding fast and won't come back once they're gone.

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/fritz_da_kat/albums/72157682658007541