Very cool entrance to the National park to drive to this hike, and a very cool hike. I went with some friends and we found the first part to be quite a “walk in the park” (dirt path, some obstacles ) but once the trail turned to a Boulder field we considered it to be a “rock in the park” . Lmao . 

After said rocks, an enormous amount of troglodyte bugs appeared, and they followed us for the entire hike. I cannot stress enough the Importance of Possessing Deet on this hike . The horse flys literally do not care and will land on your nose to rip out your skin. 
 Anyway, I figured out at the end that wearing Nike court tennis shoes and my work scrubs was adequate enough to get to the summit, but most other people had cramp ons and ropes, which was interesting. In order not to die, I had to descend the highest 30 m backwards. This hike is a part of my prep for Poo poo Point. Thank you for your attention to this matter

Homelander

I set off with my climbing buddy Miles at 4:00 AM from the Eldorado Peak Trailhead at around 2200 ft. The river crossing was easy, though I'm not sure we chose the best route. There was a noticeable beaten path around 500 feet down the road from the parking lot. This route has two easy log crossings to get over the river. The river was rushing pretty hard, so I wouldn't recommend falling.

Once on the trail, suddenly gravity feels personal. It gets very steep very fast. It was extremely humid in the trees, and even at the coldest point in the day, we were drenched in sweat by the time we reached the boulder field at 4000 ft. The boulder field can be annoying to navigate; it's generally the easiest going if you stay to the climber's right side. The bugs were a little obnoxious in the morning, but if you kept moving, they were no issue. We started getting some spectacular views of Johannesburg once a few hundred feet up in the boulder field, and the marmots were big and furry.

We saw a few tents on the ridge at 6200 ft before the 100 ft or so descent over the ridge. The snow starts at roughly 6500 ft, but is melting fast. We threw on crampons and gaiters. We opted for no rope because a friend of Miles who had climbed the mountain the previous day said it was unnecessary. There were more tents right where the snow started, another beautiful place to camp. The crampons probably weren't necessary until the east ridge of Eldorado because the snow had already softened up quite a bit. Once at the flat between Eldorado Glacier and Inspiration Glacier, views of the North Cascades open up. Peaks such as Glacier, Buckner, Forbidden, etc., were all in view. 

The route up the east ridge was relaxing. There are a few steep sections, but the runout isn't bad. There was one snow bridge on the entire route, but it still seemed pretty thick and solid. The knife ridge right before the summit is truly something, and is the crux of the route. There is about a 30-40 ft section on said knife ridge where either side has bad runout. We summited the mountain around 10:30 am and didn't stay long because we were nervous about coming down the knife ridge and just wanted to get it over with. 

Also, there were a couple of beautiful Mountain goats up on the east ridge.

We got back to the car at 3:15 PM. C2C: 11:15. TH to Summit: 6:30

https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=2896872

The climbers trail was easy enough to follow. The stream crossing was sturdy and dry. The snow started around 6200ft and was actively melting out. There was an easy to follow boot path.

Once on the glaciers, it was smooth sailing. All the crevasses still had snow bridges over them. Some small cracks were showing, but easy enough to hop over.

Once on the peak approach, there is a good boot path up the knife’s edge. At the summit the boot path was big enough to hold our party of 9. It was uncomfortably close to the corniced edge in my opinion, but either its solid underneath or we got lucky it didn’t shear off while we were up there.

Also took some pics of 2 fellas that were trying to get some snaps of themselves. I told them they could find me on WTA, so if that’s you, message me with an email or phone number and I can send those your way.

Fun climb, the gains are real in this one.

Road into the trailhead was in great condition. We car camped outside the National park boundary in a pullout but it seemed like many camped at the trailhead.

We scouted the river crossing the night before, there is a path about a 2 minute walk back down the road away from the parking lot. There is one large log that is easy to cross and then one skinny/slick log to cross that requires more care. Once across, you’re on the climbers trail. This trail is very steep for the nearly 2000ft gained before the boulder field.

With a 2:45AM start, we navigated most of the boulder field in the dark, charting a course through a variety of cairns and the climbers trail on climbers right. Once at the top, you cross a couple waterfalls that are great for filling up. The top of the boulder field is where the snow began for us, although the 3rd class notch between basins was melted out. The rock here was a bit wet which made the moves a bit spicy.

In Rousch Basin, it’s meandering snow fields to cross up to the start of the glacier. We roped up after the notch but this was likely overkill, although we did see crevasses opening up off route. On the Eldorado glacier proper, specifically the flat traverse to get to the east ridge, there were some cracks to step over. Once at the start of the ridge, the grade steepens again. About halfway up, approximately 8400-8500ft there were some definite crevasses opening  up. We had a party member punch through and couldn’t feel anything  underneath.

There currently is a more direct snow path straight up to the corniced summit, but that boot path also veers right to give you time (and exposure) on the knife edge. We chose that route. The knife is solid with a good pack, the last couple steps before the summit feel a little vertigo inducing. There is/was a large cornice that looked line it could calve off at anytime. The views were astounding. Eldorado is a beautiful climb. 

In reverse, the glacier plunged stepped well and the boulder field just required careful steps.

RT: approximately 12 hours, added 1 hour on the summit