Klawatti, Austera, Eldorado Winter Ascents

Klawatti Peak (8505ft), Austera Peak (8371 ft), Eldorado Peak (8878 ft)

First Winter Ascent of Austera

Second Winter Ascent of Klawatti

Jan 11-12, 2024

16 miles, 9kft gain

Eric and Nick

Weekend conditions looked good west of the crest so we decided to bag some Bulger peaks in the North Cascades. I had four winter Bulgers on my to-do list in the Eldorado area, so we decided to do a crux subset of those. We would target Austera and Klawatti, since they were the farthest in and each technical. Then on the way out if there was time we might tag on a bonus peak.

This area is very popular in the spring and summer, but not in the winter. The main problem is access. Cascade River Road is not officially maintained in winter, and usually has major blowdowns across it. The forest in that area has very old trees, and a 6ft tree falling over the road can easily shut down access all winter. In winter the road is usually gated at the Eldorado trailhead at milepost 20, but often blowdowns and snow block access as far back as milepost 5. In the past I’ve either skied or biked or snowmobiled past blowdowns in winter.

This winter, though, I’ve made it a priority to keep the road maintained so I can use it to access Bulger peaks. I invested in a 25″ Stihl 391 chainsaw and a bunch of smaller clearing implements. In late November, after a major wind storm hit western Washington, Paul and I made a special trip up Cascade River road to clear any fresh blowdowns. We used multiple chainsaws, cables, pulleys, axes, and more to clear out a bunch of big trees and make it driveable all the way to the Eldorado gate.

I hadn’t heard any status reports since November, though. So Paul and I planned to start up the road Friday afternoon and clear any new trees so we could make it to the Eldo gate by evening. NOHRSC was showing 12-16 inches of snow at the trailhead, and I briefly considered bringing the snowmobile. But I’ve found NOHRSC over-predicts snow depth by about 1.5 ft in the cascade river area. I’m not sure the reason for this area, since it’s generally accurate in other locations. But that meant there was likely only a few inches or less of snow, so no need for the snowmobile.

Nick and I drove up from Marblemount at 3pm Friday, and, amazingly, we made it all the way to the Eldo gate without encountering a single blowdown! Paul was there waiting, and I was a bit disappointed having no projects to work on. But at least that meant we had a higher chance of success in climbing out peaks. It appears only major wind storms or lowland snow events bring down the big trees in that area, and there haven’t really been any big storms since November.

Paul just had time for the road clearing that day, so he drove home and Nick and I stayed at the trailhead. Before it got dark I scouted out the good stream crossing to access the climbers trail on the other side. I’d last climbed peaks in this area in late September when I was surveying Eldorado and Klawatti. Luckily the log crossing I remembered from back then was still in good shape. By 7pm we got to sleep in the truck, and it rained most of the night.

Saturday we started up at 3:30am, and there were two other cars in the lot. The ground was bare, so we started in hiking boots. We easily crossed the stream and hiked up the trail. The climbers trail was in great shape, and easy to follow since it was snow free. We made fast progress up to about 4000ft, where the snow started getting deep enough to switch to ski boots. We ditched our hiking boots in plastic bags in the bushes, and continued up a few more minutes to the edge of the boulder field.

Luckily the boulders were covered by just enough snow to make skinning possible. We made careful progress up, avoiding a few holes but setting a good skin track. There was no evidence of any tracks above us. As we got higher the boulders got more filled in and progress faster. By sunrise we crested the edge of treeline and were met with a whiteout.

We navigated by GPS to the crossing over to Roush Creek, and by then the whiteout finally cleared. After descending into the Roush drainage we ascended the gentle slopes up to the Eldorado Glacier. We skinned across to the standard Eldorado camp, then roped up for the heavily-crevassed Inspiration Glacier.

Nick led across as we maintained elevation on a long traverse on gentle slopes. Klawatti loomed ahead of us, and our plan for the day was climb Klawatti and camp at Klawatti col. There was a bit of uncertainty about the best route to climb. I’ve only found one record of a winter ascent of Klawatti (Savaiusini, March 10 2004) and that team climbed the south face. The south face is the standard spring route, and the route I climbed in May 2018. It’s a steep snow climb and requires stable snow.

Other options were the southwest ridge or west face. Beckey describes the SW ridge as a 3rd class scramble, but the glacier at the base has melted down so much since Beckey’s time that now there is a pitch of low 5th class climbing at the bottom. The west face has been climbed and is described as 4th class, but is likely harder now also. The southwest ridge would have zero avy terrain, but might have some slab climbing, which would be tough in crampons.

By noon we reached the col, and dropped overnight gear just around the south side of the buttress to get out of the wind. We decided to check out the south face, since if it went and the snow was stable, it would offer the easiest and fastest route to the summit. We skinned across the base to the rock buttress on the climbers right side. The face had melted down significantly since I last remembered in 2018, and it actually looked much mellower now. We decided to go for it. We would simul climb up the right side placing rock pro as we went. This would protect the climb in case the snow slid, though we found the snow generally not reactive.

The snow was powdery enough that we put on our ascent plates for the climb. I’m pretty sure it would not have been possible without those. Nick led the first pitch a full ropelength up the right side of the snow face to a sheltered bely spot. I then took over, and went up the constriction in the middle, past an ice bulge, then gained the upper snow bowl and traversed the left. I gained a good rock outcrop on the upper SW ridge and belayed Nick up to there.

From there the terrain mellowed, so we ditched the rope and continued in crampons and ascent plates. By 2:30pm we crested the summit, and were careful to give space to cornices on the west face. The weather was pleasant, not to cold, just as we’d hoped by climbing in the middle of the day. We downclimbed to the anchor, then packed up the rope and downclimbed the route back to our skis. It was then a short but fun ski back to our overnight gear by 3:30pm.

With our remaining hour of daylight we dug out a tent platform in the sheltered area southeast of the col, and pitched camp. The sunset over Forbidden and Johannesburg was spectacular, with undercast building below us. A few hours after sunset we finished eating our Ramen dinners, and crawled into our bivy sacks in the mega mid tent.

Sunday we got moving at 4:30am under a bright moonlit night. We roped up and skinned to the Austera-Klawatti col. There was a steep wind lip and wide ditch in front of the low point of the col. But snow reached a point higher and closer to Klawatti. We were able to take of skis, scramble over a small rocky part, then hit steeper snow on the west side. We marched down until the slope mellowed, then put skis back on.

From there we skinned up to the base of the false summit of Austera, and ditched skis. I recalled Austera being an easy snow climb in May 2018, but, as with Klawatti, the glaciers have recedeed a lot on Austera and the route is now a bit more difficult.

We scrambled along the ridge crest towards the true summit, then the ridge got narrow and exposed enough to warrant a rope. We slung a big horn then I belayed Nick as he downclimbed a short mixed pitch to the col below the summit. I followed, then I took the next pitch. I followed a small ledge up and right to the east face, then I climbed steep unconsolidated sugar snow and bits of rock face up to the east summit. I then scrambled over to the notch, which was full of snow, and marched up to the summit.

I managed to find a rap anchor there, and belayed Nick off that. The sun was just rising and we got an excellent view of god rays over Goode and Ragged Ridge. We rapped directly off the summit down the south face, then climbed steep snow/rime back up to the ridge. From there we walked back down to our skis, and skied back to the notch. The colorful sunrise was short lived, and it started to snow and get windy. This was unexpected. Sunday was supposed to be sunny and calm. But I guess winter weather in the north cascades is tough to predict.

We got back to camp at 9am, melted some snow, and watched a few skiers descending from Eldorado in the distance. This was one of only a handful of times I’d ever seen other people on Winter Bulger trips. (The other times were heli skiers on the way up to Big Snagtooth, some skiers on St Helens, and heli skiers on Silver Star). We broke down camp and made fast progress in low visibility back to the Eldo camp. It was 10:30am and there was plenty of daylight left, so we decided to quickly tag Eldorado also.

We ditched all our gear and proceeded up fast and light. It was very windy, with heavy blowing snow. I led the way breaking trail, and within 40 minutes topped out on the summit. Now the highest point on the mountain is clearly the west end of the summit ridge. (Last September I measured Eldorado is no longer an icecap summit, and the rock peak on the west end of the summit ridge is the highpoint now).

After snapping a few quick pictures we downclimbed back to our skis, then skied out. By the edge of the Eldorado Glacier the wind finally died, and we got fun turns down the west face. We saw a group of three skiers doing laps on the face. They appeared to be a different group than the one that climbed Eldorado. I was amazed how popular that area was for January!

We booted up to the ridge to exit the Roush drainage, then made fun turns back down to the trees. The lower boulderfield was a bit tricky. We stayed skiers right as far down as possible, then side stepped down along our up tracks when the snow coverage got too thin. We eventually made it to the bottom, then got to our stashed boots and put those on. It was a fast hike back to the truck by 3pm, well ahead of schedule. Amazingly, there were five other vehicles in the lot!

I was half hoping there’d be some blowdowns to clear on the way out, but the road was still smooth sailing the whole way.

 

 

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