Skiing

Skimo.co doesn’t provide significant beta but mentions:

If there is sufficient snow coverage, you can actually ski some steep lines on the S face of Eldorado as well! The E ridge is the classic line, of course, and has amazing views and position looking down towards Moraine Lake.

How we get down will need to be a day of decision. Fortunately we will be climbing our ski line making decision making easy.

Beta

Climbing

There is a decent amount of Beta on Eldorado Peak. Skimo.co provides an excellent guide on the route. The start of the day will likely start at mile marker 18 on Cascade River Road.

Their guide claims the crux of the climb is actually the river crossing at the beginning. They recommend we scout this portion of the climb out, but unfortunately time isn’t going to allow for this.

Looking at Strava’s weekly heat map it shows activity going up the route. It looks like it follows the described route exactly. I don’t expect any concerns going up the standard route.

“Once across the river, you will find a well-defined climbers trail that will take you all the way up to a clearing around 4,600′, where you will enter a large boulder field. Early in the season, you will likely put on your skis here, as the boulders will be sufficiently covered in snow to allow for skinning. Later in the season, though, you may need to posthole your way through the boulder field up to around 5,200′.”

Reviewing the route on Caltopo the most difficult route finding will likely be finding the notch to move from the boulder field to under the Eldorado glacier. Skimo.co has this to say.

Continue climbing up towards the ridgeline on climbers left. You are looking to cross over around 6,200′ in a prominent notch that will take you across E to the Roush Creek drainage. Once across, you will climb the gradual slopes of the Eldorado Glacier up towards the peak itself. Stay to climber’s left of the Eggplant, a prominent knob around 7,700′. There is often a large wind lip here that is easy to spot. Gain the east ridge from the base where the upper Eldorado Glacier converges with the Inspiration Glacier. In the early season, the ridge is fairly wide, maybe wide enough to skin at points; later in the season, however, it becomes more of a knife-edge.