Big plans came together for an amazing mountain experience over the Fourth of July weekend. The Inspiration Traverse is a super beautiful, rugged traverse over some of the most glaciated terrain in the lower 48. Our plan was to get out and see some of it in an out and back fashion. We would not be completing the entirety of the traverse but would still get to see some of the most beautiful sights in the state.
Our trip started on a not-so-glamorous note with a night spent in the back of a Prius in Marblemount. I’m 6’-3” and as it turns out, not being able to straighten your legs over the entire course of a night doesn’t lead to good sleep. Plus, we were parked in town, so there was the nagging worry that someone might knock on our window and tell us to leave. Thankfully that did not happen, and in the morning Katie and I met Fern at the Marblemount Wilderness Information Center to pick up a permit. This process was easy, and we were soon on our way down Cascade River Road bound for the Eldorado climber’s trail.
It was an overcast day as we got started at just before 9 am. The log crossing over the Cascade River was much easier this time than it was in the dark last time I did it on a day trip up Eldorado. The climber’s path was the same steep affair that I remembered, made more difficult with our heavy packs. It climbs relentlessly uphill before reaching a big boulder field at around 4000’. Katie did an amazing job guiding us through this maze of rock, actually finding decent trail through most of it by staying to the right side. It seems like this path has become much more well-trodden even in the last few years.
Once through the boulder field, we began to hit snow at around 5600’. The sky was still a slate gray and was burning off much slower than expected. We worked our way up to the notch in the ridgeline at 6200’+ and dropped steeply down for a hundred feet or so on rough dirt and grass trail into the Roush Creek drainage.
From here our path was a steady angling traverse leading up to a massive flat expanse on the Eldorado Glacier. En route we passed a super cool feature in the ice and snow that I remembered from my last trip to the area. It almost looked like a wall of a natural ice halfpipe! Next, we roped up for the crossing of the Eldorado Glacier. It might not be strictly necessary, as there was healthy snow cover and the glacier is so benign, but I always err on the side of caution...you can never be too confident about what you are walking over on a glacier. We made the short trek over and set our stuff down at the Eldorado base camp, home of the backcountry toilet with the second-best view in the Cascades (in my opinion). A long break was in order after all our hard work, especially since the skies were still showing no signs of clearing. It was surprisingly chilly and windy, and it seemed like a bit of new snow had fallen at these high elevations in the preceding days, making travel a bit more cumbersome.
After a while, we got ourselves moving again, this time heading out into the mist on the Inspiration Glacier. It was a surreal experience heading out across a massive glacier with somewhat limited visibility and a bit of new snow hampering our footsteps. We stayed high for the most part, maybe too high because we ended up hitting a rock promontory that forced us to descend a bit to get around it, but eventually found ourselves traversing over to Klawatti Col, our home for the night. Miraculously, just as we were coming into the flat expanse of the col, the sun began to shine through, and the clouds started to clear. It looked like we were going to get a nice sunset and hopefully have great weather for the rest of the trip!
We ended up setting up camp at a semi-sheltered bivy spot right near the west ridge of Klawatti Peak. Katie and I were in a tent, and Fern had opted not to bring anything but a rainfly, so he got to work reinforcing the pre-existing rock wall for his shelter. I’ve never seen anyone so meticulous about blocking out the wind, you have to admire his dedication.
Once, camp was all set up we got about enjoying the beautiful location we were in. Sunset was chilly but amazing that night, with great colors and views to Austera, Forbidden, Eldorado and Snowfield dominating our sightlines. By the time the sun went down we retreated quickly to our sleeping bags and tried to stay warm despite the brisk wind coming off the snow.
The next day dawned warm and clear, Fern had survived the night in his makeshift shelter, and we were all excited to head further out on the traverse. This was uncharted territory for me, and I was excited about what we might see. We didn’t move super quickly out of camp, enjoying the sun and warmth, but we eventually were moving north at about 7800’ on a mellow snowfield. The snow steepened a bit before bringing us up to the Klawatti/Austera col, which divides the McAllister and Klawatti Glaciers. It is an impressive place, with cool wind-shaped snow and impressive rock towers. Here, we scoped out what was essentially a cliff in front of us. This called for a short rappel, so we used an existing rap anchor to make the short descent to the glacier below.
From here, we made another rising traverse up towards the Austera summit block. The terrain around us was stunning, especially looking back on the expansive Klawatti Glacier. After more mellow glacier travel, we reached the final scramble up Austera. We followed a blocky class 2 ridgeline up and made a few exposed scrambling moves up and to the right to avoid a chockstone gully. After these moves, there was a short class 3-4 downclimb to reach a snow filled depression before the final summit rocks. I’ve heard that the final bit of Austera can be low fifth class under certain conditions, but I think the accumulated snow worked in our favor, as we had just a few easy moves to attain the summit.
The views from here were amazing. All the ice draped over this jagged rock landscape was quite a sight to behold. I especially loved the view back from where we came towards Klawatti and Col and Eldorado. It’s got to be one of the best viewpoints I’ve been to. After a good bit of we finally motivated ourselves to leave the summit. Instead of reversing course and doing the exposed scramble on the way down, we instead chose to just do a short, awkward rappel down the chockstone gully. After this it was a bit further on rock before heading out into the world of ice and snow again.
We made it back to the amazing rock towers of Klawatti/Austera Col in good time. Here Fern scrambled up to the left of our rappel route and belayed Katie and I up. In retrospect this wasn’t super necessary because the climbing was actually pretty easy class 4, but oh well.
After a bit of a struggle trying to funnel water off Klawatti with a picket to refill, we made it back to camp at Klawatti Col. Another amazing sunset ensued, and we held a makeshift birthday party for me with a cupcake that we had carted all the way up for the occasion.
Another cold night followed, with one curious mountain goat who kept terrorizing Fern in his open shelter. It was funny to hear a shout every now and then telling the goat to get out of our camp. The next morning dawned clear again, this time colder with a thick low cloud layer below us. Fern and I had intentions of climbing Klawatti and maybe Eldo on this trip, but with lazy mornings and resting on the laurels of our epic traverse the day before we somehow just never got around to either. Any excuse to come to this area is ok with me!
After packing up camp, we began the trek across the Inspiration Glacier back to Eldorado camp. The snow slope immediately out of the col was steeper and more exposed than I had remembered on the way in, probably because we could actually see the world around us this time. It was still no problem, though, and before long we were cruising back into the camp area. We thought a bit about heading up Eldo, but the sun was already warming the snow a lot and we decided to instead laze around a bit and maybe head up Eggplant if time allowed.
We spent a good long while relaxing in the now-warm sun and then made a quick ascent of Eggplant. The views from the top were spectacular looking back at the Inspiration traverse, but the real draw was the turquoise waters of Moraine Lake far below and the foreboding cliffs of Forbidden in the distance. The way down lent itself to some fun boot-skiing on soft snow once the grade lessened and we were soon all saddled up and descending into Roush Creek basin. The cloud layer was still thick, and we quickly found ourselves enveloped in it...it is amazing how much difference a few hundred feet in elevation make on days like this.
The rest of the way down was uneventful, Katie found another A+ path through the boulder field and we were making the log crossing before we knew it. This was one of the most exciting and beautiful trips I had ever been on, and I was so happy with how it all turned out. I already can’t wait to come back to the area for Klawatti and Primus.
Final Stats: 14.17 miles / 6,544 feet of gain
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