Pearl Necklace Tour

5/10/20

WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)

1274

6

Posted by Kyle M on 6/1/20 7:26pm

Porter, Doug, and I did a nice 3.5 day trip up on the Eldorado zone, which we (ie Doug) are calling "The Pearl Necklace Tour". We stayed the first night at the Hidden Lake Lookout. The second day, we traversed over to the Triad, and skied the mysterious "Kumquat Couloir". This 2500 ft north facing line is steep and intimidating from the top, but is mostly just around 40 degrees and not too bad, even for non-skiers like me and Porter. Then we climbed all the way up to the col between Eldo and Dorado Needle and came over to the east ridge of Eldo for the night. On day 3, we did the Inspiration Traverse, skiing Primus and Austera. We found a nice shortcut couloir on the east side of Austera. On the fourth day, we traverse on the south side of the Triad, climbed to a nice pass a bit west of the Triad, and were able to traverse all the way back down to the Sibley Creek Trail for a nice quick exit. I think that in many situations, this high route across the south side of the Triad could be the faster, and certainly more enjoyable, way to approach Eldorado.

In total it was about 40 miles and 20k ft gain. It was pretty relaxed in 3.5 days and had a nice balance of traversing and actual fall line skiing. The scenery was stunning, as expected for the area. Kumquat Couloir is a cool line! Highly recommend.

https://climberkyle.com/2020/05/10/the-pearl-necklace-tour/

Hidden Lake Peak

Skiing down Hidden Lake Peak.

Kumquat Couloir

Steep pow turns in Kumquat Couloir

Marble Creek

Touring high above the Marble Creek Cirque.

Primus Peak

Atop Primus Peak.

Eldorado

Eldorado Summit Views.

6/1/20 8:09pm

aaasen

That is a sweet route! Very imaginative. I think you can call yourself a skier.

6/2/20 8:10am

jacoblmandell

thanks for the inspiration & stoke!!

6/2/20 10:02am

kamtron

You've been getting some really cool trips in. Thanks for sharing

6/2/20 11:59am

hedonaut

Heck yes that is a neat tour. Well done fellas. Yeah that codger Doug gets around.

re: your blog post and the Kumquat, i expect that gets skied most seasons, probably seen a dozen (or two) descents. i've been down it twice, one of which after nearly getting up the NW face (someone still needs to tag this completely): trip link. It is a prime line, kudos to Sky for the vision.

And what kamtron said--May was quite the month for you. Look forward to seeing what other creations you come up with.

6/2/20 1:33pm

kyle-m

Hedonaut, very cool to see others have gotten after that line. I researched before hand but could not find any other reports, so I guess I didn't research well enough. We were pretty intimidated, knowing that Sky has skied some gnarly lines. But it's really not too bad, and a sweet line. Hopefully it opens the door to others!