North Eolus

The first morning in Chicago Basin I was on the trail by 6:20 a.m. After half a mile I reached the trail junction to Twin Lakes and start climbing. The next mile and a half climbs 1,500' up to the lakes. Unfortunately for me, that took almost two hours. All the climbers today are heading over to Mt. Eolus and North Eolus, so rather than attempt Sunlight Peak and Windom Peak like planned, I decided to tackle the Eolus group too to take advantage of having other climbers around and observing their routes.

The trail from the lakes traverses across the upper basin in the shadow of Mt. Eolus before starting to climb again to the ridge. By now everyone is far in front of me, and I capture some pictures of the scout crew crossing the catwalk above me and then on the east face. By the time I make the ridge and can finally see North Eolus, the faster hikers are already re-crossing the catwalk and starting up North Eolus.

I took one look at the route and thought "Oh my!" To reach the notch at the low point on the ridge between the peaks is a greenish gully of solid rock that at a distance looks almost vertical. As I reach the base I see several possible ways up and squeeze myself in the crack as it feels more protected than the exposed face. From the notch I can go left across the "catwalk" to Mt. Eolus, or right up the ridge to North Eolus. Since everyone is coming back from Mt. Eolus I choose North Eolus first as I'll be able to hand my camera to someone for a picture. It's a continuous scramble over large grippy rocks to reach the summit.

Shortly after reaching the summit, the dark clouds beyond Mt. Eolus started rumbling and rain started falling. The traverse to Mt. Eolus would have to wait for another day.

"There are two kinds of climbers: those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest."
— Alex Lowe

Pictures

No Section Title