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| Hiking | 5.60 Miles |
3,044 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.60 Miles | 4 Hrs 32 Mns | | 1.72 mph |
| 3,044 ft AEG | 1 Hour 17 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | We were gonna do a day hike from Chicago Basin. I knew of Sunlight, Windom, and Eolus but had done zero research on them. 
We woke to rain, hail, and thunder, so didn't get out of the tents until a few hours later. Started uphill around 11 with the intention of at least getting to Twin Lakes and deciding the next plan from there based on weather, etc.
We split up along the way and I ended up on my own. I saw a few groups of people heading toward Eolus and decided that I would enjoy the comfort of other people around and decided to push for the extra 1,500 feet to the summit. The wind was fierce and I took a 10 minute break in the shelter of some of the large boulders I was ascending, wondering if I wanted to fight what would surely be worse the higher up I climbed. Others were visible above me so I decided to continue.
I saw a group making the final push to Eolus and I gotta say I was a little bit intimidated. 
At the top of the boulder scree, the route steeply traverses a rock slope and I stopped to talk to a girl on her way down. She told me of some of the route-finding issues she had, mentioned some catwalk thing that sounded sketchy in the wind, and then pointed out North Eolus to me. I decided to hit North first and reassess from there. The push to the "saddle" between Eolus and North Eolus was a bit messy with numerous routes and cairns on all of them. Didn't really matter as they all ended up in the same place. It just required a little extra attention to get from one little level to the other.
The final 200 feet of gain to the summit of North Eolus is an easy class 3 scramble, though one person I saw was basically crawling and ultimately stopped short of the summit. Other more confident climbers managed it on two feet with just an occasional hand for balance.
There were three people on the peak when I arrived and we chatted for a bit and I took the time to take photos. Somehow the peak was wind free. I still don't understand that one. But it was a pleasant surprise! Two of the guys on the peak were discussing heading over to Eolus, and we watched as a few people made their way across the catwalk and up the puzzle to the peak.
Nothing there looked out of my comfort level, but I figured it would take me at least an hour to get there and back, and with uncertainty as to the rest of my day and the possibility of packing up camp and hiking 3-4 miles once I returned, I decided I should begin the trip back down.
I probably should have just done it while I was so close!  Nonetheless, North Eolus is an awesome peak with fantastic views. As a "child" with only 179 feet of prominence over "parent" Eolus, North Eolus apparently isn't on the list of fourteeners. Because that's important to me. It was over 5900 feet from where I started hiking, so I feel like I got my money's worth!  |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
