Eldo West Ridge Access Advice please?

Hello!
I am hoping for information on if the comment on the eldorado canyone/west ridge page is accurate and information on how to access the West ridge now as currently it is obviously not wadeable and not passable (about 50yds down and across stream from the Milton Boulder) when walking on the north side of the river and when you hit the last polished slabby boulder. The water is blocking the last scramble.
We tried going up the most obvious gully but found ourselves cliffed out at after reaching the first level/'top' area. It appeared that people may still be rapping off a tree lying on the ground, but I am not sure how we get back out based on the comment above and if it is still accurate.

Any information is very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I'll show you the way if you meet me there in an hour or so.

Chris - take the Rincon trail and access from up top.

Chris:

It's always worth it to check the water gauge . The water went really high at the beginning of the month, but has been dropping lately:

Water.

FWIW: When the water comes down and I'm done with a few other big projects, the motley crew of Eldo volunteers and I will rebuild some of the access trail there. If South Boulder Creek can just stay below 1000cfs for a while...

I know that's not the dialed-in approach answer you're looking for - just wanted you to know that as soon as it's feasible, the park and our volunteer crews will try to restore some of the West Ridge access from the Streamside trail.

So the easiest way right now other than wading is to head to up the slab/gully to the behind and right of that slippery boulder. Continue up to the top til you can't go anymore; you'll see a large dead tree that is upright that you can rappel a short distance off of or downclimb from there. On the way back, it's really a class 3/4 and super easy to climb in a few moves. Watch out though, we did see a rattlesnake at the bottom of it a few weeks ago

Last summer I recall scrambling up and to the right of the slippery boulder, but we didn't rap off the dead tree. We may have squeezed through a short chimney, downclimbed a bit, and then rapped off of some bolts on a south-ish facing wall and ended up right on the approach trail. Sorry this is so vague; at my age my memory is awful and the partner I was with at the time is probably at 20,000 feet right now. Maybe someone else has done something similar and can fill in the gaps--I'd like to know what I did so I can do it again!

The slippery boulder beta is correct. Get to the "slippery boulder" (northeast of the Milton Boulder) and instead of traversing the treacherous slimy slab, cruise up around the east side of the boulder. This will put you roughly at the base of The Amphitheater. Scramble up a ways (50-100') and then downclimb west to the West Ridge Trail. While your'e at it, take a lap on Kickin' Chicken.

Thanks so much!
Totally spaced accessing from Rincon.
Will Smith = super friendly dude!
This site always rocks to show the real comradarie we all share.
This last weekend I got stymied at the dead tree just not confident (1st time in Eldo for several long years!
I have been out of climbing trad with an injury for several years and west ridge is so perfect to start on 9-10's and then pick off sick out pitches up there on up to whatever grade I desire.

That qualifys as a 'I'm psyched to be back on the site etc.' post / ramble. Hehe.

Thanks again everyone!

Mike McHugh wrote:Chris: It's always worth it to check the water gauge . The water went really high at the beginning of the month, but has been dropping lately: FWIW: When the water comes down and I'm done with a few other big projects, the motley crew of Eldo volunteers and I will rebuild some of the access trail there. If South Boulder Creek can just stay below 1000cfs for a while... I know that's not the dialed-in approach answer you're looking for - just wanted you to know that as soon as it's feasible, the park and our volunteer crews will try to restore some of the West Ridge access from the Streamside trail.

Holy cow, that looks like it has come down extremely fast?