As we crossed back onto the west side of the crest, we reentered the clouds, although we quickly dropped beneath the ceiling. Thanks Mike! Planning a 5-day backpack across the Ptarmigan Traverse mountaineering route in Washington State's North Cascades in September. Yet another magical spot in the North Cascades. Ptarmigan traverse as a day hike. There is a nice trail around the lake and we joked there should be a track race out here. Featured However, we later found an alternative steep snow route around the bergschrund on skier’s right. Ptarmigan Traverse is an alpine climbing route in the North Cascades of Washington State. There is something so magical about standing high above an impenetrable valley lacking a trail. We followed the Miner’s Ridge Trail, which had one more glorious climb to the ridge top before diving towards the Suiattle River. The Alpine Lakes Crest Traverse traveled through miles of terrain without a trace of a human, while the Ptarmigan has a trail that is better than most trails in the Cascades! Looking up, there must have been 20 waterfalls of substantial size, all suspended high in this steep cirque. So far, it was looking like the weather might actually cooperate! Park at Cas­cade Pass and start hik­ing toward Cas­cade Pass. Grade I: Nor­mal­ly requires sev­er­al hours; can be of any difficulty, Grade II: Requires half a day; any tech­ni­cal difficulty, Grade III: Requires a day to do the tech­ni­cal por­tion; any tech­ni­cal difficulty, Grade IV: Requires a full day for the tech­ni­cal por­tion; the hard­est pitch is usu­al­ly no less than 5.7 (in the YDS rating), Grade V: Requires a day and a half; the hard­est pitch is usu­al­ly 5.8 or harder, Grade VI: A mul­ti-day excur­sion with dif­fi­cult free climb­ing and/​or aid climbing. Guides & Gear. Nearby Hiking Trails. We found a lovely tarn, flat campsites, and beautiful meadows abound. The Ptarmigan Traverse is unrelenting: 35 off-trail miles with 25,000 feet of elevation change along a series of jagged peaks in Washington state’s … This is the first time in 4 leaking sleeping pads that I have ever been able to fix one in the field! We gazed down at Le Conte Lake, a turquoise blue lake with lush green vegetation all around. Two lightweight to mediumweight, pull-over is best, This is what you will be wearing while hiking at higher altitudes or while kicking around camps at lower altitude. But on every other guide I looked at for the hike, including from our former Summit Daily hiking columnist — the late Kim Fenske, it said Ptarmigan’s summit was closer to 12,500 feet. We arrived back at the car around 7 pm, tired, wet, and ready for real food! Drones are illegal in wilderness areas! The Ptarmigan Traverse is perhaps the most famous mountaineering traverse in the lower 48. Crit­i­cal ben­e­fits of Rip­cord Res­cue Trav­el Insur­ance include: For sched­uled cours­es and climbs, you should fly into Seat­tle-Taco­ma Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (SeaT­ac). The cloud ceiling was around 8000 ft, but hopefully it would be at least 1000 ft higher the next day when we tried to go up over Dome. But the good news is we didn't see or cross any sketchy snow bridges. Nothing turns hours into days better than suffering. At the col, we met another party who had been attempting one of the peaks in the area but gave up in the clouds. For climbers this trip offers numer­ous sum­mit oppor­tu­ni­ties, all in an incred­i­ble wilder­ness set­ting. Sign-up now for Level 1 Avalanche Courses, Featured The beau­ty of this area – espe­cial­ly the cen­tral por­tion and the White Rock Lakes area – is beyond words. Just one week before, Logan and I made the first recorded summer crossing of the Alpine Lakes Crest Traverse, a comparable high route from Snoqualmie Pass to Mt. Sometimes you just have to keep opening the bag more and more and overstuffing it. When sleeping on snow make sure to purchase pad rated to do so, Must have adjustable leg loops and fit over all clothing, Black Diamond Couloir, Petzl Altitude, Petzl Hirundos, Two large, pear-shaped carabiners are best, Black Diamond Rock Lock, Petzl William, Petzl Attache, 2 non-locking carabiners.