Your favorite non-or-semi-technical long linkups?

[Codyhill91]

Hey everyone.

New to Washington, coming from Colorado and I am incredibly excited to get out and explore the Cascades. I have just about every guidebook, but I wanted to reach out on here for some specific suggestions.

There are a few Colorado projects that I've been obsessing over/have enjoyed (like Nolan's 14 and parts of the LA Freeway route) and I'm looking for similar things in the Cascades. Mostly I'm looking for long endurance days that can be done solo (I am comfortable on class 3 and snow travel, but not on glaciers or anything requiring extra pro or above class 3). I'm mostly interested in fastpacking, multi day, multi summit, mostly off trail adventures. Really, I'm training for a full traverse of Colorado's Sangre de Cristo range (77 peaks over ~103 miles with 53,000 ft of elevation gain and up to class 4 climbing) and was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their favorite sufferfest/fastpacking routes or long endurance projects. Bonus for amazing scenery, double bonus if you want to join! Thanks for being willing to share.

Cody

[mneagle]

Go to the trip report section and search for TR’s from “off_the_hook” (I think his real name is Leor). He did some phenomenal link-ups in superhuman short amounts of time. Most anything he did is likely worth repeating but it might take you 4 days rather than 22 hours. 

[JayB]

The Ptarmigan Traverse seems like a good candidate for you.

https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/routes-places/ptarmigan-traverse

[kinkilla12]

Look into the ultrapedestrian wilderness challenge routes. The most that they will have is some snow traversing and maybe some scrambling but they're plenty of fun and should be doable solo or with a friend. The website is http://ultrapedestrianwildernesschallenge.com/ and the route descriptions are in the ultrasignup pages for each route.

[mtangeman]

The Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness is probably up your alley. You can follow the crest for a long ways, nothing technical, but perfect airy scrambling/ridge running. Cheops, Martin, Switchback, Bigelow, Star, etc. all WA top 100 peaks along that crest. Theoretically could run the ridge all the way from Angels Staircase to War Creek Pass and then some. Dry air and lots of talus so you should feel right at home!

You'd be held back without glacier skills in most of the core of the North Cascades.

[seano-]

In addition to Leor's long days, you might be interested in some of Luke's, which tend toward more suffering and less technical terrain: http://seekingultra.blogspot.com/ .  If you want to avoid glaciers, there are plenty of things in the Pasayten that are remote, glacier-free, and non-technical, e.g. Lago, Carru, and Osceola.

Coming from Colorado, you'll find that many individual North Cascades peaks are ordeals compared to anything in CO outside the Weminuche.  And don't fear the glaciers too much -- the small ones are pretty tame, especially later in the season when the crevasses are all open and trivial to spot.

[DPS]

Regarding seano's remark regarding glaciers, he and I have very different opinions on glaciers here.  I have an enormous amount of respect of glaciers, and have experienced myself or partners experience crevasse falls on seemingly innocuous pocket glaciers.  I have 30 years experience on Cascade glaciers, and there are few 'glaciers' that I would solo. 

That said, I think parts of the Stuart Range could be up your alley - Stuart, Sherpa, Colchuck, Dragontail, and Little Annapurna all have class 3 scrambles and with some imagination you could link them up.

[Codyhill91]

Wow thank you so much for the responses everyone, lots to look into, all of your suggestions seem exactly what I was looking for.

I am actually glad to hear you say that most of the peaks are an ordeal compared to most of Colorado. That's part of why I'm leaving. I love the Weminuche, and I love the whole state, but the ease of access and lack of deep, demanding wilderness treks is what has led me to look elsewhere for more endurance challenges. Love me a sufferfest.

As for glaciers, once I get back on my feet financially after the move, its a priority to take some courses and find some partners. I wont be messing around on them by myself, the last thing I want to do is underestimate any danger, especially while I'm getting used to new terrain challenges. For now I'll check out those links, and soend my first summer playing on the (apparently ample) glacierless areas. Thank you all for your input.