Best Ridge walks in Washington

[RDriscoll]

My friend and I are coming out to Washington this summer to climb Rainier and we should have around 4 days after to try some other peaks.  I wanted to see if anyone had some good 3rd/4th class climbs in the state. In particular are there any good ones with exposed ridges similar to that of Capitol peak in Colorado?

[JasonG]

I don't think there are many (any?) moderately technical ridges like that in WA. 

Here are a few options though: West ridge of North Twin Sister?  Regular route on Tomyhoi?  West Ridge of Columbia?

I'm biased, of course, but I think you should spend most of your extra 4 days climbing Jacob's Ladder on Mt. Prophet.

[rat]

if your starting point is mrnp, you may want to first look into traverses in the olympics. it's probably the shortest drive but if you want to bivy in the park itself it's probably the biggest hassle due to the reservation system. there are some traverses in usfs wilderness outside of the park (e.g. the brothers) that don't require a permit. another nearby option is the goat rocks wilderness (see the jason's tr for curtis gilbert). both areas are mostly crappy rock but it's only class 3/4 so what could possibly go wrong?

if the wx turns to shit, try the east side of the alpine lakes wilderness or the chelan-sawtooth. you may burn a day driving to/from each of these areas but would see a side of the state & could drink innumerable canisters of knowledge as recompense.

[JasonG]

5 hours ago, rat said:

(e.g. the brothers)

Oooooooh, thanks for jogging my memory.  The Brothers traverse is quite good and not really worse than 4th class (although I think we did some running belays).  No permit shenanigans either as @rat points out.

And yes, you could easily spend a few days scrambling peaks in the Goat Rocks- Gilbert, Ives, Old Snowy.

Or you could traverse the Tatoosh peaks in MRNP and admire the mountain you just climbed?

[wdietsch]

As mentioned, the Goat Rocks, like most of the Southern Cascades is a collection of choss piles .. that being said, its one of my local favorites.

The Goat Rocks traverse is actually fairly common and is usually accomplished from the North Folk of the Tieton River which provide easy access to the PCT via Tieton Pass and an eastward looping traverse ending with Bear Creek Mtn.

If interested ... check with the FS on access up  NF-1207 ... I believe there may be some issues due to floods in recent years. 

[gavinj4]

This is very well organized resource that I think could be helpful: https://climberkyle.com/2020/04/23/washington-high-routes-and-traverses/?fbclid=IwAR1LigIaGVwvt3nAm27jGGmMZYV0rMlgPmiXmbsakOSl4xeW5-M32SbFiIE

[Alisse]

This sounded like an amazing way to climb West Mac!