meganerd Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 Hey I've been doing some winter climbing (looking longingly at maps) lately and I'm seeing something interesting. It would appear that you could connect the north end of the Ptarmigan Traverse (at Cascade Pass) with the Eldorado Icecap through Boston Basin. I've never heard of anyone doing it, but it doesn't look too bad from the map or from the summit of Eldorado. Also in the Beckey description of Primus and Tricouni Peaks, he describes the approach up a ridge from Thunder Creek directly to the Borealis Glacier at the north end of the Eldorado Icecap. Most importantly I think he mentions a bridge across Thunder Creek in the vicinity of McAllister Creek. Has anybody ever done a full traverse of the Eldorado area from Cascade Pass to Diablo Lake (via Thunder Creek Trail)? Also on the other end of the Ptarmigan, has anyone ever gone in (or out) via the Suiattle River Trail, Image Lake, Ross Pass, then up and over Dome Peak to get to White Rock Lakes. Beckey says you have to descend into the West Fork Agnes Creek Valley in order to do this, but that doesn't make any sense looking at the map. It appears that you can just traverse the entirety of the Chikamin and Dana Glaciers, then meeting up with the standard Itswoot Ridge approach with the only potential problem spot being a col between Dome and Elephant's Head (I think, I don't have the map handy right now). This should be about an 8 day trip (fairly casual, with peakbagging) plus a few weather days, and would seem to be the ultimate extended Cascades alpine traverse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomcat Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 I have not done the full traverse, but tried. We got up Thunder Ridge and climbed Primus and Tricouni, but I was with some older folks who didn't have enough poop to do it all in the 4 days we allotted. Going up Thunder Ridge is hell on earth. Going down is 10 times worse because you keep on losing the horizon and wind up getting cliffed in. If you stay on the ridge you're good to go, but that's the tough part. The trees there grow fairly close together and you may find you need to remove your backpack to squeeze through some of them. I would go UP Thunder Ridge and out the Eldorado side solely due to the routefinding issues you would surely encounter if you descended Thunder Creek. For a strong party, I'd give yourself 5 days assuming you want to climb Austera, Klawatti, Eldorado, Primus and Tricouni. You may be able to do it in 4, but you'd be missing out on one of the finest areas in the Cascades. Not too many people get up to Primus .. it's pretty remote and simply majestic. Finding the 'climbers path' on the other side of McAllister Creek wasn't too difficult from what I remember. It's an awesome trip that I'm definitely going to go back and do on skis next summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowell_Skoog Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 About 10 years ago Don and Natala Goodman traversed the Cascade crest from the Canadian border (Depot Creek) to the south end of the Ptarmigan Traverse. I don't know if they came out Downey Creek or went all the way to Image Lake. They placed several caches and started the trip in late July. I've done the entire route from the border to Glacier Peak on skis, except the section between Depot basin and Whatcom Pass. That was in several segments, not in one push. Last June, Matt Firth and Bob Nielsen skied from Diablo Lake to Holden in a single one-week outing. Any segment of this high route makes a great trip. A fine trip that may never have been done in one push would be a horseshoe traverse around Thunder and Fisher Creeks, starting and ending at Diablo Lake. This would include Ragged Ridge, the Logan High Route, and the Cascade Pass to Snowfield traverse. I've done the three segments separately and they are all great trips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meganerd Posted March 14, 2003 Author Share Posted March 14, 2003 Dammit, that route from Depot Creek through the Chilliwacks, through the Pickets, across the Skagit, over Snowfield, Backbone Ridge, Eldorado Icecap, then the extended Ptarmigan was like my big dream. I was hoping nobody had ever done it before. Thanks for smashinging my ambitions and life purpose. Humph... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 Tomcat, How was Primus Peak? What route did you guys do? Something that has caught my eye. PM me a TR if you have time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ski_photomatt Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 Tomcat, if you write a TR, post it as I'm sure others would also like to see it. I'm planning to do this exact traverse this summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomcat Posted March 15, 2003 Share Posted March 15, 2003 All those interested in a Primus TR, I posted it in the N. Cascades TR forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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