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The Ptarmigan Traverse - Then and Now


Lowell_Skoog

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Over Labor Day weekend, Phil Fortier, Brian Miller, Matt Peters and I walked the Ptarmigan Traverse, retracing the route followed by Tom Miller and his friends in 1953. We wanted to duplicate some of the pictures in Miller's book "The North Cascades" to see how the country had changed in fifty years. I've posted photos and a story about the trip on alpenglow.org:

 

http://alpenglow.org/themes/ptarmigan-1953

 

The story compares our experiences in 2003 with those of the 1953 party. It also discusses the impact of Tom Miller's book, which is unknown by many climbers today. I write:

 

The book was a success. Not only did it help establish the National Park in 1968, it inspired a generation of Northwest climbers. It was the first picture book to showcase the peaks and glaciers of the North Cascades from a climber's perspective. While the Ptarmigans in 1938 made their traverse a campfire legend, the 1953 party and "The North Cascades" made it a classic.

 

Here's a photo from the story. More pictures can be found on alpenglow.org. Thanks go to Tom Miller for permission to reproduce photos from his wonderful book.

 

83sentinel-pan-2003-med.jpg

 

 

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