Ptarmigan Pterminus

[marylou]

In the absence of the Downey Ck trail due to massive flood damage last fall, if you were going to do the Ptarmigan this fall, where would you end the traverse?

[slothrop]

A friend of mine exited via Downey Creek last week. In his TR, he said, "most of the trail here is in fine shape, but the riparian zones are overgrown."

[marylou]

Thanks. The FS say you can't get out that way b/c of the flooding. More info please.

 

FYI I have no idea why I put this RFI in the wrong section. If a mod could move it to North Cascades, I'd be happy.

[slothrop]

Well, you can listen to the FS or you can listen to a guy who's been there. Full TR here.

[estivate]

Nothing wrong with the Downey Creek trail. The FS just says it's inaccessible because the road bridge across Dwoney ck at the trailhead is out. But you can 1) get onto the bridge span with a ladder that someone placed there, or 2) ford downey creek.

 

Remember, FS's opinion of what is dangerous or impossible is not to be taken seriously. It's not calibrated for the capable.

[marylou]

Thanks. The info slothrop sent me to tells me it's already doable, and with the water levels being lower in the fall, it will be no problem.

 

We had planned to go into Luna Cirque this year, but after reading Josh's excellent TR, it seems prudent to leave that for the big kids for now.

[Rastus]

Don't ya think the PT is more technically difficult than Luna Cirque though?

[marylou]

NO!

 

Do you? I mean the numbers alone are way worse for Luna....and the suffering factor is known to be very high in the Picketts.

 

Anyone care to comment on this? The PT looks much easier and a better match for our party's fitness and experience level.

[JoshK]

I would rate them nearly the same. The ptarmigan traverse is pretty straightforward if you have very basic glacier travel skills and route finding skills. Getting into Luna cirque is more difficult in my opinion, but it would be easier to get out of if the weather turned to total shit.

 

Marylou, I know you were concerned with getting across imperfect impass. If you simply want to get into the pickets, have you considered approaching via big beaver and access creek and climbing luna? access creek is a schwak, but if you can put up with that and a river crossing, the rest is straight-forward but strenuous.

[marylou]

We met tonight and have opted for the PT. Maybe do some variation on the Luna next year if all goes well.

 

The big diff is PT=14K w/o peaks, and Luna is closer to 18, plus the mileages for the PT are less.

 

Sure, Josh, I agree with you that they are both committing, but one guy in our party has done both and we all sort of agree the PT looks to be more within striking distance for the team we've got.