What should I do with my vacation next week?

[pete_a]

Hi all,

So I've got a week vacation next week, and I had planned to do the Ptarmigan Traverse, but my friends and although we are still hoping we can do the traverse,we are now looking at what we should do if the weather craps out on us. One idea is to head south and ski the hotlum-wintun ridge on Shasta, but what I was wondering is...are there any crevasses, icefalls, seracs that form on those nearby glaciers to make for an entertaining day of ice climbing?

Of course, if anyone else has a suggestion for a good multi-day climbing trip contigency plan if I can't do the Ptarmigan, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks.

[ScottP]

Have you considered the Sawtooth range in Idaho? There are some really nice places to go and routes to climb. Elephants Perch and Finger of Fate are worthy objectives.

[forrest_m]

PeteA - We faced exactly the same dilemma last year, planned to ski the Ptarmigan Traverse over Mem. Day weekend, then thought better of it because of the weather. The big problem is navigation - most of the PT is above treeline and skiing in a white out isn't much fun. So we went further east and skied the Douglas Glacier on Mt. Logan. (three days round trip, see trip report http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000006.html) This makes a good backup plan, because you can get right to the start of the PT, then change your mind and just continue east another 30 miles on Hwy. 20.

In addition to slightly better weather, this trip has the advantage that much of the navigation is at or below treeline, so is a lot more tolerable in bad weather, while still giving you the option of attempting some very big (Logan is over 9K) peaks. For a longer tour, you could repeat the first part of this trip, then continue on over Fischer Pass and ski the (south ridge?) of Black Peak, return to Hwy. 20 and hitch a ride back to the Easy Pass trailhead. Very unlikely that you will see another person. Hope you have fun.