timmy_t Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Has anybody been in/around the Ptarmigan Traverse peaks recently? In your professional opinion, does the route appear skiable all the way yet? Like, from Cache Col down to Kool Aid Lake? Red Ledges section? Where does the snow start on the super-fun Bachelor Creek bushwhack area? Etc. Photos? thanks, tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Skiable yet? It's been skiable, the question is how fast the snow is melting with this uber-heat. Your major pains will be access on either end. Add in 4 miles of Cascade river road on the north, and however many of the suiattle river road on the south. I did the p-trav a couple of weeks earlier than this on skis several years ago, and we were on our skis from mp22 on the cRR until the avy-BS in bachelor creek. My *guess* would be the ski/walk ratio is roughly the same right now. We walked the red ledges, but that was all of a few hundred feet. If you want to do the traverse on skis, I'd say go asap and just expect to deal with several "bonus" miles on the road. As much as I remember hating life near the end walking all that trail, tha traverse is still well worth any extra effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmy_t Posted June 30, 2008 Author Share Posted June 30, 2008 I should have said, is the Ptarmigan Traverse still skiable. I didn't mean "skiable yet" as in, is the traverse ready to be skied. I meant, is there enough snow on the sections I mentioned. Obviously it was skiable a long time ago. I did the traverse last year, though a month later than now. We're planning on heading up thursday; just hoping for a little bonus beta...thanks for your thoughts/advice, JoshK. I agree that the traverse is definitely worth any extra effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 OK, that makes more sense. :-) Post some pics if you end up making the traverse, I would be very interested. I am planning on doing the traverse in August on foot, since I want to see it with all the terrain exposed. Also, my last time we had fog for 2 or 3 days straight, and snow/rain at yang yang lakes, so we only got to hit a couple of peaks. :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanstaafl Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 The view from Formidable this weekend was of a lot of very soft snow. We went in via the Middle Fork rather than Cache Col so I can't give you specifics on skiing down to Kool Aid Lake or anything but there is definitely still a load of snow back there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ski_photomatt Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 Snow line was about 4500-5500 depending on aspect, terrain feature, winter avi accumulation, etc. last weekend (June 28-29) on the Forbidden tour (Boston Basin, Moraine Lake, Eldorado approach, etc). How are you planning on getting out? Isn't the Suiattle River road blocked 20+ miles from the Downey Creek exit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmy_t Posted July 1, 2008 Author Share Posted July 1, 2008 How are you planning on getting out? Isn't the Suiattle River road blocked 20+ miles from the Downey Creek exit? Check it: pics 2 and 3 from last year... http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Main/53359/Number/711995#Post711995 Or we might just go as far as White Rock Lakes, climb Dome, and retrace the route. Hopefully that means more skiing, less swearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.