Hiking the Ptarmigan Traverse in Washington

The Ptarmigan Traverse is a demanding, off-trail route in the North Cascades of Washington State. Based on your path choice–left of a crevasse or ideal around a rocky moraine–the comprehensive trek is roughly 36 miles, generally on glacier. A lot of have estimated the elevation modify to be 25,000 ft, up and down steep jagged peaks in one of the most fabled ranges in the region.

Final year I returned for a second time, bringing alongside two of my very good friends–Zach and Mitch–to see the route in a new season with a new crew. With favorable weather conditions and pretty number of other hikers, we have been blessed to have the route largely to ourselves for 3 comprehensive times. A accurate sufferfest, most of our times commenced shortly immediately after sunrise and finished just right before darkish, with just sufficient time to prepare dinner and pitch a tent.