Ptarmigan Traverse

Ptarmigan Traverse is an alpine climbing route in the North Cascades of Washington state. The route, from Cascade Pass to Dome Peak, is generally remote, unmarked, and challenging, traversing rugged terrain and several glaciers.

View from Cascade Pass, at the northern end of the traverse. Beyond Cascade Pass the route is a challenging, trail-less mountaineering endeavor.
A portion of the southern Ptarmigan Traverse, looking east: route climbs the LeConte Glacier (left edge of photo), traverses around the west side of Sentinel Peak (dark pyramidal peak, left-center), descends to the South Cascade Glacier (center), ascends to ridge at top of the glacier (right-center), and crosses over to the White Rock Lakes.
Dome Peak at the southern end of the traverse

History

The first traverse took 13 days in July 1938. The group consisted of four members of the Ptarmigan Climbing Club: Bill Cox, Calder Bressler, Ray W. Clough, and Tom Myers. The second traverse was in 1953 and consisted of Dale Cole, Bob Grant, Mike Hane, Erick Karlsson and Tom Miller. Miller took high-quality photos of the peaks, valleys, glaciers, and lakes, which were later published in a book by The Mountaineers. The book, called The North Cascades, was published in 1964 and proved instrumental in the bid to create the North Cascades National Park.

The route is named after an alpine bird, the rock ptarmigan. The "p" is silent and is pronounced "TAR-mig-an".

The third successful traverse of the route was made in 1958 by a party led by photographer Ira Spring, with Coleman Leuthy, Ray and Marge McConnell, Peggy Stark and Russell Bockman. The trip was described in an article published in The Saturday Evening Post that was illustrated with Spring's stunning photos of the trip. Today the route is a common goal of Cascade Range mountaineers.

Route

Place names are listed from north to south:

Cascade Pass area

Middle Cascade area

South Cascade area

Dome area

References

  1. "Buckner Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  2. "Boston Peak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  3. "Sahale Peak, Washington". PeakBagger.com. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  4. "Cascade Pass". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  5. "Mixup Peak, Washington". PeakBagger.com. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  6. "Cache Col". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  7. "Magic Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  8. "Pelton Peak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  9. "Hurry-up Peak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  10. "Middle Cascade Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  11. "Mount Formidable". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  12. "Spider Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  13. "Ptarmigan Traverse, Chelan County, Washington, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika". OpenStreetMap.org. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  14. "LeConte Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  15. "Sentinel Peak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  16. "South Cascade Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  17. "White Rock Lakes". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  18. "Dana Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  19. "Spire Point". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  20. "Dome Peak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
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