Leave the Trail Behind // The Ptarmigan Traverse
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- čas přidán 26. 07. 2024
- Leave the trail behind and enter the wilderness. The Ptarmigan Traverse is a world class mountaineering route through the heart of Washington’s North Cascades. It’s a high route, meaning it consists of mainly off-trail cross-country travel, staying as high as possible along the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range. The route takes mountaineers across a series of active glaciers, lush meadows, granite boulder fields, and pristine alpine lakes as it wraps around each cirque, repeatedly crossing the divide between the cloudy rainforest on the west side of the crest typical of the Pacific North West, and the drier rain shadow region east of the crest.
Feel free to message me with any questions or comments below!
IG: @RadishUprooted
LighterPack: lighterpack.com/r/6y9nou
Completed + Filmed on August 4th - 9th 2023
CHAPTERS
0:00 Day 1📍Cascade Pass to Kool Aid Lake
4:59 Day 2📍Kool Aid Lake to Yang Yang Lakes
11:34 Day 3📍Yang Yang Lakes to South Cascade Glacier
15:20 Day 4📍South Cascade Glacier to White Rock Lakes
18:19 Day 5📍White Rock Lakes to Itswoot Ridge
22:33 Day 6📍Itswoot Ridge to Suiattle River
Thank you so much for your video! I'm doing trip planning to the Ptarmigan Traverse this coming summer (2024). So, your on-the-ground footage and commentary is super helpful to ensure we are adequately prepared. I've done the Bailey Traverse in the Olympics, but this is another level of "spicy." Lol! Getting stuck in a thunder storm on a glacier is terrifying. Glad ya'll kept your cool and rode out the storm.
Heck yeah, glad you found it helpful! Good luck with the planning and feel free to reach out if you have any questions on it. It’s an absolutely stellar route!
Five friends and I did the Ptarmigan in mid July of 2005. It was a private trip, but three of us were Mountaineers climb leaders. We were rained on up and over the Magic/Mixup col, and spent a wet night at Koolaid Lake. From then on the weather was absolutely phenomenal. We scrambled up to the top of Art's Knoll, leaving the packs on the trail. Red Ledges were snow free, and we swam in Yang Yang Lakes. The route finding was not a problem, there is a social trail that is easy to follow except for the glacier travel. Mountaineering boots and crampons were a must, but there was enough snow on the glaciers to make travel on them pretty easy. I put up a fixed line on the summit of Dome. The next day was a long one, lots of talus descending to Cub Lake. The worst part of the entire trip was negotiating a massive avalanche blowdown above Bachelor Meadows. Once in the meadows we were pleasantly surprised to find that it had been brushed out recently, and we hauled ass down Downey Creek to the car. This was one of the high points of my life, perhaps the most beautiful trip that I've ever done. My favorite spot? White Rock Lakes.
Fantastic! It’s an incredibly special place.
Thanks for the memories -- what a great way to relive my greatest adventure that occurred in early August 1988! What was striking is how much the ice has changed in the last 36 years - unreal!! We too had a storm coming in while ascending the LeConte Glacier and we barely beat the clouds to the col. Coming down the west side toward the South Cascade Glacier we got hammered, and finally found a spot for our three tents probably not far from where you stopped. The storm raged the following day, and finally the second morning was clear with clouds below. Then after spending a night at White Rock Lakes, another storm came in for our fog-blinded Dana Glacier climb over Spire Col, and it finally stopped precipitating when we got under the clouds on Itswoot Ridge so we could see Cub Lake. I've climbed Dome Peak twice, in '75 while the boulder was still on the summit, and in '86 after it disappeared. But your video showed that a big chunk of rock under that summit has disappeared since '86, making me wonder how much longer that summit will remain. Thanks again!
Wow thanks so much for sharing your experience! It seems like the route has changed so much due to the glaciers receding and probably will continue to change even faster in the future.
Thanks for sharing another adventure. I appreciate your storytelling through fine content, shooting, and editing!
Hey thanks for the kind words🤠
Awww!! You caught that baby playing & cavorting around! Had to “save” the vid for later. Cheers!
Thanks for the kind words as always🤠
Amazing. And scary!!
I love this type of backpacking. My kit for years included ice axe crampons and a helmet. I’m getting too old to do that anymore. Another great video. Keep making these. They are fun to watch.
Hey thanks, hope you’re still able to have your own adventures even if they may look a bit different now! There’s more in the pipeline.
Excellent work you guys! Wonderful videography, I loved the music and I also really enjoyed Justin sharing. Really enjoy your channel. There’s so much click bait hiking stuff on CZcams. I can really tell you put a lot of heart and passion into this work. Thank you!!
Thanks so much! The flood of outdoor recreation clickbait drives me a lil insane too. I try to make my content as authentic to watch as it felt to experience. Thanks for sticking around🤠
Great video! Video quality is top notch, would love to see you upgrade the voice over mic :) It would add a whole nether level of professionalism to your videos.
I’m right there with ya! After producing this video, I went out and bought a mic setup. It was finally time. I’ll start using it in my videos going forward.
Looks like you were able to find herd tracks through the meadows and lichen and cairns here and there.
Yep, there were some game tracks through sensitive habitat here and there! I don’t remember seeing many cairns but there’s so many alternate routes, I’m sure it varies.
@@RadishUprooted Have a look at 15:35, 16:12, 16:31, 18:52 (by the trekking pole in the right hand) and maybe at 20:24 on the right skyline marking the top of the col.
Awesome trip. Do you have a gear list? I’m transitioning into more glacier travel and would love to see what you’re using. Cheers
Yes! My LighterPack list should be in the video description, and it has a section with my glacier kit. Let me know if you have trouble accessing it!