The Ptarmigan Traverse is a famous alpine

Alpine climate

Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....

 hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

 route

Trail

A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...

 in Washington State's North Cascades

North Cascades

The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in Canada as the Cascade Mountains...

. The route, from Cascade Pass

Cascade Pass

Cascade Pass is a mountain pass over the northern Cascade Range, east of Marblemount, Washington, U.S....

 to Dome Peak

Dome Peak

Dome Peak is a high, massive, glaciated mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of Washington's North Cascades. The remote location of Dome Peak, combined with its height, make it a less common destination for Cascade Range mountaineers. Dome Peak is at the southern end of the Ptarmigan Traverse...

, is generally remote, unmarked, and challenging.

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

Ray W. Clough

Ray William Clough, , was Byron L. and Elvira E. Nishkian Professor of Structural Engineering in the department of Civil Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and one the founders of the Finite Element Method . His article in 1956 was one of the first applications of this...

, 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 Mountaineers (Pacific NW)

The Mountaineers is an outdoor recreation, education, and conservation group based in Seattle, Washington and is the third largest group of its kind in the country. Its central Program Center located in Seattle's Magnuson Park is complete with education facilities for all aspects of the alpine...

. The book, called The North Cascades, was published in 1964 and proved instrumental in the bid to create the North Cascades National Park

North Cascades National Park

North Cascades National Park is a U.S. National Park located in the state of Washington. The park is the largest of the three National Park Service units that comprise the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Several national wilderness areas and British Columbia parkland adjoin the...

.

The route is named after the alpine bird of the same name. The "p" is silent and is pronounced "TAR-mig-an".

Coleman Leuthy and others made the third successful traverse of the route in the late 1950s. Today the route is a common goal of Cascade Range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

 mountaineer

Mountaineer

-Sports:*Mountaineering, the sport, hobby or profession of walking, hiking, trekking and climbing up mountains, also known as alpinism-University athletic teams and mascots:*Appalachian State Mountaineers, the athletic teams of Appalachian State University...

s.

Cascade Pass area

• Cascade Pass
  Cascade Pass
  Cascade Pass is a mountain pass over the northern Cascade Range, east of Marblemount, Washington, U.S....
  
   - last improved trail
• Mixup Peak
• Cache Col - boundary between North Cascades National Park
  North Cascades National Park
  North Cascades National Park is a U.S. National Park located in the state of Washington. The park is the largest of the three National Park Service units that comprise the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Several national wilderness areas and British Columbia parkland adjoin the...
  
   and Glacier Peak Wilderness
  Glacier Peak Wilderness
  The Glacier Peak Wilderness, created by the US Forest Service in 1960 by efforts of the , four years before the 1964 wilderness legislation of the Congress, is located within portions of Chelan County, Snohomish County, and Skagit Counties in the North Cascades of Washington...
  
  
• Magic Mountain

Middle Cascade area

• Hurry-up Peak
• Middle Cascade Glacier
• Mount Formidable
• Spider Mountain

South Cascade area

• LeConte Mountain
• LeConte Glacier
• Sentinel Peak
• South Cascade Glacier
  South Cascade Glacier
  South Cascade Glacier is a large alpine glacier in the North Cascades of Washington, USA. It is bordered on the east by 8,261-foot Sentinel Peak, and is about 17 miles north of Glacier Peak in the Glacier Peak Wilderness...
  
   - largest glacier on route after Chickamin Glacier on Dome Peak
  Dome Peak
  Dome Peak is a high, massive, glaciated mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of Washington's North Cascades. The remote location of Dome Peak, combined with its height, make it a less common destination for Cascade Range mountaineers. Dome Peak is at the southern end of the Ptarmigan Traverse...
  
  
• White Rock Lakes