Description

The Pickets Traverse is a trip of a lifetime that’s mixes both your wildest dreams with your biggest nightmares.

This area is one of if not the most rugged and isolated areas within North Cascade National Park and has built a reputation of brutal approaches no matter which way you decided to get in.

Once within the Pickets the trip doesn’t get much easier with big descents on complex terrain with some nasty river crossings just to spice it up a bit more.

If planning this trip it is important that you have done a few other ski traverses as this is one of the more challenging ones in the Cascades.

Because of the remoteness you must be self sufficient, okay with exposure and have a stable avalanche forecast.

If you tick all these boxes and the weather window finally comes then consider doing the Pickets Traverse.

We were fortunate to pull this trip off the first week of July but this is the latest to consider this ski traverse. Leaving from the Sourdough Trailhead just outside of the town of Diablo it is time to start climbing immediately.

With the valley being at an elevation of almost 900 feet make your way up the trail until arriving on the Southern Ridge around 5,000 feet.

Being a group of snowboarders we decided to head north along the high ridge with numerous ups and downs before descending the Northern most point down its western side arriving at the small col between the Sourdough Range and the Pickets. Leaving from the low col make your way Southwest through the steep trees where you need to be cautious of cliff bands but with a little bit of skill and luck you will enter mellower slopes wrapping around to the Southeast ridge of Elephant Butte at 6,200 feet.

Now it is time to do a long traverse to the west trying to lose as little altitude as possible.

Remember that you are in avalanche terrain of both open bowls and gullies so space out and keep moving fast.

This section is sketchy but relatively simple with a small ridge you need to wrap over before the final traverse over to a col just above Azure Lake.

It is time to either commit or turn back as once you are in the McMillan Cirque a semi simple exit is not an option. Riding into the McMillan Cirque is both exhilarating and terrifying as the terrain rolls away with the valley almost 4,000 feet below you.

Dropping in make your way under the rock bands of McMillan Spire and do a hard traverse to the skiers left.

This is quite long and not a place to make turns as you need to stay high and keep your speed, also yes you are above massive cliffs the entire time.

Once in the obvious glacially eroded basin you can finally make your way down into the valley.

Once in the McMillan Valley make your way East through a bushwhacking nightmare where we had to walk from log to log before wrapping north into the main Southeast drainage of Mount Fury. Heading north up the creek basin starts off relatively simple and once at the head of the valley make your way southwest spotting an obvious but steep little chute that allows access to the higher terrain.

Standing below what can be considered one of the cruxes of the trip this chute was doable but not enjoyable in any way.

Once on the upper bench now it is time to traverse around the Southeast side of Mount Fury heading to the southern ridge just west of Luna Peak.

Since we had extra time we dropped our gear off in the upper basin and made our way up the Southwest basin of Mount Fury onto the ridge then summited before riding back down to our gear and continuing the trip. After camping on the Southern ridge drop east into the bowl loosing minimal elevation before putting on the crampons and climbing up to the Western Ridge of Luna Peak.

From here take in the view of the next section of the route on the Challenger Glacier before descending down to Luna Lake then make your way into the valley doing a skiers left traverse to keep as much elevation as possible. Once in the Luna Creek valley take into account what seems like the easiest way to get up onto the Challenger Glacier as it changes from year to year.

On our trip we were able to climb the moraine before wrapping just north of a small rockbound which gave us access to the upper slope and did a consistent and fast traverse on the Glacier until wrapping around to the ridge just East of Mount Challenger setting up camp once again for the night. Waking up we snowboarded the Northeast summit section before doing a hard traverse to the skiers left riding down the western lobe of the glacier over to a low col which arrives at Perfect Pass.

From here you need to descend so head south a few hundred feet where you can get into the bowl below.

Heading around the Southwest ridge of Whatcom Peak there is a sketchy but doable crossing at 5,000 feet, being a steep creek walking on smooth granite be cautious with your steps.

After that it is a mellow climb up to Easy Ridge where you can follow the ridgeline and find numerous great camping spots. Following Easy Ridge make your way up and over Easy Peak to where the ridge separates to the north and west, from here descend into the Northwest basin of Easy Creek.

We made the mistake of bing on the skiers left side which meant we had to cross it lower which was sketchy so stay on the right hand side getting into the valley.

Keep on descending through the valley and if lucky you will spot an old climbing trail which will take you all the way to the river, if you don’t find it enjoy thrashing through the forest until at the Chilliwack River. Once standing on the shores of the Chilliwack this spot has a strong current so take your time looking for an easy way to cross.

We were fortunate that there was a fallen tree that made for a perfect bridge to cross and get onto the Chilliwack River Trail.

By then all the cruxes were over and just a long slog following the trail back over Hannegan Pass was all that was left.

Throwing the gear on the packs head up and over the pass before heading down to the Hannegan Pass trail head and like that the Pickets Traverse is over with.

Sounds simple?….well it’s not To see my trip in the area and more photos check out this link https://www.whereiskylemiller.com/highway-20/picket-range-ski-traverse/