Best Alpine Traverses in the Lower 48...

Josh Janes wrote: We're talking ridges that connect high points; preferably scrambles and easy solos. It's OK if they have a couple sections of harder climbing or snow/ice, but mainly easy rock or scrambling preferred. Solo mountain fitness type stuff.

Donini has just been raving about the possibilities for this sort of thing in the San Juans; supertopo.com/tr/Linking-an… .

Sawtooth Ridge Traverse in the High Sierra gets my vote. As well as the Minerette's, and North Peak to the North Ridge of Mt. Conness.

fossana wrote:I finally got on the Cirque of the Towers traverse yesterday. I only did 8 of 11 peaks C2C before I ran out of light and bailed. The technical part (peaks 1-5) is one of the best traverses I've done in terms of stellar rock quality and heady exposure. The E Ridge of Wolf's Head alone is worth doing. Here are a few pics:

Way to go!

Did you go alone and if with a partner, how much of the traverse did you rope up?

Also, I am curious on how you fuel during the climb?

fossana, rad! More pics please!

KevinCO wrote: Way to go! Did you go alone and if with a partner, how much of the traverse did you rope up? Also, I am curious on how you fuel during the climb?

thanks, Kevin! I went by myself and brought a 60m, 6mm aramid (Kevlar) tag line for the raps. You definitely need a full 60 for some of the raps.

Keeping fueled has been a frustrating experience for me. In general I tend to have very low appetite at altitude, so I basically bring whatever I think I can eat (whether or not it's healthy food) and try and eat a bunch in the days leading up to bigger climbs. I find that if I put flavored electrolytes in my water I tend to drink more and can get some extra calories without thinking about it too much. I haven't yet experimented with adding protein to my drinks in the alpine environment, but I used to do that when I ran ultras. If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.

fossana wrote: thanks, Kevin! I went by myself and brought a 60m, 6mm aramid (Kevlar) tag line for the raps. You definitely need a full 60 for some of the raps. Keeping fueled has been a frustrating experience for me. In general I tend to have very low appetite at altitude, so I basically bring whatever I think I can eat (whether or not it's healthy food) and try and eat a bunch in the days leading up to bigger climbs. I find that if I put flavored electrolytes in my water I tend to drink more and can get some extra calories without thinking about it too much. I haven't yet experimented with adding protein to my drinks in the alpine environment, but I used to do that when I ran ultras. If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.

Fosana, what was the climbing rated? Did you use any kind of solo pro system on the harder sections?

Here are some possibilities for climbing food:

Whatever you decide to eat, eat a small amount (2-4 tablespoons) of Organic Chia Seeds along with it(Soak dry seeds and stir every 15 minutes for an hour, then keep in the fridge until ready to use. Use enough water.) What the Chia Seeds will do is slow the absorption of whatever you eat with them and keep your blood sugar levels from spiking and falling.

Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is an awesome energy food. You can make energy bars with it:
Grind in the blender to a meal by pushing it down with a wooden chopstick-1/3 lb Organic Raw Sunflower Seeds; 1 lb Organic Raw Pumpkin Seeds; 1/2 lb Natural Raw Almonds. Do 3-4 batches so the blender doesn't bog down. Put in a large glass pan. Add 10 tablespoons Coconut Oil (you can add a lot more if you want) and put in the oven at the very lowest heat until the oil melts. Then add 1 tablespoons of Ceylon Cinnamon, 2/3 teaspoon of sea salt, and 1/4 to 1/3 cup raw honey. Mix well and refrigerate.

Experiment...the bars are also slow to absorb, maybe it won't work for you if you need something fast. But if you look at as a slow, even fuel starting a couple of hours after you eat it, maybe it will work.

These bars melt, so freeze before traveling and put in a container that won't leak. You might have to eat it with a spoon. Modifications: >Sprout the seeds and dry in a food dehydrator before using. >Replace some of the honey with bee pollen. >Add Organic Cocoa Powder. The Cocoa Powder might make the bars travel better. >Use more or less honey to taste. >If you use Cassia Cinnamon, only use 1 teaspoon or less. It is a lot stronger and damages the liver if you eat too much. All of the cinnamon on the shelf is Cassia. You have to order Ceylon Cinnamon (Frontier Herbs).

If you have time, give us a trip report!

@Sirius, here you go:

part 1 of the traverse annotated (minus Pingora, the start)

part 2 of the Cirque traverse annotated

looking down the S Buttress on Pingora

heading toward Overhanging Tower from Wolf's Head

looking back toward Pingora from ~Shark's Nose

Watchtower

@Kevin
Thanks for the food suggestions. I didn't use any pro, but I'm generally ok onsiting up to 5.8 alpine routes depending on the nature of the climbing.

There appears to be some debate as to the traverse rating in relation to Shark's Nose, which has 2 summits, with the higher summit being the north (5.6) and the lower being the south (5.8). Bechtel (Cirque of the Towers guidebook author) claims you have to tag the south summit, although others disagree, including some of the former speed record holders.

I skipped the south summit given that it was burly, slightly overhung, super exposed 5.8. I had sort of a rough July and early Aug in terms of inner ear/nausea/vertigo issues (BPPV) and I wasn't up to it. After doing some research on it today, I don't agree with Bechtel.

Long winded way of saying I'd call it 5.6 by the usual alpine traverse criteria of tagging all of the named summits without major deviation from the ridgeline.

Awesome, fossana! How does it compare to sill/ tbolt with respect to route finding? If the weather is nice, we're headed that way soon.

Ryan Marsters wrote:Awesome, fossana! How does it compare to sill/ tbolt with respect to route finding? If the weather is nice, we're headed that way soon.

It's much more straightforward than Sill to Tbolt. Here's to good weather next week, hoping to give it another go. PM me if you want my beta sheet.

Love it, fossana, thanks very much for sharing those pics.

Food @ altitude is also tough for me and IME can make or break an objective, or having fun while chasing down that objective. Hard enough to choke anything down, then you also have to do it at odd hours that aren't made for eating (before sunup, constantly throughout the day, blech). Some great tips from KevCO, thank you.

Long ridge traverses epitomize so much of what I love about climbing and mountains. They are most elegant and fluid if you're going without pro and pitching, no doubt. But even for us who can't afford the risk of soloing, they are bliss and perfection when things come together.

Great Traverses

Sirius wrote:Long ridge traverses epitomize so much of what I love about climbing and mountains. They are most elegant and fluid if you're going without pro and pitching, no doubt. But even for us who can't afford the risk of soloing, they are bliss and perfection when things come together.

You summed it up well, Sirius. You're welcome on the photos.

wayne wallace wrote: Great Traverses

Nice ticklist, Wayne, 2 FAs in the Pickets. Congrats! Btw, the link is broken for the N Pickets write-up.

I've had a chance to check out a few more of the routes recommended here. General thoughts, hoping I don't offend the capitalization gods typing on a tiny screen:

-Matthes Crest: nothing I know of in CO comes remotely close. The rock, exposure, and climbing is fantastic for the grade. I initially thought the recommendations for the northern half were simple hipster braggado, but it really is better than the crowded southern half - the knife edge and wave were cool. The 5.8 downclimbing rating is intimidating. We found it closer to 5.easy with a cool stem move. The Tenaya Matthes Cathedral linkup would be a blast.

-n ridge north and n ridge Conness: north had a couple thoughtful and fun spots early on, but I was surprised about the talus slog second half. I don't mind talus, but I wouldn't say it's classic enough to include for out of towners. Conness N ridge was fun however. The downclimbing and routefinding at the notches going n>s was engaging. Due to wind and time, we weren't able to tack on the west ridge. I would like to go up the w and down the n.

-Finnegan to gold dust (CO): we made it a point to tag the towers along this one. The first ten were fun, the next ten were okay, and then the last ten got old. Unfortunately, the big one comes last, and then the plane wreckage debris scramble up gold dust. Still, staying high is fairly solid with exposed, interesting route finding. Probably top ten in CO, but it'll likely remain obscure. Similar to LB Blanca minus some of the exposure and breezy route finding.

-The Zodiac Traverse, Gore Range (CO). I think I'd put this one in the top five CO best for light-moderate technical. Tagging the zodiac spires is quite fun, but the slog on Red, Silverthorne, and Zodiac View (logical end) was meh. A few big rappels with one mostly free hang 90 ft rap. A bit rare in the 12k ft elevation range here. N to S without major bypassing would be impressive. I'd like to start it with the Red Diamond, which is apparently also high quality (5.4).

I think I'm now convinced Megamidal belongs in the top category, mostly for the aesthetics and unique factor.

Try west granite to granite ridge traverse via the huckleberry route. You get the first and second highpoints of Montana.

For the East Coast, I'm amazed no one has mentioned the granddaddy of them all:

The Knife Edge on Mt Katahdin, Maine.

For the ultimate climb/traverse, do the Wind in the Willows variation up the Armadillo (5.9) then traverse the Knife Edge and down Helon Taylor or Dudley trail.

This is the equal of anything I've done in the Rockies or Washington or even the Bugaboos.

Ryan Marsters wrote:Matthes Crest: nothing I know of in CO comes remotely close.

Very useful to have inter-regional comparisons between California + Colorado: Thanks.

Ryan Marsters wrote:Matthes Crest ... northern half ... The 5.8 downclimbing rating is intimidating. We found it closer to 5.easy with a cool stem move.

Maybe you found an easier variation? Or you were in mental "high tune" after the south ridge?
I've heard people say the N ridge of Matthes was only 5.7. And I guess 5.6 was the "old time" sandbag rating. But I hadn't heard anybody call it "5.easy".

So far, my explorations agree with Chris McNamara's guidebook: that there's a steep-ish move depending on a wide hand crack in the lower section of the N ridge of the N summit of Matthes Crest. I could see that if you practice granite hand/fist jams all the time (not me) then it feels like no big deal.

Also I'm guessing you bypassed the southern mini-tower / gendarme near the north end of the N ridge. Otherwise the NW side of that is harder than 5.easy.

Ryan Marsters wrote:The Tenaya - Matthes - Cathedral linkup would be a blast.

Yes, but it's not a ridge traverse. Tenaya NW buttress and Cathedral SE buttress are mainly slab climbs. If you want to link Matthes to more ridge action, add the traverse of Echo Ridge, and visit Echo Peaks 1 2 3 (and 4?)

Ryan Marsters wrote:n ridge north and n ridge Conness: north had a couple thoughtful and fun spots early on, but I was surprised about the talus slog second half. I don't mind talus, but I wouldn't say it's classic enough to include for out of towners. Conness N ridge was fun however.

I think the North Peak traverse in the California high Sierra is used as a (pre) add-on for solo-ists whose day would be finished too quickly if they only did the N ridge of Mt Conness -- but who find the lower section of the West ridge of Conness a bit harder than they feel like soloing.

roxclamantis wrote:For the East Coast, I'm amazed no one has mentioned the granddaddy of them all: The Knife Edge on Mt Katahdin, Maine.

Haven't been there.
I'll guess that it's less popular because of the logistical and administrative obstacles for getting access to it? (That's always been my excuse for not climbing Katahdin).

Since the U.S. East coast has hardly _any_ ridge traverses with significant class 5 climbing, it's not difficult to be the "granddaddy" of those regions.

roxclamantis wrote:This is the equal of anything I've done in the Rockies or Washington or even the Bugaboos.

Any sense of how the Katahdin traverse is like or different from (in the Washington Cascades) going up the East ridge and down the West ridge of Forbidden Peak?

Too bad we don't have a comparison of Katahdin with the ridges of the California high Sierra.

Ken

Ryan Marsters wrote:Matthes Crest: nothing I know of in CO comes remotely close.

If you like Matthes (like I do), I'd highly recommend the E Ridge of Wolfs Head in the Winds. It's only 5.6, but longer sustained sections with exposure. Link it up with Pingora.

Since WA has only received a couple mentions, I'll list out some notable traverses from my neck of the woods in the North Cascades:

Ruth - Icy Traverse

Pickets Traverse

Ptarmigan Traverse

Inspiration Traverse

Isolation Traverse

Buckindy Traverse

Torment - Forbidden Traverse

All crammed full of classic climbs for all skill levels and abilities, and pure wilderness travel