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Best ridge traverses in the US
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Hello! Putting something together here and I wanted to get some input from the community on the “best” ridge traverses in the states. Stuff like evolution traverse, cirque of the towers, grand traverse, and others. In theory I’m looking to narrow down the best traverse in each major (ish) range but also would be stoked to hear about anything more obscure that you’re particularly fond of. Any and all rock type welcome, I’ve got the WURL down but that’s probably on the far end of running:climbing ratio that I’d be interested in. Thanks for any input in advance! |
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Sierra High Route is the clear winner. No technical climbing required, although it's certainly possible to get on sections of 4th class or low 5th. |
ClimbingOn wrote: Hey sorry I agree the SHR is an all time hike I’m looking for the exact opposite though, mostly technical climbing and less hiking. More similar to the evo traverse or cirque of the towers. Trying to brainstorm a linkup of the best technical traverses from a few of the best ranges west of Colorado for a suffererfest style summer road trip |
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Here in Washington the classics would be the Direct North Ridge of Stewart,Torment-Forbidden Traverse, Liberty Bell Traverse. Those would bring you into three distinct and spectacular zones. Green Creek Circuit I’ve heard is great Mt Index traverse or cloud cap traverse if you like snow would be all time. Getting into the pickets and doing some ridges (mongo ridge, inspiration, etc) would be also wild. Kyle McCrohan also put together a pretty extensive list: https://climberkyle.com/2020/04/23/washington-high-routes-and-traverses/ |
Grant Adams wrote: Great info and resources thank you! I initially envisioned picking one big traverse from each range and seeing how quickly they could go, a tour of the best of our peaks. The WURL, Cirque for the winds, the grand traverse for the Tetons, initially the evo from the Sierras but I’ve already done it and would like something new and longer. Im looking at the Rockies, cascades, San Juan’s, maybe the sawtooths, maybe red rocks (also probably not but it’s going to be “on the way” in this circle) for the remaining ranges I’d like to pick one good traverse from still, then put them in some sort of road trip circle and get going |
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The Full Palisades Traverse in the Sierra Nevada may not be "best" but it sure is grand . Have a great climb1 |
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I’m surprised no one has mentioned Vitaliy’s Goliath Traverse, which is an enchainment of the Full Evo Traverse, the Full Monty Traverse and the Full Palisade Traverse. https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201216333 |
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I've done parts of the Cirque of the Towers Traverse in the winds, really enjoyed everything I've done there and its got a real perfect horseshoe-shaped path. |
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Although shorter than above mentioned traverses, Mathes Crest is an obvious candidate with excellent scenery, rock quality, fun climbing and easy access (if you ignore last year’s construction delays) |
Sun dot wrote: I mean, the mountains official name is Denali. We did away with the McKinley crap years ago… |
curt86iroc wrote: Denali is also a way cooler name than McKinley so no idea why anyone would prefer that. |
Terry E wrote: Tanner has it on his list as a graduation type of experience :) It is not a traverse one does for fun in a weekend... Came across this thread researching traverses I may be forgetting or unaware of. Think I may try to complete ALL the big ridge traverses popular and semi worthy in US, during the rest of my life. Seems like I am not missing all that many, aside from the Grand, a few big ones in PNW (pickets, torment-forbidden, bells), Kaweahs, Bishop Skyline, Sawtooths (outside of Bridgeport, CA) and Rock Creek. LA Freeway in CO might also be a worthy objective, similar to, but according to some better than the WURL. Am I missing something big and obvious? Focusing on aesthetic, natural ridge traverses, not link ups of routes on rock faces. So far, if I was to come up with a few lists for anyone interested (YOU CAN DIE AND PEOPLE DO DIE ON ALL OF THESE, I DO NOT THINK ANY OF THEM ARE 'EASY' - SOME ARE JUST MORE SERIOUS THAN OTHERS): Overall difficulty based on climbing and seriousness (most to least): 1) Goliath (Sierra) - biggest, most serious, lots of technical climbing, choss, elevation gain. Odyssey, not a climb. Full Monty is a part of this, but I do not consider it a separate climb because it's been talked about, but not climbed before the first ascent of Goliath. Though one can certainly do that in order to close to double the size of the Full Pal traverse. 2)Full Palisades (Sierra) - burly, with a lot of technical climbing, more elevation gain than you expect. A big slap in the face if you think Evolution traverse is hard. 3) Full Evolution Crest (Sierra) - really long with plenty of exposed scrambling on good rock and on total choss. More chossy than Full Pal, but doesn't have one section that's as sustained in technical choss as in southern Palisades, more elevation gain. Too many summits. 4) Minarets (Sierra) - sustained, exposed, chossy, scenic. 5) Grand Traverse - more rugged and has tricky route finding in places, especially compared to the cirque traverse. More alpine, but still sexy and awesome. About 20 miles with 12K of vert. Felt like a much bigger day car to car vs Cirque. Approach shoes with no climbing shoes work well if you are competent, have a rope and a partner, or not onsighting. For onsighting, most of typical climbers, without a partner, would probably feel better with climbing shoes for north ridge of Grand. There are spots where you can get on harder terrain easily and would be less stoked with approach shoes on, 2L of water and a rope in your backpack. 6) Cirque of the towers (Wind River Range) - Sustained in technical climbing on great rock. Amazing views. Feels more like a link up of classic towers for the most part, since there is so little choss, aside from on the back of different towers. Trail runners and climbing shoes are the move for this one, I think. Rock is smoother than on a typical ridge in the alpine. 24 miles (many on flat trails) with over 10k of gain. 7) Palisade Crest (section of the Palisades just south of Jepson) - fantastic route, underrated, mostly good rock, crazy exposure. Similar to Cirque Traverse in the winds, with more serious climbing/route finding in places, less classic climbing, but more jaw dropping spires, much less rapelling. More sustained exposure. 8) Evolution Traverse - links 9 13ers. Classic scramble with multiple sections of 5th class rock and a lot more 4th class. Though mostly 2nd and 3rd class terrain with a lot of walking. 5.8-9 cruxes are usually rappelled. Most people end up climbing 5.6-7. If you are soloing it though, you better be prepared for getting into terrain harder than that so you can stay safe. Do not underestimate how big and chossy this thing is. About 15,000-16,000 car to car. 9) Castle Rocks Traverse - linking all the spires in Castle Rocks starting with the Fin and climbing South (up). Actually pretty cool. Mostly good rock and lower in altitude than most of these. 10) Corcoran Traverse - interesting, scenic, chossy, some good climbing too. 11) Thunderbolt to Sill (Reg. Palisade Traverse) - classic link up of 5 CA 14ers. Some people start on Temple Crag and traverse over Gayley to make it longer and turn it into a bigger, much more serious day. Normal T bolt to Sill still has some alpine choss, but loads of fun scrambling too. 12) NW ridge of North Peak to North Ridge of Conness to West Ridge of Conness - cool link up which has A LOT of quality climbing. For even a bigger day, downclimb the north ridge of Conness and then NW ridge of North Peak. I’ve done that once after starting via the North Couloir of North Peak. That way you never climb the same route twice in the same direction. Only route you climb twice is North Ridge of Conness, in two different directions. Downclimbing the west ridge of Conness would bring the difficulty way up, but I don’t know that route well enough to feel comfortable doing that. 14) Matthes Crest - amazing route, nothing to add. Short approach. Link with NW buttress of Tenaya and South buttress of Cathedral for a full value day. Not enough? Link with Nw ridge of North Peak and North Ridge of Conness. So you can justify a rest day. :) 15) Convoluted Bliss - like a much longer WURL with similar technical difficulties. 51 peaks in Toulumne?! Nice views loads of talus hopping, scrambling and low 5th class climbing in places. Crux is probably on Mount Clark and feels about mid 5th. 16) WURL - a few sections of exposed 4th-low 5th class rock, but mostly ridge scrambling and jogging. Loads of elevation gain for a car to car effort - 21-22,000! Rock quality, classic status, sexy doable in a weekend 1/2) Saber Ridge - placing it in a tie for first place because of the location, views, and higher likelihood of having the climb to yourself. For some, approach may take away from the climb. I personally feel adds more than it takes away, since you get to hike the High Sierra Trail for a ways and see nice views. Backpackers will appreciate it. Pure climbers who do not want to hike, will not. The rock and climbing is fantastic. 1/2) Matthes Crest - amazing route, nothing to add. 3) Cirque of the towers (Wind River Range) - Sustained in technical climbing on great rock. Amazing views. Feels more like a link up of classic towers for the most part, since there is so little choss, aside from on the back of different towers. 4) Palisade Crest (section of the Palisades just south of Jepson) - fantastic route, underrated, mostly good rock, crazy exposure. Similar to Cirque Traverse in the winds, with more serious climbing/route finding in places, less classic climbing, but more jaw dropping spires, much less rapelling. More sustained exposure. 5) Minarets - Minarets (Sierra) - sustained, exposed, chossy, scenic. Most serious climb on this list. Involves complex route finding and some sections of choss. More elevation gain too. Before getting on this, should be able to solo the Thunderbolt to Sill and feel like it's easy. 6) Grand Traverse - more rugged and has tricky route finding in places, especially compared to the cirque traverse. More alpine, but still sexy and awesome. About 20 miles with 12K of vert. Best for scramblers and people who do not want to do too much technical climbing 1) WURL - a few sections of exposed 4th-low 5th class rock, but mostly ridge scrambling and jogging. Loads of elevation gain for a car to car effort - 21-22,000! 2) Convoluted Bliss - like a much longer WURL with similar technical difficulties. 51 peaks in Toulumne?! Nice views loads of talus hopping, scrambling and low 5th class climbing in places. Crux is probably on Mount Clark and feels about mid 5th. A load of elevation gain and miles. Over 30k of gain. Would be an epic challenge to attempt it sub 24 hours for someone mega fit! 3 days seemed like a very fast time for a few friends and I. 2) Evolution Traverse - links 9 13ers. Classic scramble with multiple sections of 5th class rock and a lot more 4th class. Though mostly 2nd and 3rd class terrain with a lot of walking. 5.8-9 cruxes are usually rappelled. Most people end up climbing a few boulder problems of 5.6-7. If you are soloing it though, you better be prepared for getting into terrain harder than that so you can stay safe. Do not underestimate how big and chossy this thing is. About 15,000-16,000 car to car with 35 miles. |
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When I was living near the central Sierra and looking at maps, I always thought the Great Western Divide traverse would be cool. Sawtooth to North Guard. Prob more of an endurance thing w/ tons of 3rd class but idk. Hey Vitaliy anyone ever do this? |
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Great write up from some Fairbanks climbers on a new traverse in the Brooks Range |
Chad Namolik wrote: There was some sort of a western divide traverse that didn’t traverse the crest in many spots. I’ve traversed south guard, north guard and brewer as a dayhike once, but those three been linked up as dayhikes before. I believe by Pantilat and Sean Orourke. Cool link up. Lots of vert from kings canyon. |
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Mention of Sawtooth brings up the ridge line up north, Matterhorn to Blacksmith and beyond - haven’t been on it besides a climb up blacksmith but it looks good, big, and bold and seems to be an objective for some connoisseurs? |
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The Gore range has some incredible opportunity for huge traverse link ups - the existing Naa Ohn Kara is no joke, and linking the whole alphabet in a push would be a pretty gnarly endeavor as well. Both would still be extremely adventurous due to limited beta out there, but fortunately each portion of it is relatively reasonably scoutable. The mileage and elevation would be immense, but I think technical climbing would just be interspersed sections of up to 5.6. Vitaliy, the aforementioned gore range alphabet was gonna be something Tanner and I attempted together this summer before I pulled the plug due to conditions and overall not feeling prepared enough - would be happy to send you some beta on it or do some scouting trips if you’re interested |
ryan climbs sometimes wrote: I've heard the Rock Creek Traverse is extremely sketchy with lots of giant loose blocks haha |
GCC wrote: Yeah, Kaweahs and Rock Creek are supposed to be quite loose. Sawtooths too. One of my friends Maria died high up on Bear Creek Spire’s east ridge when a huge boulder she was standing on completely collapsed off the ridge. So when people mention huge boulders that don’t look well attached, it’s less exciting for me. As much as I can hope experience helps, we all are statistics walking. Gotta do our best to keep sharp to stay in the game. |
Tal M wrote: Tanner brought it up a few times. If you guys want to try traversing something up there, I’d be happy to participate next year, maybe, especially if it’s doable June or early July. I might be tied up with more ultra running mid summer. Or might say F it and go nuts trying to climb every wall that’s been on my mind. I know which will hurt more. Just regaining my normal energy levels after running the Wonderland Trail, like 3 weeks ago. Lol Tanner and I are actually hoping to try the Grand Traverse in a few days. Seems like there is finally a day long window, maybe. Never climbed a single peak in the Tetons, would be a wild experience. |
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This is why I love the proj. I’m new to the boulder area and was unaware of any of the CO linkups and traverses mentioned here. Stoked to train for them. Coming from CA, I’ll add my favorite ridge traverse to the mix, under the category Easily accessible Type 1 fun: North ridge of north peak to North ridge of Conness. Ultra classic day or half day out |
