Ptarmigan Ridge, Artist Point Snowshoe & Chain Lakes Loop — Sunday, May. 1, 2016

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

I wanted to try snow camping this winter, but weather, avalanche conditions, and work never lined up to allow me to do this. Last weekend, I finally found a couple of days of nice weather and time to escape work. I decided to do the Ptarmigan Ridge. This was my first solo backpacking trip and my first snow camping! I think my pack was a bit too heavy to make it a comfortable trip, so I need to work on that. It was much heavier than earlier summer backpacking trips. I had the Ptarmigan Ridge on my winter wish list for the beautiful terrain. In the right conditions it can probably be done in a day, but the overnight trip really helped enjoying the expansive snow and shadows of the wind and sun fooling around at different times of the day. Some notes on the conditions and route: - Assuming that cornices are the only concern, most of the ridge is relatively safe if you stay low (around 5000ft). This also avoids some tedious side-hilling. The run-out of any cornice failure that may happen is fairly long, with some flatter area between you and the ridge. The entrance of the ridge is the exception: the nasty peak there (see photos) has cornice and glide problems that are not trivial. I moved quickly over the steep-ish terrain at the beginning of the ridge and was happy to be out of there. - I camped a bit west of the gap on the Lasiocarpa Ridge, and really enjoyed that spot. It was exposed to the sun for both sunset and sunrise. Great views of Baker, Shuksan, Blum, Glacier Peak, and even Rainier. - On the return trip I had a better view of the terrain and the risks, and picked a lower route. That worked well. - Snow was wet and heavy, but I guess that was to be expected. - I went back via the Galena Chain Lakes, that was a nice route. - Artist Point always makes for fun encounters. I had a good time chatting with some people who were enjoying the area. It was not that busy, probably due the ski area being closed. Just when I entered the Ptarmigan Ridge I ran into a couple of skiers that did an overnight trip from Heliotrope over Baker. Epic! Their tracks were the only ones I saw, but everything was melting out within a day.

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/albums/72157667987220075