The traverse begins and ends with nights at the Ptarmigan Hut and includes four nights in the field winter camping. Some spectacular terrain with views of the huge Skookumchuck valley, topping out on Skookumchuck Mountain, and traveling below the towering Sawtooth Peak are highlights of the trip. We cross the divide to the east side north of Skookumchuck Mt and travel south to Mt Buhl. After negotiating three passes around Mt Buhl, we cross back to the West side of the ridge crest to finish the trip on a 2800 foot descent from a pass below Mt Lindsay, westerly on afternoon corn to Berglien Lake. We return to the Ptarmigan Hut to some cold beers and a cozy night sleep at the Hut. It’s great to make such good use of the Ptarmigan Hut, which remains a historic fixture of the St. Maries drainage in the Southern Purcells.

Beautiful, dry snow can be found on the North facing slopes with some great afternoon butter on the southerly aspects. Conditions, thanks to La Nina were better than average last season, but the route proves to be one that could be managed with many levels of stability and conditions.

Group size is limited. Caches will be in place for the camping portion which will allow us to travel lighter than normal but still have the expedition, traverse experience. The idea is to offer an experience many folks might feel they could not complete individually. The trip’s emphasis on skiing, with travel a close second made possible by lighter packs due to caches will hopefully make the trip more accessible to people who have always wanted to take a spring skiing adventure trip in the mountains.