We completed the car shuttle Thursday night and camped at Cascade Pass trailhead. The next morning we rose relatively early and hit the trail, excited to get the first full day of travel to Yang Yang lakes over with. Since we had spent 3 days on this section of the traverse in July, we were eager to see some new ground and get to a point along the Traverse where we could bag some peaks and travel over new ground. The easy jaunt up to Cascade Pass went by quickly, and after a brief stop we made our way up Mixup Arm, now completely snow-free. In July there had been sections of steep snow above death runouts, and the beaten snow-free trail was much less stressful. The Cache glacier was again a simple stroll across the snow, and we did not bother with the rope. But, setting the tone for the rest of the trip, the snow was very hard neve and we cramponed up for the work up to the pass.
From Cache Col we got the view that had eluded us the first time we passed that way in July. The decent to Kool Aid Lake was a well-travelled path, and went quickly. We reached Kool Aid Lake in 4 hours from the car, right on schedule. After topping off our water, we continued on over scree and faint trail past the Red Ledge to the Middle Cascade Glacier. Whereas the passage from Kool Aid Lake to Middle Cascade glacier had been almost completly snow travel in early July, now it was all scree, and more arduous and jarring.
Spider and Formidible from Cache Col.
The Middle Cascade Glacier was easily passable on the left, so despite one narrow bridge we did not rope up for the Middle Cascade glacier. At Spider-Formidible col, the extent of the glaciation was revealed, with large crevasses just yards from the col. Dropping down the other side of Spider-Formidible col, you get your first view of Yang Yang lakes, our destination and first stop along the Ptarmigan Traverse.
The Yang Yang Lakes are truly a wonderful spot, and we enjoyed lazing about in the sun and enjoying the bug-free, warm and breezy afternoon. An hour or so after we rolled into camp, a group of four entered the area, and we immediately recognized Lowell Skoog and Phil Fortier, along with two others, Brian Miller and Matt, who were doing the traverse to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the second ascent by Brian Miller's father, Tom Miller. They were duplicting the pictures that Tom Miller took on the second ascent of the Ptarmigan Traverse in 1953, that were later published in the classic work "The North Cascades".