Paige partway down north side, getting skiers right in the S-Couloir.
Ptarmigan Peak is one of my favorite peaks in the Chugach Front Range. With excellent scrambling and rock climbing in the summer, and ski lines and alpine climbs in the winter, there is something fun to do on it in any season.
Every time I have stood on the peak assumed to be the summit, I always looked east to the other summit and wondered if it was actually taller. In recent internet searches I stumbled upon a nugget of info in Brian B’s Climate Blog that states with verifiable claim the east summit of Ptarmigan is the new summit, and it stands at 5052’. Great news, a new summit to climb close to home!
My wife and I usually get to ski the S Couloir on the north side at least once a year together. This April in a stretch of great weather and considerable snowfall for the Front Range we were able to catch it in prime conditions. Rather than go down from the normal summit, we hiked up over to the East summit and put our skis on as close to the top as possible after tagging the new high point. We were about 10’ below the top and 40’ to the west when we were able to get into downhill mode. A bunch of heavy solar snow with ok coverage got us down a couple hundred feet to where we able to wrap back down onto the north side and into the great cold snow. As a bonus, we were able to cut skier right halfway down to get into a tighter couloir I had been looking at for awhile. The coverage was great.
Another great day in the mountains! I’ve been experimenting with a GoPro camera this year, and put together a few clips to give a taste of what the day was like up there. Hopefully it gets people excited to ski from the true top of the mountain.