Swan range, Clearwater traverse

Great skiing in front of Fisher peak early in the traverse.

I really only had one big must-do tour for the year, so when spring finally emerged, I took a day off work to give it an honest attempt.  Although the route is a touch complex, especially on the South end, the concept was pretty simple.  Pick the best runs in the Clearwater group of each of the major peaks and link them up.  Unfortunately, no one from my small invite group was able to make it on short notice, so I pushed off from Missoula as Leah was putting our little one to bed, dropped a bike at Holland lake, and settled in for a few hours of sleep at the trailhead.

I started the day out at 3 am and threw a hairy curveball by jogging the approach.  On consolidated snow, I was able to run and walk all the way in to Fisher and climb the first thousand vert of the West face gully in running shoes.  The night was darker than I had anticipated, but Fisher's glimmering white face would pop out of the darkness as my eyes adjusted every time I flicked my headlamp off.  Kind of a wild way to navigate, but it worked.  I am not the hardiest psychological night warrior, so I was glad to see first light. I transitioned from shoes straight to spikes, and topped out on Fisher's summit ridge having not used climbing skins for a single step.  Windless sunrise views from the crest were something I will never forget.  I skied the Northwest couloir with firm, grippy ice and extended the run just far enough to access the next gully North.  I climbed back to the crest with crampons.  

Oh, you know, just out for a 5 am walk amongst monster piles of avalanche debris.

Nearing the summit ridge.  Lights on.
Missions in the background.

Too icy for ski tracks in Fisher's Northwest couloir.

The route to Ptarmigan point was in the sun on the East side of the range.  I traversed hard North for the entire first run, taking advantage of fast, firm snow to get some distance under my belt.  Since I was ahead of schedule, I took a short detour to ski a nice short bowl just South of Ptarmigan before climbing to the crest on the South flanks of Ptarmigan.  It was only mid-morning, but I was already half way done with the climbing, even at an easy pace, and was elated with how smoothly the day was unfolding.  I skied the classic Northwest line on Ptarmigan, once again stopping at a  point where I could traverse into the next gully North.  The climb to Ptarmigan peak involved two thousand vertical foot climbs separated by a short chalky ski run to link things together.  This part of the tour was a touch scrappy, but it went quickly, and the connecting run was fun.

On the crest.  I traversed to the treed bench ahead.

Nice bonus run, with ski tracks barely visible.

Still nice and icy on Ptarmigan's Northwest line.

Looking back to Ptarmigan's Northwest line.

Few turns in the sun on the connecting run.

From the summit of Ptarmigan peak, I took an excellent run down the classic East ridge/Lick lake couloir line.  I was treated to perfect corn on top, chalky powder in the couloir, and icy chunder for the bottom little bit just to keep things from being textbook perfect.  I sat down for a few minutes at Lick lake to eat, re-apply sunscreen, and generally psych up for the last two peaks.

Starting down Ptarmigan peak's East ridge.
The ridge is pleasantly exposed and super fun to ski, and the photo does not do it justice.

Looking out to the climb up Wolverine.  Although long, it was straightforward.

Climbing up Wolverine, looking back at the striking
East ridge/Lick Lake couloir on Ptarmigan peak.

The climb to Wolverine is a big one.  The snow had overheated in the bottom third, and was the only difficult skinning I would have all day.  Higher up, the snow had stayed as cool as could be hoped for on the solar aspect, and I was able to grind out a skin track all the way to the summit, arriving on top about 90 minutes ahead of schedule.  The only line I had previously skied on the peak was the complex West face, and it was dreamy to lazily arc turns down smooth sastruggi on the moderate Nort face.  Below the peak, I traversed as much as the terrain allowed, positioning myself as high as possible for the climb up Carmine.  It was only a thousand vertical to the top of Carmine, but all the climbing finally caught up to me, and I summited tired, thirsty, and ready to head home.

On Carmine, looking back at the North face of Wolverine.

A little tired and a lot happy on Carmine.

I took the conservative ski line on the North face, which required quite a bit of traversing on the summit ridge to access.  Fortunately, it skied shockingly well for so late in the day, with soft powder up high, and supportable icy corn all the way to the summer trail.  To my delight, snowshoers had walked up the trail, which made it easy to follow all the way out to the Owl creek/Holland lake junction.  I missed the junction, but a quick map check and some interesting sidestepping were all it took to get things back on track.  There was a lot of downfall and intermittent snow out toward the valley, but I had plenty of time and just worked through it.  I arrived at the trailhead in high spirits, and to my incredible luck, scored a ride back to the truck, which was great, since I was less than excited to tack an eleven mile bike shuttle onto an already long day.

Great skiing on Carmine...

And great skiing all the way to the creek.

Getting it done amidst a sea of downfall on the exit.

Ski to trailhead!

Thoughts  This was an incredible day, one where everything is just perfect.  One of my top five best ski days ever.  The line is long and committing, but the skiing is stunning, the country is wild, the peaks are memorable, and the whole thing links up logically.  Thanks to all of the public land stewards who make experiences like this possible.  It is possible to do shorter versions of the traverse all based off the Clearwater lake loop, but extending to Carmine and out Holland creek added significantly to the definitive nature of the outing.  Note, I focused on ski quality, and did not summit Fisher or Ptarmigan point.  Doing so would complicate the outing.

Statistics
Route: Up Clearwater lake loop road and Fisher peak.  Down Northwest couloir and upper West face.  Back up to crest.  Traverse and climb back to the crest.  Ski Northest bowl and climb to the shoulder of Ptarmigan.  Ski upper Northwest face.  Climb to the Northwest ridge of Ptarmigan point, ski a NF run, then climb Ptarmigan peak via the West face.  Ski East ridge/Lick lake couloir.  Up Wolverine via the East face and ski North face.  Up Carmine via the Southwest face and ski North face and gully to Holland creek.  Out Holland creek to the Owl camp trailhead. 

Approximate total elevation gain:  13,400 vertical feet
Duration: 13.5 hours 
Accomplices: No
Put in:  Highway 83, Clearwater Lake loop road
Take out: Owl Camp trailhead

Fuel: GFS sandwich, yogurt covered pretzls, Moose bar, Perpetum and a passel of bars.  Averaged about 150 cal/hr.
Equipment:   Dynafit Nanga Parbat skis, Dynafit PDG boots, Once race poles one whippet, light running shoes, Alu crampons, extra sunscreen. Headlamp with extra batteries, basic emergency kit.

Equipment left in car to save weight: Avalanche gear, puffy jacket, ski crampons, helmet.   
Tricks of the day: Running the approach in shoes.  Ordering up perfect weather and conditions.  Mellow, steady pace all day with adequate breaks to keep everything happy.

Number of ski runs: 8

Number of classic ski runs: 5

Fatigue factor (1-10): 8 (note, 9 is virtually impossible to exceed in a non-race setting)
Stoke factor (1-10): 10
Memories to suppress: Neuroma foot pain, which flared up fairly early but fortunately stayed at bay.  Lots of morning dark time.  A meager 3 hours of sleep the night before.