In 1973 my college buddy Marc Dilley and I went on a famous mountaineering trip in the North Cascades of Washington, near the Canadian border. It is called the Ptarmigan Traverse. It starts at Cascade Pass, which is reached by one of the most spectacular hikes imaginable, spectacular because you are surrounded by incredible peaks on either side. From Cascade Pass, you leave the trail, not to see another trail for 5 or 7 days, depending on how fast you do the route. Most of the pics below are by Marc, and I have shown some of his other pics in posts on Lewisii tweedyi, Fall Trip to the Enchantments, and The Kayak, High Tech Watercraft of the Arctic.

The view below is by Marc, and shows me in stylin' red socks, wool knickers, and ventile cotton anorak, standard mountaineer garb of the 70's, when wool was king and synthetic fabric was only a dream. We were camped with a view of El Dorado Peak, about halfway to the second pass of the trip, Cache Col.