The Grand Traverse (class 3 and 4)

This is a Gore Range classic, running the ridge between North Traverse Peak and Grand Traverse Peak. I have done it four times: three from N to S. And once we did it without a car shuttle by descending a gully W of the summit of Grand Traverse Peak back to the Bighorn trailhead. The first time I did this was in 1993 with Bill Briggs: we went from Bighorn to the ridgeline and, after reaching Deluge Lake, through Snow and Red Buffalo Passes down to my house in Mesa Cortina. When starting from Bighorn it makes sense to gain the ridgeline a bit S of N Traverse Peak, as that is very direct. This misses the northern end of the ridge, but the steep terrain is all to the south and still needs to be negotiated. Such access is possible a couple ways. Most recently, 9/9/2019, Elke Dratch, Carol Petrelli, and I headed up very steeply from directly across the creek from just before the Bighorn cabin. We had steep grass and a short class 4 gully as we most right to avoid some cliffs, and then a very nice grassy slope to the ridge line, shown in the first pic below. The second pic shows Elke at a typical spot. The total climb for the day was very close to 5000 feet.

 
This panorama from a ridge between the two forks of Rock Creek shows Valhalla on the left and the Grand Traverse extending from Grand Traverse Peak in the center to North Traverse Peak at the far right.