Ten Ramblers took advantage of the warm late October weather to do a traverse between Arethusa and Ptarmigan Cirques. We left the vehicles at 10 am and headed up the Arethusa Cirque trail. There has already been ski activity up in the cirque as we followed old ski tracks up to the upper bench. There was much more snow in Arethusa Cirque than expected.


A winter wonderland in Arethusa Cirque

The gang at the upper bench in Arethusa Cirque

so it was good that we had lots of trail breakers to share the load.  Once up on the bench the snow thinned out, except for isolated deep drifts in terrain hollows.


A sunny windless lunch spot at the base of Little Arethusa

The group traversed around the base of Little Arethusa, stopping about midway between the two cirques, to enjoy a pleasant lunch in the sun and out of the mild wind.


On the traverse between Arethusa and Ptarmigan Cirques

As we proceed around to Ptarmigan Cirque, the snow cover continued to diminish.


Damian, Christina, Bruce and John at the entrance to Ptarmigan Cirque

Ptarmigan Cirque had significantly less snow than Arethusa Cirque, making the travel quite easy.


Philip approaching the cairn in Ptarmigan Cirque

Enjoying the afternoon sun at the Ptarmigan Cirque cairn

After a sunny rest stop at the Ptarmigan Cirque cairn, the gang generally followed the summer trail contour out of the cirque, picking up the well beaten down section of the summer trail at treeline. We arrived back at the vehicles just after 2:30 PM.
Thanks to John, Damian, Rosanne, Philip, Bruce, Cristina, Peter, Richard and Douglas for joining me Kevin (S/C) on a pleasant late October hike in the Highwood Pass area.

Total time 4.5 hrs, Total distance 9 km and total elevation gain 450 m