"Ragged Ridge" is a coveted link-up in the Washington mountaineering community. Many "light and fast" enthusiasts test their mettle to see if they can complete the entire ridge of 4 peaks within daylight hours. Not all succeed. Just finishing car-to-car in a day is a feather in the cap of any mountain athlete.
On loose, steep terrain these 21 miles, with mixed 3rd and 4th class climbing to gain summits, are a real test piece. These are not for the casual runner. This is not forgiving terrain. Experience with exposure, loose rock, scrambling and route finding are an absolute pre-requisite for an attempt on this ridge.
Starting and finishing at Easy Pass Trailhead, there are 4 required high points on the traverse - Mesachie (8795'), Katsuk (8680'), Kimtah (8600'), and Cosho (8332') - they may be tagged in any order, so long as all are tagged before returning to the car. (GPS + photos on true summits for substantiation)
After all four peaks are tagged, there are the options of returning on the high traverse of ledges/steep terrain or dropping to the easy pass trail below, both of which involve steep technical terrain.
In his blog, Sean O'Rourke lays claim to having completed this link up in 14hrs car-to-car and he certainly has the resume to back up that kind of claim on this type of terrain. In my opinion, it should be considered the time to beat for Ragged Ridge
As far as times with GPS substantiation for us young-guns where GPS'ing everything is the norm, Jason Hardrath went 15:42:29 on July 16th amidst day 33 of his 50 day push of Washington's 100 tallest peaks.
further research:
https://www.lemkeclimbs.com/ragged-ridge---katsuk-kimtah-and-cosho-peaks.html
https://www.countryhighpoints.com/mt-logan-mesahchie-katsuk-kimtah-and-cosho-peaks/
http://www.drdirtbag.com/2016/07/23/ragged-ridge-kitling-to-cosho-14h/
Donate (perhaps the amount you would have paid for a race entry) to support the Washington Trails Association (who maintain the miles of trail you run on) here: https://give.wta.org/give/343832/#!/donation/checkout
Submitted by Jason Hardrath (FKTs)
Comments
I completed this linkup in 14:03:26 on 9/22/2023. https://www.strava.com/activities/9906788808
I will not submit a FKT for it since Sean O'Rourke has a time to beat of "14 hours", which I essentially tied (and therefore my time is not a FKT).Â
I very much agree with Jason's submission regarding the technicality & challenge of the terrain. It is truly brutal and unforgiving.Â
The high traverse from Katsuk to Kimtah was every bit as challenging as (if not more than) scrambling up the peaks. I recommend following my up-track to Mesahchie-Katsuk col, it completely avoided all bushwhacking. The same cannot be said for my descent route from Cosho. I took the Cosho gully down and was met with terribly loose rock, 4th class downclimbs over dry waterfalls, and loose vegetated terrain. Getting from the gully back to the trail involved ~1/4 mile of thick alder bushwhack that took 45 mins. A better route here could save a lot of time.Â
The scramble on Cosho from the 7,900ft col to summit was the most enjoyable in my opinion, it had the best quality rock on the whole ridge.Â
Impressive and honorable, Kegan.