[Stefan]

Went out and did the Painted Traverse with Franklin B. We started at the North Fork Sauk and ended there too. We went to Red Pass following and losing the old sheepherders trail which was a cool find. From Portal we headed westerly on the top points. Franklin did Brown point which is southeast of Black...I was not interested in that one. The most difficult part of the traverse was a steep gully descent off of the northwest ridgeline of Black. We had a 30 minute rain shower during the late afternoon. Several thunderboomers during the day leading up to the rain. Afterwards, pretty nice. This is an awesome traverse in a lot of meadows and you follow quite a bit of goat paths. Brush is rare on this entire route...even the climbers trail coming up to Red from the Red Mountain Lookout. I highly recommend you all do this trip going in an easterly fashion, the main reason to go up that rotten gully if you so choose on Black. You could also go down to around 5600 feet on the south side of Black if you want to avoid this gully. Our feet hurt a lot for this day. The best basin in my opinion to camp in is northeast of Skullcap. There are many more other basins to camp at and I have those ranked in my opinion on my map below. Stats: 15.5 hours Distance: Maybe 18 or 19 miles. Elevation gain: Around 9500 feet Peaks: Portal/Purple/Skullcap/Black/Magenta/Red/Skalabats What color is Skullcap? Skalabats?

[Jetlag]

Useful TR! I especially like the ranking of the camps and the advice to head west to east.

[Magellan]

Love it! Thanks for all the details.

[raising3hikers]

Awesome guys, I'll have to do that traverse someday

[Justus S.]

Nice! Mike and I enjoyed that traverse a few years back. Skipped Skalabats and 6910 though, you guys must be in better shape. We went the eastern way and at the end of June so more snow. Long day but well worth the effort.

[Magellan]

Did you need the axe or crampons?

[puzzlr]

First thought was that it seems a little tame for you two, but not so much as I read and looked at the pictures. Speaking of which, are you using an iPhone camera? Keep the fingers away from the lens!

[Stefan]

[iron]

tennis shoes? no wonder the feet are talking to the head. strong work! haven't seen franklin in awhile. good to know he didn't convert back over to kayaking or something like that...

[therunningdog]

Thanks for posting this TR, guys! I did this clockwise yesterday and the day before 9/18-19 and really enjoyed the trip. I decided to bivy and camped below below the SW side of Black. I wanted to camp on the ridgeline but since I had a flat tire fiasco in the morning I ran out of time and was "stuck" next to the water source on the SW side of Black. I woke up to sunrise over the Monte Cristo Range, which is not bad, either. For me, I would call the downclimb off Magenta exposed and loose class 3-4. Fairly unpleasant with the snowmelt and moisture on the rock that I experienced. The first foothold I used for the downclimb broke off below me. No bueno. I think if I did it again, I would just drop off Magenta 200-300' and go down and around. FWIW, I was able to pass around the south side of the ridge to below Black at the 6520' elevation through a cool notch. I didn't climb Black since I didn't want to deal with the steep wet morning heather, but it would be an easy up/down from the basin on the SW side if everything was dry. For me, it was 6 hours of travel to Black, then 6.5 hour from there to the car. Very beautiful up there this time of year. Cool to nab so many summits. BTW - where did the name Skalabots come from? Pics here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yvAWPh98zex8p9xV9 Cheers, Tim

[cartman]

The Painted Traverse is one of my all-time favorite high routes: spectacular scenery, no rope needed, and it's a loop traverse that fits into two days. It's actually spelled Skalabats, no idea of the origin of the name. It's not even in CAG. I thought going up Magenta was going to be tricky, but if done just right is standard class 3: