Maybe I'm having trouble making my point. I am speaking of actual phases in the process along the lines of St. John of the Cross' Ascent of Mt. Carmel and Dark Night. I haven't read The Ladder yet so I can't make a cross reference.
You have many good thoughts in your post with which I agree.
The Ladder is not difficult reading -- it is actually deceptively simple, but it nonetheless is a fairly advanced book. I've been reading it this Great Lent for the first time, after 15 years of being Orthodox, and have found it to be a challenge. I do think that you would get a picture of some of the differences in approach by reading it, though.
There are points that seem similar, but from my personal (and admittedly superficial) observations, the stages that the Orthodox put very late in the path of spiritual development (if at all) -- after many years of intense spiritual effort living and worshipping in community, being absorbed in the prayers of the Church, and being under the close guidance of a spiritual director -- the Catholic mystical tradition tends to put quite early in the process, often starting with some sort of mystical experience or vision at the very beginning. There seems to be a very strong emphasis on personal mytical experience in the Catholic tradition.
Orthodox spirituality is intensely personal, but it is non-mystical -- it is built around close personal observation of our own actions and thoughts, and constant comparison of these with the teachings of the Gospel in light of practical Orthodox spiritual writings.
I get the impression from what you seem to be trying to say that the Catholic mystical tradition, as you understand it, has a central role of being alone with God quite early in the spiritual journey?