The classic alpine routes of the North Cascades offer tremendous variety and contrast. Some consist wholly of ridge and face climbing on rock, while others are entirely on snow and ice. However, few of the great rock walls can be climbed without first crossing a glacier, and few ice ascents in the region are made without at least a little time on rock ridges or spurs. It is this ever-varied mixture that creates classic alpine climbing in its finest sense.
It is also this quality that makes the North Cascades of Washington one of the premier climbing ranges of the world and America’s principal training ground for alpinists preparing for ascents in Alaska, the Andes, and the Himalaya. The Institute operates in 6 states and 12 countries, but it is based in the North Cascades because it is the most classically alpine area in the United States. The glaciation is extensive on Mt. Baker. For example, the Coleman Glacier flows down as low as 3800 feet, where it is still several hundred feet thick, and the juxtaposition of rock faces and ridges with gentle glaciers and steep icefalls is spectacular. These ascents and the other hundreds of routes that we climb can provide a lifetime of rewarding challenge and exploration.
Climbing with a guide is one of the most enjoyable ways to experience these exciting wilderness ascents. Part of the attraction of these climbs is the variety and challenges they present on the way to the top; climbers must apply varied technical skills, excellent route finding, and good judgment. The technical resources and margin of safety provided by AAI’s professional guides make these ascents very enjoyable and give you the opportunity to further develop your technical, hazard assessment, and route-finding skills.
You may wish to consider preceding your guided ascents with two or more days of skills review. Every year, many of the Institute’s clients return to the snow and rock of the North Cascades, the readily accessible glaciers of Mount Baker, or the rock cragging routes in Leavenworth and Index, to “tune up” their skills before tackling their high mountain goals. Any four to six-day (or longer) itinerary can easily incorporate such a skills refresher. Please call or e-mail us to set up a climb or design an itinerary.
It’s also easy to arrange a trip for a group of friends. Such a trip can be a series of climbs, a skills course concluding with an ascent, or a trip that combines skills development or review with an exciting series of ascents. And if you are coming on your own but would like to climb with others, you can request that we match you with other climbers of similar background and interest.
We hope you will join us this season and for many years to come.
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