Mountain Project: Climbing North Cascades

The North Cascades are home to a huge number of sharp granite peaks with many excellent alpine climbs. With so much to offer and typical alpine approaches, you probably won't find mobs of other people. The granite is mostly very good, offering cracks, chimneys, flakes, roofs, etc. Summer is the time for alpine rock.

Getting There

The general North Cascades area can be reached either by driving west on Highway 20 from I-5 (although Highway 20 is more often closed than not) or by driving east on Highway 2 to Leavenworth or I-90, then North on Highway 97 and North again on Highway 153, which meets up with the other side of Highway 20 in Twisp.

The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for North Cascades:

Coleman Headwall Steep Snow Snow, Alpine, 2000 feet, Grade IV Mt. Baker

Coleman/Deming Glacier Mod. Snow Snow, Alpine, 7080 feet, Grade II Mt. Baker

Mount Baker, North Ridge WI2-3 Steep Snow Ice, Snow, Alpine, 3000 feet, Grade III Mt. Baker

Colman Ski Descent Easy Snow PG13 Snow, Alpine, 7000 feet, Grade IV Mt. Baker

Quien Sabe Glacier 4th Easy Snow PG13 Snow, Alpine Boston Basin : Sahale Peak

NE Ridge Easy 5th PG13 Trad, Alpine Mt Triumph

Price Glacier Route Easy 5th WI3-4 Steep Snow Ice, Snow, Alpine Mt. Shuksan : Price Glacier

South Arete 5.5 Trad, Alpine, 3 pitches, Grade II Washington Pass : South Early Winters Spire

West Ridge 5.6 Mod. Snow Trad, Snow, Alpine, 1500 feet, Grade III Boston Basin : Forbidden Peak

Beckey Route (SW Face) 5.6 Trad, Alpine, 3 pitches, Grade II Washington Pass : Liberty Bell

East Ridge Direct 5.8- Trad, Alpine, 6 pitches, Grade III Boston Basin : Forbidden Peak

North Face 5.8 Trad, Alpine, 6 pitches, 600 feet, Grade III Silver Star and connected s... : Burgundy Spire

SW Rib 5.8 Trad, Alpine, 6 pitches, 600 feet, Grade III Washington Pass : South Early Winters Spire

Northwest Corner (a.k.a. Boving-Pollack Route) 5.9 Trad, Alpine, 4 pitches, Grade III Washington Pass : North Early Winter Spire

East Face 5.9+ Trad, Alpine, 10 pitches, 800 feet, Grade III Washington Pass : Lexington Tower

East Face / Rebel Yell 5.10 Trad, Alpine, 6 pitches, 800 feet, Grade III Silver Star and connected s... : Chianti Spire

East Face 5.10d Trad, Alpine, 7 pitches, 600 feet, Grade III The Gunsight Range : Middle Peak

Direct East Buttress 5.11a Trad, Alpine, 9 pitches, Grade III Washington Pass : South Early Winters Spire

The West Face 5.11- Trad, Alpine, 6 pitches, Grade III Washington Pass : North Early Winter Spire

Liberty Crack 5.11- C2 Trad, Aid, Alpine, 12 pitches, 1200 feet, Grade V Washington Pass : Liberty Bell

Featured Route For North Cascades

West Face 5.11+ WA : North Cascades : ... : North Peak

First Ascent by Jim Nelson and Carl Dietrich in 1986 at 5.10 A2, The route went 20 years before a repeat, and 21 years later (2007) saw it's FFA by Max Hasson and Jens Holsten, 5.11+Pitch 1 - Rated 5.7 by the first ascentonists, this pitch is more like 5.9 or 5.10a, with less than obvious gear. Climb up a pillar, cracks, flakes, and occasional knobs, generally straight up. A belay can be made at ~40m on a small (think one foot) stance.Pitch 2 - The crux pitch. Follow thin cracks and knobs to the...[more] Browse More Classics in WA

Photos of North Cascades

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Mt. Baker. Photo by Blitzo.	Mount Baker. Photo by Blitzo.	During a winter attempt on Whitehorse Mtn. near Da...
Deep crevasse on the "Coleman Glacier."	Near the summit of Mt. Baker.	Washington Pass
Heading up Entiat Icefall on north side of Mt. Mea...	The Liberty Bell group and the North Cascades high...	A few pitches away from the summit of Burgundy Spi...
Cascade Pass area	Fog and mountain goats: must be the Cascades.	Mike Asaly - emergency rappel off the Ptarmigan Tr...
Sunset in the North Cascades NP	Johannesburg from across the valley. North Cascad...	Sunrise from Eldorado Peak high bivy. North Cascad...
Lupine. Boston Basin, North Cascades NP	Gaping crevasse on the Inspiration Glacier, North ...	Crevasse Rescue Practice
Sunrise above the sea of clouds, Eldorado Peak, No...	Sunrise Eldorado Peak North Cascades NP	Rainier peaks out above the clouds while climbing ...
Weather rolling in looking SW from Buckner summit

Comments on North Cascades

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By OReid
From: Denver, CO
Apr 3, 2011

The North Cascades are composed of a wide variety of rock types, but primarily Skagit gneiss, not granite. The rock tends to be crumbly, but there are pockets of good firm climbing. Forbidden Peak, Gunsight Mountain, Dome Peak, and Goode Mountain come to mind as being particularly solid. As the pictures above indicate, it is not the rock quality, but the glaciation and alpine ambiance that make this range unique in the lower 48!

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North Cascades

Description

Getting There

The Classics