Glacier Peak Wilderness Climbing

While technically in the 'North Cascades,' the Glacier Peak Wilderness covers a larger area from slightly east of the Cascade Crest, south of the line following Highway 20 and the Suiattle River, and north of Highway 2. This region is separate from the North Cascades National Park and surrounding areas as detailed in the 'North Cascades' sub-area of Washington's Northwest Region.

This part of the Cascade Range is one of the most remote regions in the lower 48. Smaller regions like the Pickets, the Bacon Peak area and the Chilliwack Range get more publicity for being horrendously bushy and inaccessible - but Glacier Peak Wilderness is a much larger plot of land that has zero roads and few trails. However, it lacks the ultradramatic rings of peaks that the Pickets have, and if anyone knows of a mountain offhand in this wilderness it is its namesake, the volcano Glacier Peak. 'Blue-collar alpinism' is often prevalent on lesser peaks; rocks like Wilmons Spire, Monte Cristo Peak, Addison Ridge, etc, are not quite as dramatic, tall, or well-known as the Boston Basin peaks, Washington Pass, or Mount Shuksan, but are climbed occasionally all the same, often when weather or crowds prohibit access to the taller, northernly neighbors. It doesn't help that visible and well-known peaks like Mount Index, Mount Baring, or Gunn Peak are rightly classed within the Skykomish Valley area. This sub-area is for the hard-to-access alpine peaks that don't quite reach the status of those worthy of a national park.

Detailed borders: All of Glacier Peak, Wild Sky and Henry M. Jackson Wilderness is included, besides these exceptions: the Entiat River region, directly along the Skykomish or Miller Rivers (or the rest of Highway 2), and anything north of the Cascade - Stehekin River line.