Blog

Route name: North Ridge of Forbidden Peak

When you climbed it last: Summer 2016

Route name: West Ridge of Paisano Pinnacle/North Face of Burgundy

When you climbed it last: Try to climb it once a year, at least.

There are a huge number of belay devices on the market, and this makes it a bit confusing to make a choice. The good news is that every company is making great, safe devices and the differences in basic belay devices are so minor that it’s more important to choose a style of belay device than a specific brand. The basics styles of belay device are 1. Simple tube-style devices, 2. Autoblocking belay devices and 3. Assisted Braking belay devices.

We've gone from powder skiing posts to spring training posts. It's been a busy ski season and we've been a bit lame on our blog postings. As the WSDOT plowing looms it's time to turn our sights towards spring skiing, climbing and mountaineering. We just sent out a newsletter with lots of training tips. If you'd like to recieve this in your inbox send us a note and we will add you! We send these out monthly and always try to include a tip or gear review. Here's the intro to this month's newsletter. 

It is deep out there right now and the snow keeps falling.  Don't miss it!

Thanks for the photo Bill Devlin:  facebook.com/billdpix

Check out the skiing last week with North Cascade Heli.  This was before the big storm.  NCH is our "sister" company - where all of our ski guides work when not guiding for us and is run by Paul Butler, one of the NCMG owners.  

We feel very fortunate to share this amazing terrain with NCH.  If you haven't gotten a chance to explore the North Cascades at Washington Pass you are definitely missing out.  It is a special place.  

It’s been a while since we have written a Backcountry Conditions Report.  That could mean one of two things.  Either the skiing sucks and we don’t want to talk about it or the skiing has been good and we’ve been too busy skiing to get on the computer.  Fortunately for everyone’s sake the skiing has been good.  Sorry for the lack of communication.

Well, from my facebook lurking, it seems like a lot of my friends in Washington are enjoying some epic early season conditions, and the same is true in the Washington Pass area along with pretty good stability!

This is a picture of my bestie (my BBSP if you will – best backcountry ski partner).  His name is Mike.  He likes to ski pow.  This picture was taken yesterday after skiing run after run of over-the-head blower at Stevens Pass. 

Over the past decade Mike has become my most trusted backcountry ski partner, but why?  What makes a good backcountry ski partner?  It’s different for everyone but here are a few critical elements that make our partnership work.  

We are excited to announce our Women's Backcountry Ski Series dates for this Winter. Join Steph Williams and Adrienne Schaefer for some or all of these dates and gain more confidence traveling in the backcountry.

December 29th: this will be a 1-day clinic to work on downhill ski technique and give an introduction to ski touring. This day will be good for those that are confident groomed run skiers but feel intimidated with skiing in off-piste conditions.