Current Conditions

The high pressure has finally broken down and storms are starting to roll our way.  Skiing corn in the sunshine was fun but we are all happy to have winter back.  As I write this update I'm watching big, fat flakes fall outside my window.  I've forgotten how sweet that is.

Our great friends Steph Williams and Drew Lovell (one of our new guides) put together this video of their time spent up north earlier this winter.  Steph is now back  in Boise and needed a little reminder of all the fun she had up here while she works her way through school.  We are looking forward to her return.....

Current Conditions 

The backcountry ski season around Washington Pass officially started with the big storm that hit the Northwest at the end of November.  This storm laid down nearly two feet of new snow at Washington Pass and closed Highway 20 for the winter season.

Jean and Cassandra plan a vacation together nearly every Summer.  The joke is that they often need a vacation after their vacation!  This year they had planned to meet up with Larry to climb the North Ridge of Mt Baker along with a few days of sunny, alpine rock at Washington Pass.  Unfortunately the road to the North side of Baker washed out early this year and has yet to be repaired, so the team shifted their sights to another mega classic, the West ridge of Forbidden peak.  As one of the famed "50 classic climbs of North America", the West ridge is a hard climb to top

Jeff and Mihai climbed the North Ridge of Forbidden Peak last weekend.  The route was in perfect shape, the weather couldn't have been better, and the pair cruised the route.  This route is one of our favorites.  It combines a spectacular, broken glacier, steep snow climbing and an exposed granite ridge that takes you directly to the summit of one of the most iconic peaks in the North Cascades.

Jeff just finished up guiding a trip in the Bugaboos.  The weather was perfect and climbing conditions couldn't have been better.  This was a exploratory trip for NCMG to see if we wanted to offer this trip in the future.  Jeff can't stop raving about the trip so this will likely be a trip that we offer next year.  Classics such as the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire and the Kain Route on Bugaboo Spire are just of few of the amazing alpine rock routes that this area has to offer.

Becoming an AMGA certified alpine guide is a long and demanding process.  It not only takes climbing skill and guiding experience it also takes a great deal of hard work on courses and exams.  The alpine program is one of the most difficult AMGA programs to make it through.  It requires four AMGA courses followed by a ten-day exam to obtain certification (not to mention the avalanche course and first aid requirements).  At bare minimum, this typically takes most guide candidates three years to complete.

This is really an amazing time of year in the North Cascades. The approaches are all still completely snow covered, but the rock is dry and warm. With this in mind, Larry teamed up with Alex hall for an early season ascent of Liberty crack. With the plan of skiing up to the base, they decided they would rappel down after the first 6 pitches, as these offer some of the best climbing on the route and would make for a fine day out.

This year we were reminded, once again, why the Haute Route is such a Classic ski tour.  We had a great group of skiers and the weather lined up perfectly.  I know this cliche gets overused, but if you are a backcountry skier and haven't done the Haute Route yet, you'll be one year older when you do.  What are your plans for 2014????