When the weather is good, there is hardly a nicer place in the North Cascades than Boston Basin.  Paul Mascioli and Larry hiked into the basin on Sunday, July 26th the morning after a flash flood had washed out the road near the trailhead.  The two were lucky enough to get a ride up the 3 miles of closed road with some Park service rangers.   Here Paul hikes through the old growth forest on the approach route. Soon after we break out of the forest into the wildflowers of...

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Occasionally we have just one person interested in doing a skills course and they are open to having one or two folks join them in order to reduce the cost per person.  Well that situation has just arisen and we have a new 3 day Glacier Travel Training course scheduled August 26 -28, 2009.  If you are interested in signing up, please call or email us.  Details of this course and the full curriculum can be found HERE.

With much notoriety for being one of the 50 classics, Liberty Crack on Liberty Bell stands out among climbers as a superb rock route with a short approach and great access. After making plans to get out for the day on Sunday, Mazama locals Katharine Bill and Larry Goldie decided that nothing sounded better than a day on Liberty Crack. Here Katharine works her way up the thin, 5.11 first pitch. In addition to being thin, sustained climbing, the first pitch comes right at you without any warmup. ...

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After postponing their trip for a week, Larry and Lew Miller headed into Boston Basin on Sunday the 12th, for a go at the West Ridge of Forbidden peak.   Our hike in was much a much nicer than forecast day.  We had great views of Forbidden peak and Mt Johannesburg. The West ridge can be seen here as the left hand skyline of the peak. Here is Johannesburg from the approach trail, just after crossing one of the sections of avalanche debris across the trail. That night, a huge...

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On July 5th, Paul, Larry and Alex Hall decided on one of the longer moderate classics in the Early Winter Spires - the East face of Lexington Tower.   With lots of great climbing in the 5.8-5.9 range, this strenuous climb ascends the steep, clean east side of the spire.  Beginning the third pitch, Larry belays as Alex starts up the corner crack. Alex runs the rope out just before making a belay below the giant roof above. The climb is charecterized by lots of hand size cracks...

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After joining Katharine last year for a day of introductory rock skills and a climb of the South Arete on South Early WInter Spire, Carlyn and Michael Roedell wanted to return to brush up on skills and attempt to climb Liberty Bell.  Both years, they climbed just a few days before Michael's birthday as a birthday gift to him, (though it did seem like Carlyn's idea.) Joining Larry for the Intro to Alpine Rock (ITAR), they began by working on movement skills at Fun Rock.  Here Carlyn...

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Hello browsers of the NCMG site. We have had several calls from folks looking to take an Intro to Alpine Rock or Glacier Travel Training course who were having some trouble rustling up another partner for the course. Perhaps you are one of them?

Well, opportunity is knocking.

We have 2 spots left for the Glacier Travel Training Course July 12th-14th and 1 spot left on the Intro to Alpine Rock course July 25th and 26th.  The other scheduled dates have a few folks interested, so give us a call to see if we can match you up with a partner for any of our other courses this summer. As always, if you have a partner, you can schedule a High Angle Rescue, Intro to Alpine Rock or Glacier Travel Training course for almost any custom date.

And, don’t forget the women’s yoga and rock camp with Anne and Michel the weekend of August 28th-30th- yoga, climbing, good company, good food and one amazing location! What’s not to like?

In an annual attempt at climbing all of the Early Winter Spires in a day, NCMG guides Larry and Paul left the Blue Lake parking at at 7:30 for what would be an amazing day of climbing.  We began with the quickest way to the summit of Liberty Bell - Overexposure. This is the route that most people just rappell past on their way down.  With 1 long pitch of high quality 5.8 climbing before scrambling to the summit, this route is a classic example of the hidden gems at Washington Pass. ...

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