The Drop Creek approach is a method for accessing Formidable and the Ptarmigan Traverse that has been gaining in popularity in recent years. It avoids glacier travel, making it a nice alternative to the traditional approach from Cascade Pass in late season. Plus, there has been some recent maintenance on the South Fork Cascade River trailhead that has made this approach arguably the most pleasant it has been in years. Huge thanks to the people who have been doing the trail ma

In honor of the Eagles playing in the Super Bowl, a morning ascent of Philadelphia Mountain seemed appropriate.   A recent spurt of cold...

Persis seems like it should be a popular winter climb. Proximity to the Seattle area, a safe winter route, and incredible views of Index...

Enjoyed a pleasant snow hike out to Hurricane Hill with my dad and Katie. The drive up to Hurrican Ridge was easy, the weather was...

In search of a pre-work hike to a new place, I searched around the Sultan Basin for something that might have decent views. Baby Blue...

Arrowhead is a great winter climb – steep, but avalanche-safe, with a fun and scenic route and great views. Eric and I set off from the unceremonious pullout on Highway 2 just east of a WSDOT maintenance yard. To start we walked back west on the shoulder of the highway and left the road shortly after crossing over Nason Creek. Parking on the side of Highway 2 I was wondering whether snowshoes would be necessary for the lower parts of the mountain, so I took an optimistic firs

The Mailbox Peak Old Trail is infamous for a reason, it is steep and makes for a great training hike. I usually try to get up to the...

This was a solid choice for a cloudy day with bad avalanche conditions. Despite being a forested hump on the south end of Lake Whatcom,...

I had been talking about day-tripping Mount Fernow for years and this perfect weather fall weekend as the perfect time to make it happen....

Hike in to Lower Ice Lake   I apparently couldn’t get enough of driving the Phelps Creek Road this summer, so I braved the endless miles...

Day 1: Getting to the Trailhead (aka the crux of the trip) and Spider Meadows  Our annual Labor Day backpacking trip got off to a strong...

A return trip to Tuck and Robin Lakes was in order, and I wanted to squeeze in a jaunt up Granite Peak while we were at it. I hadn’t been...

With a beautiful day and time to kill on the Mountain Loop Highway after Higher Squire , I settled upon White Chuck as the perfect quick...

Excited to check out a totally new to me area of the Mountain Loop, I set out on the Eight Mile Creek Trail towards Squire Creek Pass a...

The Twin Sisters are a jagged subrange of the Cascades west of Mount Baker that have drawn my eye for years. Their reddish orange...

Helena Peak is a fun scramble off the Mountain Loop that had slightly trickier route-finding than expected. It has 1000 feet of clean...

I have been climbing mountains in the Cascades for my entire life, but somehow had never attempted Mount Rainier. That changed when our...

The weather wasn’t supposed to be great, so Eric and I set off to the Teanaway in search of some sun breaks and melted out ridgelines. We...

We didn’t want to take any risks with avalanches on this warm weekend, so we opted for a safe but steep ascent up a ridgeline to Hidden...

Ruby Mountain is a North Cascades classic. Once considered a candidate for a tramway to be built to its summit, you know it must be a...