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Climbing in the Northwest
35mm and digital formats
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Kulshan / Baker via Easton
Kulshan, or Mt. Baker, is the highest peak in the North Cascades range (10,773’), the second-most glaciated mountain in the greater Cascades, and one of the snowiest places on the planet. It is a young and active volcano, too.
Climbing Kulshan marked the end of 16 weeks of training with the Washington Alpine Club. This entirely volunteer-led group has made the mountains more safe and accessible for myself and hundreds of other climbers over the past century. At its core, it is a community of humble and wildly inspiring people.
Before our June climb, we spent a good amount of time in the early summer training for self arrest, glacier travel, and snow camping on the slopes of Kulshan.
When the clouds cleared – which was rare – we had a clear view of Shuksan across the valley. I overheard instructors comment about the Fisher Chimneys route, a winding line up jumbles of rock and snow. I couldn’t discern the path from the rest of the east face of the mountain, but it added to the mystery and the appeal.
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Shuksan via Fischer Chimneys
Six of us from the Washington Alpine Club decided that we wanted to give Shuksan a shot together. It took a year to line up the proper weather window, and we had to trade out one climber for another, but in June of 2025 we had the right people and the right weather together on the right weekend. I’m beginning to realize that this is perhaps the greatest challenge in climbing..
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Tahoma / Rainier via Emmons
Peter, Jeff, Iz, Allie, Evelyn, Holly and I climbed Tahoma (Mt. Rainier) via Emmons Glacier in the summer of ‘24.
I decided to move to the Pacific Northwest after catching a distant view of Tacoma. Nowadays, I’ll book flights around whether I can find a window seat that faces the mountain (and you should, too!).
I spent the first few weeks of August ‘25 walking the perimeter of the mountain, some 93 miles. Within 20 hours after returning to Seattle I was making my way up to high camp on the Ingraham glacier, this time with the globally-respected climber Ed Viesturs.
Ed pointed out that the mountains have a way of messing with our perspective. Camps are further than they appear, crevasses are larger than they appear. You only understand the scale through walking it. I’d agree with this wholeheartedly. The sense of awe only grows with each new perspective.
Frenchman Coulee
I’m generally more drawn to alpinism and mountaineering, but there’s a certain aspect of cragging that I’ve come to appreciate quite a bit in the last few years. I like that you stay in one place. You cover less ground, maybe you experience fewer views and less novelty, but you realize much more detail.
Sometimes I compare it to how a tourist might visit a city. Do you walk around neighborhoods and fill in the map? Or do you sit at a coffee shop and people watch? I think cragging is a little like the coffee shop. Rather than passing through a space, you’re letting the space pass through you.
These images are from Frenchman Coulee, or Vantage, on the eastern side of the Cascades. The area is a curious system of Basalt pillars shaped by the Ice Age Floods. The rock type creates particularly sharp and flakey features, which can be great for holds, and also great for critters to nest in..
When we’re done for the day, folks will head down to Wanapum Lake to take a chilly dip in the water. The coulee wraps itself around a few dusty campsites. We’ll circle the cars up wagon-style for cook-offs and general shenanigans. The night climbers turn on their headlamps and the sky turns on its stars, and it all makes for a great show.
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