Alpine Rock Season Underway!

Ingalls Peak with Mount Stuart

A new sea­son begins! This past week­end, Mark Ryman pri­vate­ly guid­ed Moun­tain Mad­ness clients Scott Eglin­ton and Rich Ward on the alpine climb in the Wash­ing­ton Cas­cades. The three-day trip was a mod­i­fied ver­sion of the Alpine Rock Sem­i­nar course where the climbers went through skills train­ing the first day, and climbed Cut­throat Peak and South Ear­ly Win­ter Spire the next two days. The con­di­tions and weath­er could­n’t have been better!

South Ear­ly Win­ter Spire and Lib­er­ty Bell

The Lib­er­ty Bell Massif

Wash­ing­ton Pass summit

Here is what Scott had to say about his experience:

“Just want­ed to give a moun­tain size THANK YOU for my recent trip to Wash­ing­ton Pass. My friend Rich and I had a pri­vate­ly guid­ed climb with Mark Ryman this past week­end. Your oper­a­tion was very help­ful and orga­nized, every step of the way… LIT­ER­AL­LY! I can­not say enough good things about our guide Mark. I rec­om­mend him to any­body con­sid­er­ing a climb. Being the con­sum­mate pro­fes­sion­al, Mark was able to save our ass­es dur­ing a slip. He is very knowl­edge­able, easy going, friend­ly and pre­pared. My expe­ri­ence will not be for­got­ten and I will always use Moun­tain Mad­ness as climb plan­ners. Jere­my and Julie were excel­lent as well with our pre-trip logis­tics. Again, many thanks to Moun­tain Mad­ness and Mark Ryman for allow­ing us to Make It Happen!”

Climbers unfa­mil­iar with the Washign­ton Cas­cades often think of it as a range bristling with snow-capped, glaciat­ed peaks, not of a place home to immense rock walls, ele­gant rock ridges, or com­plex faces com­posed of solide gran­ite. The pleas­ant sur­prise for many vis­i­tors how­ev­er is that there is in fact an abun­dance of guid­ed alpine rock routes wait­ing for you. Some require glac­i­er trav­el and involve long approach­es in glroious wilder­ness set­tings. Oth­ers are set high in the North Cas­cades, a mere hour walk from the trailhead. 

Oth­er ways to get up on alpine rock:

• Alpine Rock Climbs
• Wash­ing­ton Pass Weekend