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North Cascades mountaineering course in Eldorado Peak in National Park with Mountain Madness

North Cascades Intermediate Alpine Mountaineering

Build your leadership skills and take it to the next level on your own trips

Over 5 days you will com­plete a tra­verse in the heart of the North Cas­cades on a small-scale expe­di­tion. A typ­i­cal itin­er­ary will find you up in the Eldo­ra­do zone in the North Cas­cades Nation­al Park. Here the Inspi­ra­tion-Klawat­ti Ice­cap is found, along with mul­ti­ple climb­ing objec­tives, which will pro­vide great route find­ing chal­lenges and a clas­sic moun­taineer­ing experience. 

Stu­dent lead­er­ship plays a key role in the trip plan­ning, route choic­es and deci­sion mak­ing. The goal of this course is to hone your lead­er­ship skills and increase your con­fi­dence with lead­ing small par­ties in an alpine envi­ron­ment. Skills review will be a key part of the course as well before you take on lead­er­ship roles under the watch­ful eye of your guide. This course pro­vides an excel­lent means to eval­u­ate your skill-set, risk assess­ment strate­gies, and more, all in one of the wildest loca­tions in the North Cascades. 

Course cur­ricu­lum includes:

  • Review of equip­ment and climb­ing skills such as ice axe and cram­pons use for climb­ing mod­er­ate and steep snow and ice
  • Snow and ice anchor place­ment, con­struc­tion, and equalization
  • Roped glac­i­er trav­el, rope team man­age­ment, route find­ing, and crevasse navigation
  • Basic lead climb­ing tech­niques, inter­me­di­ate pro­tec­tion, and mul­ti-pitch snow and ice climbing
  • Crevasse self res­cue and team crevasse res­cue scenarios
  • Trip plan­ning and nav­i­ga­tion using a map, com­pass, and altimeter
  • Haz­ard assess­ment includ­ing dis­cus­sion of objec­tive vs. sub­jec­tive haz­ards, assess­ment of avalanche dan­ger, crevasse fall, rock and ice fall.
  • Prop­er cloth­ing and climb­ing gear for sur­vival in the high moun­tains, moun­tain weath­er, alpine ecol­o­gy, effi­cient and self-depen­dent climb­ing tech­niques, and Leave No Trace ethics

Price

  • North Cas­cades Inter­me­di­ate Alpine Mountaineering

    $1,375 – 5 Days

Dates

Custom Dates Available — Contact Us

Policies

Itinerary

Flight Information

For sched­uled cours­es and climbs, you should fly into Seat­tle-Taco­ma Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (SeaT­ac). You are respon­si­ble for your trans­porta­tion to down­town Seat­tle. You will meet as a group with your guide(s) ear­ly morn­ing on Day 1 for an ori­en­ta­tion meet­ing and equip­ment check.

Equipment

View Our Rentals
  • North Cas­cades Inter­me­di­ate Alpine Mountaineering

    $1,375

    5 Days

    Book Course

Route

Eldo­ra­do Peak and Klawat­ti Glac­i­er Spires

Client to guide ratio

3:1

Difficulty

Intermediate