At an impressive height of 10,781 feet, Mount Baker stands as an iconic Pacific Northwest landmark—offering an exhilarating challenge for mountaineers of all levels. It’s the ideal initiation into glacier travel and mountaineering, set against the breathtaking North Cascades backdrop. Master essential mountaineering skills, from rope handling to crampons to ice axe techniques and traverse seracs and crevasses along beginner-friendly routes like Coleman-Deming and Easton/Squawk Glacier. Guided by seasoned professionals, embark on an unforgettable summit attempt, ascending over 4,000 feet of snow-clad, steep slopes. This is your opportunity to elevate your alpine climbing experience to new heights!
Embark on a transformative 3-day Mount Baker mountaineering journey. Acquire essential mountaineering skills while immersing in the breathtaking North Cascades wilderness. Under the guidance of a seasoned guide, navigate challenging terrain, master alpine camping, and ascend over 4,000 feet on summit day. Your comprehensive package includes an experienced guide, gear check, and all necessary group equipment. This alpine odyssey on Mount Baker offers a profound and rewarding experience for those aspiring to become proficient mountaineers.
On the first day, the adventure begins at 8:00 am with a rendezvous in town. At this point, you’ll meet your guide, and a quick gear check will be conducted while the day’s plan is reviewed. The guide will provide insights into the route to camp, and any final adjustments will be made before setting off in a caravan to the trailhead. The remainder of the day will be dedicated to an exhilarating hike to camp, during which valuable camp craft skills will be learned.
The second day starts early, with a hearty breakfast that includes hot coffee or tea. After preparing the necessary food for the day, it’s time to gear up and venture out to cover a comprehensive mountaineering skills course. This includes an overview of mountaineering gear, ice axe techniques (including self-arrest and team arrest for glacier travel), crampon techniques, mastering the rest step for mountaineering efficiency, descending techniques, and the fundamentals of rope team travel. In the evening, an early dinner is prepared before retiring for the night.
Summit day kicks off between 3:00-5:00 am with a quick breakfast before embarking on an early alpine start. The precise start time will be determined based on weather conditions and the day’s warming trends. Be prepared for a demanding day ahead, as over 4,000 feet in elevation will be gained, while various snow surfaces and steep slopes are traversed. Once the high point is reached, the descent back to camp begins. Following the descent, camp is broken down, bags are packed, and the journey back to the trailhead marks the conclusion of the exhilarating adventure.
Blackbird Guides is the best! I’ve been using their services for about 3 years and every adventure has been absolutely incredible. Each of the guides are full of knowledge and incredibly good at passing along their years of expertise. I refer everyone I know to Blackbird.
Blackbird are the best! They always beat my expectations, I can’t say enough of great things about them. Extremely professional, knowledgeable while making it fun, exciting and wanting to come back for more. If you’re thinking about getting your avi certification, mountaineering training or guided back country tour- look no further.
What you get in this adventure:
What’s not included:
To participate in the guided 3-day Mt Baker mountaineering tour, it is important to be in excellent physical shape. Participants should be able to hike 8-10 miles, climbing 2,500 – 3,500 vertical feet throughout the course of the day. To ensure that you are physically prepared for the tour, it is recommended that you spend 3-4 days a week doing strenuous workouts. During the tour, you will be moving uphill at 1,000’ per hour for durations of 1-1.5 hours between breaks. It is important to be able to spend a long, active day outside.
This guided Mt Baker alpine climbing adventure is open to people with no technical mountaineering skills—ice axe, crampon, and basic rope skills are encouraged, but not required.
You can build those skills during the adventure (on Day 2), but having those skills means you will have more time for practical application. Keep in mind that you will always be accompanied by your guide who will take care of the planning, introduce you to the basics, teach you how to manage the terrain, and keep your group safe.
For technical mountaineering gear, you will need to bring:
For clothing, we recommend bringing:
For food & camping equipment, you will need to bring:
Finally, here’s a list of other personal items we recommend bringing:
Technical mountaineering equipment like ice axe, crampons, harness, and climbing helmet can be rented from your guiding service. You will also be able to discuss the gear and your packing list with your guide prior to the adventure. If you need help with renting equipment, contact us prior to booking to make arrangements.
Group sizes and pricing:
3-day alpine climbing on Mount Baker can be arranged for larger groups. Contact us to make arrangements.
Min. age requirements:
If your group has mountaineers under the age of 18, contact us prior to booking to make arrangements.
To get to Glacier, WA, the starting point of this tour, most people fly into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport 2,5 hours away. From there, you can rent a car, or take a bus or train.
Once you and your guide agree on the details of your itinerary, your guide will suggest the best place to meet, whether that’s at the guide shop in Glacier or a predetermined location. From there, you’ll head to your tour. The guide will choose the appropriate terrain dependent on conditions and the ski ability of the group.
We highly recommend that you cover all your bases with both emergency medical and travel insurance. With medical insurance, if you have an accident or medical emergency on or off the mountain, you’ll avoid paying out of pocket for costly expenses. This covers everything from hospital treatments to emergency air transportation and more.
Travel insurance covers canceled flights, natural disasters and other scenarios that may interrupt your travel plans.
If you need assistance selecting the right insurance for your group, let us know and we will be happy to help!
A 30% deposit to secure your place is due upon booking. Once the trip is confirmed by the guide, the cancellation policy stated below applies, and deposits are no longer refundable. The remaining 70% of the amount is paid the latest 3 months (90 days) prior to departure. We strongly recommend purchasing trip insurance.
In the event that the minimum number of people to confirm the adventure is not reached, your guide can cancel the departure at most 2 months before the start of the trip. In that case, you can opt for a private tour at a discounted rate.
In case you need to cancel the adventure, the following cancellation costs would be incurred:
Our guided climb up Mount Baker with Blackbird Mountain Guides was absolutely incredible. I highly recommend to anyone considering doing a guided climb. Zeb is a complete professional — a highly skilled guide and a patient teacher. He was extremely prepared and made us feel fully comfortable and safe throughout the climb. As a novice mountaineer, I very much appreciated his patience and support as I worked through my nerves. A huge value add, Zeb also photographed our journey and shared the photos with us afterwards. That’s not something I would have thought of in advance, but the last thing on your mind is taking pictures during the climb. However they are incredible keepsakes to have of the stunning vistas. A bonus, Zeb was great company to keep over our climb. We will 100% be booking with Blackbird Mountain Guides for our next adventure!