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| The Cascade mountains are wet. I can't imagine spending a week there in the summer, or any other season, without a few days of rain or snow. Thus, I was shocked to spend an entire week on Mt. Baker (about 30 miles from the ocean in northern Washington state, near the Canadian border) with nothing but sunny skies.
The reason for this trip was to take a week long mountaineering class, held by Alpine Ascents International. I wanted to refresh my memory about things I had learned years before, but had little occasion to practice; self-arrest, knots, crampon technique, and glacier travel. I also wanted to learn things I had not had a chance to do before; ice climbing, traveling on a live glacier, prussiking, and crevasse rescue. Mount Baker, which lies in the Cascade range, is the northernmost volcano in Washington state. The Cascade range also includes Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Saint Helens, and Mt. Shasta. Although Mt. Baker is not nearly as high as some of these other peaks, it provides a good training ground. The following pages describe and show pictures from each of the days I spent on the mountain.
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