Washington peaks
Washington climbs
First Ascent Awards
1569 of 4,255 peaks 36%
Top climbing months
July 17%
August 15%
June 13%
Washington mountains highlights
- Washington is the epicenter of mountaineering in the lower 48 US states with more technical and glacier ascents than anywhere else outside of Alaska.
- The rugged, volcanic Cascade Range runs north-south across the state with hundreds of major peaks including Mt. Rainier (Washington's highest peak and the only US 14er outside of Colorado, California, and Alaska), Mt. Adams, Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, Glacier Peak, and Mt. St. Helens of 1980 eruption fame. The Pacific Crest Trail passes 500 miles along the length of the range across Washington on its way to the Canadian border
- The Olympic Mountains in the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington only rise up shy of 8,000 ft but look much higher because they lie only 12 to 22 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The western slope of the range is the wettest place in the US.
- Washington has 3 mountain-centric National Parks: Mount Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park, and North Cascades National Park. All 3 lie within a couple hours drive of the Seattle metro area.
- Get away from the crowds and head to the North Cascades, a particularly rugged and vertical part of the Cascades with a multitude of incredible peaks to climb.
- Over 4 million acres of mountainous wilderness areas protect vast trail networks leading to a lifetime of peaks to climb. An incredible place to explore.
Latest climbs
"I've done this before but never in the winter. I love these peaks along the I-90 corridor since they are so accessible for those of us that live in Seattle. This is one of the better winter hikes I've done if you're looking for something closer to a traditional hike (no snowshoes or thick snow w/postholing) granted we have had minimal snow this year. Snow on trail at 3800 ft+ but didn't even take my spikes out. Fresh dusting of snow on the trees surrounding Change Peak was beautiful." — E • Feb 10, 2026
"February 6, 2026. Carried skis for the first 1.5 miles. Skinned with a few areas that we had to take off skis over rocks until hitting the ridge. It was easier to just carry skis at that point. Probably could have skinned a little bit more after reaching the seismograph, but our skins were pretty wet at that point. Solid bootpack except for the last 400 meters to the rim. A warm, calm day until we were almost at the rim. It was pretty windy and cold up top. Put on layers, ripped off skins, and skied down. Really nice corn skiing that ended too soon back at the ridge. Booted back out from there. With Ryan. " — runningvegan • Feb 6, 2026
"December 31, 2025. 7th Helens summit, but first time skiing it. An awesome day! Light snow with exposed small rocks for the first half mile of trail, but still skinable. Skinned up to the ridge and carried from there to save time (less transitions with the ridge rocks). Great boot pack and soft snow, did not even need to put on crampons. Skied all the way down, except for the last half mile. Great snow above tree line, hard packed in the shaded trees. No other skiers or boarders. With Ryan. " — runningvegan • Dec 31, 2025
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"Peakbagging day in the middle of our annual larch march (aka, Larch Madness). Leaving from Star Lake (an absolute zoo), we started with an AM out-and-back to Star Peak, then began a loop up from Fish Creek Pass to Courtney. Evan decided to peel off shortly thereafter, while Jared and I continued on Buttermilk Ridge to Oval Peak. As noted in Peggy Goldman's Washington Scrambles book, the only somewhat tricky part was navigating around Point 7978 (Buttermilk Ridge North). We descended only a few dozen feet down the east side and then were able to traverse north. Oval Peak had just as much talus as advertised and it was a relief to have soil beneath our feet once more when we dropped into the basin. The old Oval Peak trail is still pretty easy to follow, despite a few down trees. We returned to gather our gear at Star Lake (an even larger zoo on a Saturday evening) and carried on via the cutoff trail towards Gray Peak. The dusky stroll through beautiful whitebark pine woodland was a highlight. We reached the alpine ridgeline SE of Gray Peak just as the moon rose at our backs and sent tired shadows ahead (we never had to turn on our headlamps). We reached West Oval Lake at around 7:30 ..." — TynanRammGranberg • Oct 4, 2025
"Peakbagging day in the middle of our annual larch march (aka, Larch Madness). Leaving from Star Lake (an absolute zoo), we started with an AM out-and-back to Star Peak, then began a loop up from Fish Creek Pass to Courtney. Evan decided to peel off shortly thereafter, while Jared and I continued on Buttermilk Ridge to Oval Peak. As noted in Peggy Goldman's Washington Scrambles book, the only somewhat tricky part was navigating around Point 7978 (Buttermilk Ridge North). We descended only a few dozen feet down the east side and then were able to traverse north. Oval Peak had just as much talus as advertised and it was a relief to have soil beneath our feet once more when we dropped into the basin. The old Oval Peak trail is still pretty easy to follow, despite a few down trees. We returned to gather our gear at Star Lake (an even larger zoo on a Saturday evening) and carried on via the cutoff trail towards Gray Peak. The dusky stroll through beautiful whitebark pine woodland was a highlight. We reached the alpine ridgeline SE of Gray Peak just as the moon rose at our backs and sent tired shadows ahead (we never had to turn on our headlamps). We reached West Oval Lake at around 7:30 ..." — TynanRammGranberg • Oct 4, 2025