Washington peaks
Washington summits
First Ascent Awards
896 of 3,158 peaks 28%
Top climbing months
July 18%
August 14%
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 summits
"Not feeling like trudging through snow on the higher peaks, I decided to finally head up the Mount Rose trail. I was pleasantly surprised by the views up top. First off-leash hike for Jed the Mountain Dog--he did great." - Mount Rose, TynanRammGranberg, Nov 12, 2018
"Decided to try Moolock in the summer for a 14.15 training day. Long haul and some bushwhacking to get to the summit. Left the "trail" or road and hit the summit at a similar angle (northwest) as winter, which was difficult with brush and slippery ferns. Ended up coming down through boulders more south/southeast which was easier. Trail is getting very overgrown between Bessemer route and summit. No people" - Moolock Mountain, BryHong8, Oct 27, 2018
"From Goat Ridge, followed the Lily Basin trail down to about 6600 feet, then contoured around on goat paths. Found a grassy/sedgey chute on the south face that we followed up to the ridge, then walked to the summit. Decided the chute was more slippery than we would like to downclimb, so we followed the west ridge down and descended a different steep, grassy slope, meeting up with the Lily Basin trail near Heart Lake. Continued on to Hawkeye Point from there." - Johnson Peak, TynanRammGranberg, Oct 20, 2018
"From Goat Ridge, followed the Lily Basin trail down to about 6600 feet, then contoured around on goat paths. Found a grassy/sedgey chute on the south face that we followed up to the ridge, then walked to the summit. Decided the chute was more slippery than we would like to downclimb, so we followed the west ridge down and descended a different steep, grassy slope, meeting up with the Lily Basin trail near Heart Lake. Continued on to Hawkeye Point from there." - Hawkeye Point, TynanRammGranberg, Oct 20, 2018
"From the boys' WTA Trip Report:
We are the Mountain Goats and today we headed up to the Snoqualmie Pass area. Our original plan was to try and climb Mount Roosevelt, as we started to head up the Snow Lake trail in cloudy weather. It was pretty easy going up to Snow Lake and got a bit crowded as we descended from the pass towards the lake. The recent snow and slush had frozen over and was pretty slippery. Especially for people with sneakers and no poles. Many people were stopping here as we cruised around the lake on our way towards Gem Lake. On the trail up to Gem Lake we started gett" - Wright Mountain, BryHong8, Oct 7, 2018