Learning how to tour in the backcountry with touring skis or a splitboard can be a daunting endeavor. NCMG’s experienced guides will help you learn foundational skills, including skinning techniques, avalanche rescue, layering and packing considerations, and terrain selection. We help take the frustration out of learning to tour and keep things fun! Instead of heading out into unfamiliar backcountry terrain on your own, with no previous experience, our guides will take you to terrain they know and ski all the time and instruct you on the nuances of touring.

Index is home to some of the best granite climbing in the state of Washington. The climbing is similar to what you would find in places like Yosemite or Squamish. Index is best known for it’s difficult crack and face climbs but there are many quality moderate routes as well. Routes such as Godzilla (5.9), Great Northern Slab (5.7), Pisces (5.6), Princely Ambitions (5.9) and Breakfast of Champions (5.10a) are just a few of the classic moderate routes on the Lower Town Wall.

Experience NCMG's Women's Backcountry Series this winter! Guides Steph Williams and Adrienne Schaefer are offering a progression of courses and adventures for Women seeking to take their backcountry game to the next level. Here are the details:

This 4-day course is designed for the experienced backcountry skier or splitboarder looking to get into more technical objectives in glaciated terrain. Skis are the perfect tools for climbing (and descending) peaks as they allow us to move quickly and cover a lot of terrain. These camps typically take place utilizing both Washington Pass and Mount Baker, and if the weather cooperates, we finish up with a descent of Mount Baker, truly one of the most classic snow descents in the lower 48.

The Alps are the birthplace of alpine climbing and still to this day have the highest concentration of high-quality routes of any mountain range on the planet.  Combine that with well-developed infrastructure, such as lift systems, public transportation, and charming towns, and the Alps are the best choice for a place to maximize your climbing to time away ratio.  With most of the approaches done via a lift or gondola and overnight accommodations in mountain huts or hotels, we can climb long, classic high mountain routes with nothing more than a daypack.   Thanks to the public transportatio

North Cascades National Park contains some of the best alpine climbing in North America.  NCMG offers both climbing courses and custom guided programs in the "Alps of North America".  The vast majority of our programs are booked on a private basis and are guided by some of the best guides in the business.  Book your trip today and climb with the local experts.  

Click on the route links located in the sidebar for more information on climbing in the North Cascades National Park.

Mazama is one of the best places in Washington to learn to rock climb or improve your climbing ability by focusing on technical skills. We create a safe, positive, and effective learning environment for climbers of all abilities. There are a number of routes in the beginner to moderate grades to chose from, which we have used to help hundreds of climbers find their way in this vertical environment. 

NCMG guide and author of the Supertopo guide to Washington pass, Ian Nicholson, calls this area “the best alpine rock destination in North America.”  With scores of classic climbs covering the full spectrum of difficulties, there is truly something here for everyone.  Offering an all snow approach in the early season, these climbs can have a distinctly alpine feel in the Spring and early Summer.  Later in the Summer, the approaches become snow free and most of these climbs can be reached in a pair of approach shoes in only an hour or two.  This allows us the unique opportunity to spend the