North Cascade Mountain Guides

NCMG is awesome! My sister and I wanted to get the multipitch traditional alpine rock climbing experience (knot tying, hitches, etc) and we did the 2 Day Guided Course, 1st day was at fun rock in Mazama; true to name, very fun sport climbing area where we worked on skills. Was proficient enough, I suppose, that our guide asked if we wanted to go up in to WA pass. Day 2 we hiked 2 hours to the South Early Winter Spire where we got to short rope, experience the chimney, and summit the 600' spire. Truly a great experience. Our guide Jere was awesome, super knowledgeable, patient, really encouraging and best of all, great sense of humor. He really made the whole experience great. Thanks Jere and NCMG!

Top notch guys. Can't say enough good things. Highly recommend Jeff.

Got onto Flyboy on Goat Wall in Mazama with Josh Cole from NCMG yesterday. What a route! What a day! 16 pitches and 15 raps!! If you want to attempt this route these are the experts to guide you on it!!!

If you haven't been climbing in the North Cascades yet, what are you waiting for? Plan a trip now. Adventure awaits! Josh Cole was not only an excellent guide, but also a great person to hang out with for an entire day in the mountains. I highly recommend!

I climbed with Jeff Ward and Larry Goldie in the Alps in 2008 and with Larry in the Northern Cascades in 2013 and this summer. Larry is the consummate climbing professional...great teacher, SUPER safe and very patient. I could not ask for a better guide with vast experience, particularly in Washington State.

Price was competitive, communication pre-trip was great, guide was extremely experienced and friendly, and we had a great time on our custom climb of Mt Baker. Would use again, and recommend to others. Thanks Larry!!!

I came across NCMG in my search on line for a guide to climb Mt Bakers North Ridge. I saw that they were a company that had IFMGA guides on staff so I contacted them to see about booking my trip. They were able to schedule me for the time I had planned which helped make planning the rest of my vacation easy.

I had the good fortune to climb with one of the owners Jeff Ward. He is a very easy going guy and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in his company. I had seen that Jeff was an IFMGA guide and knew that I was going to be climbing with one of the best in the guiding business. He did an excellent job of getting us thru the different obstacles along the way. He was good at explaining the best way to move across the glacier and what to look for. He was very efficient in moving us along and the climb up the ice pitches was quite spectacular. The Norht Ridge of Mt. Baker is an awesome climb on a beautiful mountain.

I plan on going back to the Cascades to climb again and I will definitely be looking Jeff up to climb with him again.

Paul Hoerster
Longmont, CO

Needed to break the boyfriend into mountaineering and decided to head up to the North Cascades and give Mt. Shuksan a go. We live Dallas, so there is nothing remotely close to mountains (or any sort of elevation) here. With him being a great athlete with no outdoor experience and me being a mediocre/wannabe athlete with some outdoor experience, we needed to utilize the services of a mountain guide. With multiple guides and outfitters to choose from in Washington, it was a bit of a daunting task to choose from the plethora of guided climb packages/guides/outfitters ect. I didn't want to do a packaged deal where I would be stuck with other people and have that "cookie cutter" feel. I wanted a "custom" trip with my boyfriend, a guide and myself. I got a really good vibe from Jeff as soon as I talked to him over the phone. We set off for a 3 day climb on Shuksan's Sulphide Glacier route and had the times of our life. We didn't make it to the summit because of unstable avalanche conditions at the base of the summit pyramid but learned a lot and had a blast on our mini epic adventure. Mother Nature dealt us a hand of: rain, snow, more snow, white out, cold, wind, and more "juicy" snow. And even in all that, we pushed to the base of the pyramid with the unwavering confidence of Jeff. (Not sure who was crazier...Jeff for taking two clumsy flatlanders up a mountain in pretty crappy weather, or us, for paying him to go up a mountain in pretty crappy weather.) He was patient in our cumbersome clambering cow like grace, taught us useful snow camping skills, and above all had just a great steady patient personality. My boyfriend and I were like two little kids in awe, throwing snowballs at each other, smacking each other with branches, giggling over "blue bag specials" and general goofing off which he put up with; however, when the time dictated seriousness (when we had to cross an avalanche field or when the weather was getting worse) he never yelled or gave off the impression of impatience. He very calmly explained that it was not a time to dawdle and to be careful and we dutifully followed his instructions. Neither my boyfriend nor I had ever experienced white-outs nor weather conditions this severe but we felt safe and secure in Jeff's knowledge, experience and quiet confidence in the mountains. So, if you don't want a pre-packaged/cookie cutter/big box experience (do you want an adventure or a lean cuisine?), I highly recommend Jeff and North Cascades Mountain Guides for an incredible individually organic experience regardless of what mood the mountain is in.

I had a fantastic time with Syd on a two day trip in the north cascades with my boyfriend. We summited Sahale, and despite this being my very first summit, I felt 100% secure and safe. Syd was great leading up to the trip, talking with us and making sure that we picked a peak that met our needs and was the right mix of technical climbing, adventure, and fun. I'm looking forward to my next summit with Syd and NCMG!

I've used other guide services, but these guys are the best. Safe, personable and committed to a good experience for me. I will definitely use them again.