Since I mentioned Mountaineering/climbing in my recent MEME I thought I would show a few peaks that appear just East of Bellingham, Washington. They are all part of the range known as the North Cascades. I call these my backyard because they are relatively easy to access. There are a number of trailheads that take off from the Mt. Baker Highway, which deadends at Artists Point (called Huntoon Point on the USGS maps) which is at the Mt. Baker Ski Area. I have climbed the majority of the peaks shown, and I can say that the degree of difficulty from one to the next varies dramatically.
This is Tomyhoi Peak. It like the rest of them in this series is just South of the British Columbia, Canada border.
This one is called American Border Peak. There is a Canadian Border Peak just inside Canada from this one. I couldn't get a picture of that one from where I was standing as it was blocked by this and others.
The three main peaks here are American Border (you can just see Canadian Border peaking out at the far left), Larabee Peak (also called Red Mountain because of the iron content in the rock) and the Ridge to the right with numerous summits is called the Pleiades. The double summited peak to the far right is the South face of Goat Mountain. It is really a fun climb up the steep North face for the magnificent steep glissade on the way down.
This is Mt. Shuksan. There are many routes to the summit of this peak. Most of them are extremely difficult and exposed. Shuksan (Roaring Mountain in the Nooksack language, named for the hanging glacier on the Northwest face that regularly calves, causing a roaring icefall) is probably the most photographed mountain in the United States and possibly in the world. One year, I walked into a traveler's aid office in Oxford England. There was a large poster of Mt. Shuksan on the wall behind the desk.
Thanks for taking a look at my back yard. It was fun showing it to you.
David Helm
www.helmhomeinspections
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