Best Climbs in Washington 2023
In 2023, I logged 56 individual ascents on peakbagger.com, traveled over 750 miles in the mountains, and climbed over 240,000 feet. It wasn’t my most impressive year to date, but those stats are worth celebrating as 2023 was also the year I became a father. With parenthood, I found myself having way less time to plan, prep, or simply be away from home. My risk tolerance was reassessed and my overall desire to be in the mountains was seriously impacted. Not to mention, I lost my longtime climbing partner, Moose, who graciously stayed home to take care of our newborn son Bridger while I was away. If this sounds selfish, let me clarify… I maintained the role of being our son’s primary caregiver every day of the week while Moose went to her day job. Mountaineering isn’t just recreation for me, it is my career, so on the weekends, I went to work while Mom watched the baby. With all these life changes I was still able to focus on my goals and climbed 47 new mountains in 2023 for which I am seriously proud.
The Four with a Perfect Score…
At the end of the year, I like to rank all my climbs by quality, not against every summit I’ve attained in life, but against everything I experience within that calendar year. This year I came out with four climbs that ranked a solid 10/10. Those four climbs are described in more detail below. To see all of my adventures from 2023 click here.
Hiker crosses the Blue Glacier at sunrise, heading towards the Olympus Massif in Olympic National Park, Washington.
Mount Olympus 7,969’
Crown Jewel of The Olympic Mountains
Olympus is the highest mountain in the Olympics and an experience unlike any other I’ve had in this National Park. The march down the Hoh was stunning, following a cloudy blue glacier-fed river and crossing paths with some of the largest trees I’ve seen in Washington - these behemoths stopped us in our tracks on multiple occasions for some much-deserved oohing and awing. The approach was long but crescendoed with a daring ladder descent down a washout. I was unaware of this feature so it took me by surprise and added an exciting element to the hike which I appreciated. The high-perched lateral moraine at the end of the maintained trail known as the Blue Glacier Overlook was a worthy destination by itself, from there, crossing the Blue Glacier was an awesome and unique experience. The actual climb of Olympus was a bit subpar. Having ventured to these parts over the Fourth of July weekend meant we were not alone on the mountain. The standard route was choked with other climbers, so we didn’t get a chance to inspect it for ourselves. We opted for the scramble route and while our group was ascending another group began descending from the summit on top of us, this meant some of our team was at the top while the rest patiently waited below (for about 20-30 minutes!). We shared the small summit with about 12 other people - which is not the experience I look for when climbing mountains. Aside from the lack of enthusiasm I felt about the summit this entire four-day excursion was extremely memorable and had me itching for a return to the Hoh the moment I got home. See the video and read more here.
The imposing Boston Peak (8,883’) as seen from the saddle below Sahale Peak (8,680’) in North Cascades National Park, Washington.
Boston Peak 8,883’
An Unexpected Win at Cascade Pass
Boston was not a peak I was planning to summit this year. I had a friend who wanted to go get Sahale Peak which is a great beginner option for those learning glacier and scrambling skills. The only problem with Sahale as the sole objective is that it is a direct link to the much more aggressive and challenging Boston Peak. If you are trying to climb all of Washington’s Bulger List peaks (which I am), then you’d be crazy not to get them both in one go as you have to climb up and over Sahale to get to Boston. I wasn’t jazzed about this Sahale-only itinerary but joining my friends for this outing still sounded like a great option for the weekend so I crossed my fingers and hoped that I could convince someone to join me in the hunt for Boston. If not, I knew this wasn’t a bad place to revisit and I’d still have fun being out in the mountains. Luckily for me, within this group, there was another gentleman who was also ticking off Bulgers and he was interested in adding Boston to the itinerary as well. With him, my chance of summiting both peaks was looking pretty good! From the top of Sahale, Boston was an intimidating sight; loose, steep, and far away, but I was determined. With two out of five of our party willing to follow, we took it one step at a time. The ridge line was thrilling, the climb was straightforward, and the three consecutive rappels from the top proved to be the most exciting part of my summer. See the video and read more here.
Photo of Mount Constance after crossing the notorious finger traverse, the final gully climb, ridge line, and airy summit block all in view. Mount Constance is the highest visible summit in the Olympic Mountains from the Puget Sound area, and third tallest overall.
Mount Constance 7,756’
E-bikes, Trout Fishing, and Troublesome Weather
I blindly chose a date for this climb in May when permits came online. When the day arrived, the weather was not promising. Rain and lightning were forecasted across the entire weekend. Because a poor forecast wasn’t going to stop us from trying, my pals Ryan and Cody packed their fishing gear in case we couldn’t go up the mountain. When we arrived at the beautiful Lake Constance, the boys tossed in their lines while we were stopped for lunch. Over that hour, it seemed like they couldn’t miss! A fish was on the line with nearly every cast. Although day one ultimately failed due to the rain, the fishing was an exciting substitution for our lack of summit. This climb was also unique in the fact that we became quite familiar with the mountain - having climbed nearly 60% of it on day one before turning around. It took a lot of gumption to get up before the sun the following day and retrace our steps. The bad weather that cursed us on day one had graciously retreated and we were able to find success, crossing the notorious finger traverse and making it to the airy summit. This was a big win because most of the elevation gain was earned on very loose scree fields which was hard to get up once, and even harder to face a second time around. The final reason Mount Constance stands out is the fact that we had gotten our hands on e-bikes for the abandoned road portion of this hike. Without them, we would have spent a great deal more time covering the ten miles of flat roadway, and with them we had one hell of a time ripping down the path! See the video and read more here.
The mighty Tower Mountain (8,444’) stands tall over the Pacific Crest Trail. The route to the top can been seen in this photo - following the main gully directly up the middle of the mountain. The nearly 10 foot tall cairn at the summit is also visible from this vantage.
Tower Mountain 8,444’
Fun from Start to Finish
I first encountered Tower Mountain five years ago when thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Since then, a return trip has been at the top of my to-do list but the excursion never came to fruition until now. In my attempt to find new climbing partners while Moose was occupied with Bridger, I met Ryan Rodman. Over the year we went on to climb together nearly every weekend. He brought with him a few additional individuals whom he had been climbing with - which is how I met Kayla Reynolds. After climbing Welch Peaks, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Olympus together, I hit her up about joining me for this trip out on the PCT. Things lined up and we were able to make the excursion happen. Everything about this outing was flawless; magnificent weather, magical larches, friends all around us (combined, we knew six other people camped at Snow Lakes that weekend), and success in summiting three peaks in the area. Of those three, Tower Mountain stood out as the most fun from start to finish. A clean and continuous class III gully scramble, some fun but brief exposure, and a one-of-a-kind summit cairn all made for a super enjoyable climb. See the video and read more here.
Honorable mentions go to the peaks that fell just below the 10/10 mark and ranked at a solid 9. Those climbs were; Enchantment Peak, McClellan Peak, Mount Anderson, Mount Olympus-Middle Peak, Mount Rahm, and Mount Hardy.
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