The Cascade Range is known for tough approaches, rugged glaciers and spectacular peaks. Within the Cascades, there’s one sub-range that exemplifies these traits more than any other: the Picket Range. Early in my alpine climbing career, the legends and lore of the Pickets simultaneously created an irresistible pull and true intimidation. Fred Beckey – the cultural figurehead of Cascades climbing – wrote “The Pick­et Range has remained the wildest and most unex­plored region in the North Cas­cades. It is not an area for the wilder­ness novice. The length of climbs, com­bined with steep mixed ter­rain and vari­able con­di­tions, demand all around com­pe­tence and fit­ness.” With a decade of mountain experience under my belt, it was time to experience the Pickets for myself. Avi Baehr and I climbed Inspiration Peak via the East Ridge on July 21, 2024.

Avi and I originally had plans to climb Inspiration Peak in 2023, but Terror Basin was suddenly closed by National Parks rangers after a troublesome bear destroyed a climber’s campsite. We climbed another amazing peak instead, knowing that someday we’d be back to climb Inspiration. A year later, we shouldered heavy packs and began the approach to do exactly that. The approach to Terror Basin is simultaneously known as a total ass kicker AND one of the easiest approaches in the Pickets – that tells you how gnarly the average Pickets approach is! After several mellow miles hiking up Goodell Creek the trail suddenly took a hard right. Now we found ourselves charging up 4000 feet of unrelentingly steep, forested hillside. This section of trail has no switchbacks, no flowing water, and no remorse for the suffering it puts you through. On the bright side, the trail is easy to follow – foot traffic has created a fairly obvious, if overgrown and bushy, trail the whole way. There are sections of fourth class tree root climbing – hard work with a big pack! After grinding out that section, we made a rising traverse to a col, descended some sketchy scree, and used crampons for the final, snowy descent to our campsite in Terror Basin.

The crack of dawn saw Avi and me begin making our way toward the Terror glacier. Two hours of scrambling and hiking brought us to the edge of the glacier where we donned crampons and began stomping our way up toward Inspiration. This glacier has plenty of crevasses but maintains a mellow angle the whole way, dependent on your route choice. It took us another hour of circuitous glacier travel to reach the start of the route, where I led the always-spicy moat crossing and got us established on the rock. Now shifted fully into rock climbing mode, Avi and I swapped leads on four pitches of 5.7 to reach the ridge crest where the character of the route greatly changes. The rock transitions from runout, forgettable choss to beautiful white granite that seems to glow against the sky. This is what we came all the way up here for!

Avi is a total crack climbing fiend and was stoked to lead the crux pitches. As the weaker rock climber on our team, I was happy to let her do her thing. Pitch five treated us to super fun crack climbing and brought us to the base of THE pitch. Pitch six is the crux of the route and must be one of the coolest pitches of rock anywhere – yes, I said it! Thirty meters of sustained hand and fist crack goodness in an absolutely wild, remote position. Near the end of the pitch, the crack tapers off and veers left, requiring a thrilling traverse rightward on face holds to gain a corner crack which finishes the pitch. WOW. This is the kind of pitch that reminds us how special climbing really is. I won’t forget it for a while.

Above the crux, the quality of the climbing goes down slightly but the position up high on the summit ridgeline is unbelievable. Swapping leads on four more fun, moderate pitches took us to the summit 8 hours after we started the route.

The pitter-patter of rain drops convinced us to spend as little time as possible on the summit. The descent from Inspiration is somewhat long and complicated, but not too bad aside from some serious rockfall potential – be cautious. With a single 70 meter rope, we made five rappels down the upper West Ridge before briefly putting the rope away to scramble down to a notch. From this notch, we made nine more rappels down the South face which sometimes required traversing hard one direction or the other. The traversing nature of some rappels is a pain, but it does mitigate some of the rockfall hazard – just keep your head on a swivel to avoid missing any stations. The final rappel used every bit of rope we had to land on a nice, flat spot on the glacier where we put on crampons and roped up for the glacier descent and hike back to camp, where we arrived just after dark for an 18 hour day.

After the long hike out the next day, we learned that Highway 20 was closed for the second time this season due to a wildfire. This added several hours to our drive back to Spokane, but our spirits were too high to let it bother us. Inspiration Peak delivers a proper North Cascades challenge in a gorgeous environment. I’m already excited to return to the Picket Range!

Gear Notes

-Gear: Crampons, ice axe, 70m single rope, one set of nuts, cams .2-3 with doubles of 2 and 3. Avi is a 5.11+ crack climber and confirmed that she was happy to have doubles of 2 and 3 cams.

-Make sure to bring extra cord to leave on rappel anchors.

-For pretty much all alpine rock routes in the Cascades, I prefer to use a highly breathable approach shoe like the La Sportiva TX3 along with aluminum crampons as my approach footwear. It was exceedingly hot during this trip and I really appreciated the breathability on the big hiking days. I find that Goretex or leather approach shoes tend to get wet and stay wet on multi-day trips, while breathable shoes will get wet and dry out relatively quickly.

Strategy Notes

-Terror Basin is located within North Cascades National Park and requires an overnight permit which you can get from the ranger station in Marblemount.

-The approach and hike out deserve their own day on either end of your trip.

-The glacier is mellow. Roping up is still a smart call.