Challenge of the North Cascades

Rating:
Summary: Classic from the old man of the mountains
Review: When my grandfather died and we were going through his books I came across this gem. Beckey has first ascents on more than half of all the peaks in the Cascades. He owns the mountains. This is his poem to his love. I had long valued Fred Beckey's extensive guide books to the Cascades, but had never read any of mountain narratives. What a treat this was! I also highly recommend his book on McKinley.

I've read scores of mountaineering books, but this one I rank as one of the very best. Beckey tromps across the mountains of Washington state as a young man in the early days of mountaineering with joie de vivre. In one exuberant push he and a companion set out to hike and bag whatever peaks in between from what is now I-90 to Highway 2. A week later they emerged on the highway and hitched back to Seattle.

I hope you find as much pleasure in this overlooked classic as I have.