Cascade Alpine Guide: Rainy Pass to Fraser River: Climbing & High Routes (Cascade Alpine Guide; Climbing and High Routes)

My wife and are avid peakbaggers and these Fred Beckey books are a great addition to our beta arsenal.

This is the hiking bible of the Cascades--it is for the mountaineer/avid hiker who wants to step it up a notch. Beckey always offers an in-depth historic perspective of each hike in the book (which is sometimes longer than the trail description). Harder technical routes have detailed directions, but the easier routes are sometimes lacking in detail (it would be obvious if you were Beckey). Although, I've found the lack of direction is sometimes nice for you are able to discover the hike on your own. I've also found that if there is a lack of direction, it usually doesn't matter what you do, you'll get to the top without much added danger.If you're a hard-core hiker looking for a challenge, this book is for you. If you plan on getting this book to JUST climb the direct route of Mt Baker or the Disappointment Cleaver route of Rainier, the Becky series would be overkill. His series really lets you explore every peak there is, not just the big 'classics'This book is not for the beginner. If you're not interested in mountaineering, alpine, or rock climbing, but still want to get outdoors, I HIGHLY Recommend the Foghorn Outdoors Wahington Hiking book instead of the "Beckey Bible". That is the best book, in my eyes, for Washington Dayhikes (plus many longer hikes too).Basically, if you call yourself a mountaineer in Washington, this book needs to be on your shelf.

This is third of three Alpine Guides that cover climbing routes mostly in the state of Washington. Most of these are beyond my ken. The first and most southerly I had since I was a kid, and used heavily. This was purchased mostly to complete the series, since I am no longer climbing. Fred Beckey, in this three volume set, defines how Alpine Guides should be written. They are the gold standard for what a climber might need who lives in the NorthWest.

Nicely written and full of historical information. The drawings and maps were good too.

Updates to the third edition of the famous Beckey climbing guidebook.

First of all, this is the "bible" - a comprehensive listing of routes, history and geology to the North Cascades and it is indispensable. The "red book" concentrates on the northernmost section, that above rt 20 (N Cascades Highway). In some form, this is a must-have for peak baggers in the area.However, if you already have the 2nd edition, you might not wish to automatically upgrade as I did. In contrast to the change from 1st edition to 2nd, when the book gained about 30% new material, I couldn't find any changes between the 2nd and third. Previously confusing passages still remained. Much of the approach information was still out of date. Clearly, there -is- some new material, since the book is now 15 pages longer, but this is less than a 4% increase.