the north cascades photography.

Seriously, if there is anyone who enjoys photos of mountains that are beyond words this is THE site to visit (photography by John Scurlock). I stumbled upon it today from this site that lists out the top 100 highest peaks in Washington and has a lot of the photography from the first site–it is organized wonderfully, provides hi-res/exif/etc. of each image and, well, the photography is f'in breathtaking. The photo above is an aerial shot of the northwest face of Forbidden Peak during the winter. 

Can it be any clearer why I am totally head-over-heels in love with this mountain range called the North Cascades? Incredible beyond description. I cannot get enough.

Here is a shot of Maude's north face (just climbed two weekends ago, albeit not in winter). Yes, umm, quite impressive.

And endless. Absolutely endless.

OK, there are thousands of images but how about this last one of Boston Peak, behind of which can just be seen the north face of Buckner. I cannot wait to climb Buckner literally I am crawling out of my skin to take in the view across the expanse of the Boston Glacier (the largest in all of North Cascades National Park) and the Eldorado Ice Cap–glaciers as far as the eye can see.

Okay, okay one more–aerial shot of Eldorado Peak in the winter.

The standard climbing route follows the ridgeline on the lefthand side of the image up the Inspiration Glacier to the infamous knife-edge ridge (this link is the main site where there are more incredible photos of this guy's trip). That very photograph is wholly responsible for me having climbed Eldorado–once, stuck in a blizzard at our high camp on the Inspiration but successful on the second attempt making it car-to-car in a day. Now I just need to go back, climb it again and enjoy the changing light a bit rather than making a race of it (which was not our plan, but brought upon us by a ranger whose story I will not get into at the moment). What I would like to do is to summit in the evening, then descend back to high camp and enjoy the spectacle of being surrounded by ice caught by a setting and the next morning a rising sun.

Even that experience–actually all of my combined experiences–are just a fraction of a fraction of the essence of this range that has such an absolute grip on me. I cannot and will not ever be able to get enough.