Rainy Pass to Fraser River

Book excerpt: The godfather of North Cascades climbing updates the third of his seminal guides to this wild range. Included are 10 new topos, updated maps, over 100 photographs (75 with route overlays), route information and driving directions.Hikers, scramblers, serious climbers and Northwest rescue organizations, alike, have relied on Fred Beckey's Cascade Alpine Guides for decades to lead them through this wild mountain range. In addition to their comprehensiveness, the books provide a rare combination of aerial photos with route overlays, three-dimensional illustrated maps and climbing topos.The section of the North Cascades covered in this volume is roughly a pie-shaped area bounded by Hwy 97 and the Columbia River to the east, Lake Chelan to the west, and Hwy 20 to the north. Except for glaciers and some year-round snow fields, it's mostly dry, lonesome, open country, with beautiful granite spires jutting to the sky.