Northwest Mountain School

Went out yesterday with my fiancé to learn trad leading. I was searching for a company that was able to tailor a course to our needs. Our guide was Matt and he covered everything we were looking to learn with many extra little gear tips and climbing techniques. We started the day off learning how to place gear on the ground, then did a few mock leads on top rope where each piece was evaluated and went over. We plan plan on going out again soon for some multi-​pitch climbing.
I highly recommend this guide service, all contact was done with Olivia, the owner, and was fast and easy.

i wanted to return to mixed alpine climbing after 20 years away from the sport. I also wanted to do more than a walk up route. These folks are very service oriented and low ego. They put together a custom program for me and paired me with a world class trad climber. Two days of practice climbs, including following the guide on a first ascent, and then a climb of Shark Fin tower in the north cascades. Terrific. These folks «get it» about european style guiding and about providing the best possible experience. Highly recommended.

I wanted to do Mt. Adams last year. This guide service offered group and custom climbs up the mountain. I decided to hire a guide for myself to help me with the overnight on the mountain and the rather steep snow near the false summit. One of the owners (Olivia) helped me through the process of getting things together and selecting a guide to help me. E-​mails were almost always answered within 24 hours. On the day of the climb, the guide met me and helped me through gear check, the permit process and then we were off to the trailhead. He had already guided someone else up Adams the day before and now he’s doing it again!
The guide was great. Really helpful, never pushed, always time for pictures, he set up camp, cooked dinner and taught some climbing basics. All I had to do was climb and take pictures. Got to the top (near perfect day) and was able to slide down almost all the way back to camp saving a couple of hours of downclimbing.
Prices for your own personal guide is about the same as a nice hotel room at the beach. Sounds costly, but for what they do, they take all the worry out of climbing mountains if your’re not a pro. It does get noticably cheaper if you add a 2^nd or 3^rd climber to your party. They also do a lot of different mountains and peaks in Washington state and I’m having a hard time figuring out which one to do next this year.
The only nit-​pick is that I wish I was able to test fit the rented equipment before the climb. Other than that, it might as well be a 5 star review.