Guided climbs · Mount Baker, 10,781 ft
Guided Mount Baker climbs, compared
The mountain American guides teach glacier travel on. Real crevasses, a short approach and a summit at the end of it — which is why nearly every Rainier and Denali prerequisite can be met here for around $1,150.
Start here
What kind of trip do you want?
Copied from each company’s own pages on Oct 20, 2026. Every “See dates” button opens the page we used. Where a page says which season a price is for, we show it. Prices change; the operator’s page wins if it disagrees with this one.
Free · no guide
Climb Mount Baker yourself
Everything above is for hiring a guide. If you have the skills, this is what you need to do it on your own, free. Facts come from the summit’s own page on PeakSeeker, with sources.
- Normal route
- Coleman-Deming Glacier route (north side) or Easton Glacier route (south side)
- Grade
- PD, glacier travel with crevasse navigation
- How long
- 2–3 days
- Best season
- May–September
- Permits
- Northwest Forest Pass required for trailhead parking (Heliotrope Ridge or Schriebers Meadow); climbers travel within Mount Baker Wilderness and Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
- Start from
- Heliotrope Ridge Trailhead
- Climb from there
- 7,175 ft (2,187 m) of ascent over 5.5 mi one way
- Getting there
- Bellingham, WA is the nearest city with an airport, about 30 miles west; Glacier, WA is the last services stop before the Heliotrope Ridge and Schriebers Meadow trailheads. Nearest airport: Bellingham International (BLI); Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) ~2.5 hrs away.
- Hazards
- Crevasses and seracs on the Coleman and Deming Glaciers, icefall near Colfax Peak and the Roman Wall, volcanic gases near Sherman Crater
- Gear
- Standard glacier travel kit — crampons, ice axe, harness, crevasse rescue gear; alpine touring or splitboard setup for the Coleman-Deming ski descent
Coleman-Deming Glacier route
Line from OpenStreetMap; profile approximate. Map and GPX download →
Sources: mountainguides.com ↗mountainmadness.com ↗kafadventures.com ↗
Read this before you pay a deposit
Baker is the cheapest place in North America to buy the skills that unlock everything else. A three-day course here runs $1,149–$1,295 and is what Rainier, Denali and most European operators mean when they ask for 'glacier travel and crevasse rescue'. Doing it on Baker rather than on the objective itself is a few thousand dollars cheaper.
Four programs sit at almost exactly $1,150, and they are not the same product. Mountain Madness includes transportation, tents and food. Pro Guiding lists guide fee, tents, stoves and fuel as not covered by the base price. Before comparing, ask each company what the number actually buys.
If you already move competently on a rope team, Kaf's $899 summit climb is the cheapest way up — but it requires their Mount Hood Skills Course or equivalent, so it is not a shortcut around the course, it is what you do after one.
Refund terms split sharply. Mountain Madness refunds everything but the registration fee down to 91 days. AAI keeps half your remaining tuition from 150 days out and all of it from 120. Kaf refunds all but 3% at 90+ days. On a $1,150 trip the difference is real money, and Pro Guiding publishes nothing at all.
- Unlike Rainier, Hood or Denali, Baker is not locked to a handful of concessioners. Several companies hold Forest Service special-use permits for the Mount Baker Wilderness, so the list below is the main operators rather than a closed legal list. mountainguides.com ↗
- Most programs climb the Coleman-Deming or the Easton Glacier. Both are glaciated and roped from low down, which is exactly why they are used for teaching — you cross real crevasse terrain rather than a snow slope. mountainmadness.com ↗
- Baker is where several companies' own prerequisites get met. Kaf requires its Mount Hood Skills Course or equivalent before its Baker summit climb, and the American Alpine Institute runs its Denali Prep course here rather than in Alaska. kafadventures.com ↗
The companies
Kaf Adventures
- Based
- Seattle, WA
- Programs
- 3
- Deposit
- 50% deposit at registration, balance due 90 days before the start. Trips starting within 90 days are paid in full.
- Refunds
- 90+ days: refund minus a 3% processing fee. 60–89 days: rebook within a year, full credit, or 50% refund minus 3%. 30–59 days: 50% credit, no refund. 10–29 days: no refund, 50% credit — though the same page also says no refund or credit under 30 days, so it contradicts itself. If Kaf cancels: reschedule, or a full refund if rebooking isn't possible.
- Age
- 16+. Ages 16–17 need parent/guardian sign-off and guide-service approval.
Policy from: kafadventures.com, kafadventures.com, kafadventures.com, kafadventures.com
Mountain Madness
- Based
- Seattle, WA
- Programs
- 5
- Deposit
- The deposit contains a non-refundable registration fee (on its Bolivia and Mont Blanc trips that is $300 of a $700 deposit; the Baker figure was not published where we looked).
- Refunds
- Domestic trips: full refund less the non-refundable registration fee at 91 days or more before departure, and no refund at 89 days or less. Its own wording leaves day 90 unaccounted for — ask. International trips and Denali, Carstensz, Logan and Vinson use a 121/120-day cut-off instead. Full refund if Mountain Madness cancels for insufficient sign-ups.
Policy from: mountainmadness.com, mountainmadness.com, mountainmadness.com, mountainmadness.com
Pro Guiding Service
- Based
- North Bend, WA
- Programs
- 6
- Refunds
- Not published on the pages we could read. Get the schedule in writing before you pay.
- Private
- Custom dates available on request.
Policy from: proguiding.com, proguiding.com, proguiding.com, proguiding.com
American Alpine Institute
- Based
- Bellingham, WA
- Programs
- 2
- Deposit
- $500 registration fee on domestic programs, credited against tuition.
- Refunds
- Domestic programs: cancel more than 150 days out and AAI keeps the $500 fee, refunding the rest. 120–150 days: it keeps the fee plus half the remaining tuition. Inside 120 days: it keeps the whole tuition. Requests must be in writing and received by the deadline. AAI describes its partial refunds as discretionary, and Rainier is excepted entirely — no refund on any date unless your place is resold.
Policy from: alpineinstitute.com, alpineinstitute.com, alpineinstitute.com, alpineinstitute.com
International Mountain Guides
- Based
- Ashford, WA
- Programs
- 1
- Deposit
- $500 non-refundable registration fee at sign-up, credited against the total. Balance due 120 days before arrival.
- Refunds
- No schedule beyond the non-refundable registration fee was published where we looked.
Policy from: mountainguides.com, mountainguides.com
Get an email when bookings open
Baker courses fill from February for the summer. Get an email when we see new dates or price changes.
Before and after the trip
Most programs start in Glacier, Washington. Lodging is extra on nearly all of them.
Mount Baker on PeakSeeker → routes, live summit weather and permits.
More comparisons
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Sources
- mountainguides.com/pdf/Baker.pdf
- mountainmadness.com/trips/mount-baker-coleman-deming-glacier
- kafadventures.com/products/mt-baker-guided-climbs
- kafadventures.com/products/glacier-mountaineering-skills-course-1
- kafadventures.com/products/mt-baker-north-ridge-summit-climb
- kafadventures.com/pages/cancellations
- kafadventures.com/collections/mountaineering
- mountainmadness.com/trips/mount-baker-easton-glacier-climb
- mountainmadness.com/trips/mount-baker-4-day
- mountainmadness.com/classes/mount-baker-glacier-mountaineering-course
- mountainmadness.com/policies/trip-terms-and-conditions
- proguiding.com/trips/3-day-mount-baker-summit-climb/
- proguiding.com/courses/3-day-mountaineering-course-on-mt-baker/
- proguiding.com/courses/3-day-womens-mountaineering-course/
- proguiding.com/trips/3-day-mt-baker-north-ridge/
- proguiding.com/trips/3-day-mount-baker-ski-summit/
- proguiding.com/courses/alpine-ice-course-mt-baker/
- alpineinstitute.com/programs/mt-baker-skills-and-climb/
- alpineinstitute.com/programs/mt-baker-summit-on-skis-or-snowboard/
- alpineinstitute.com/programs/denali-prep-course/
- alpineinstitute.com/policies/terms-conditions/
- mountainguides.com/baker.shtml
- Each climb’s own page, linked from its “See dates” button.