NW Mountain Shop and Guide Service
NW Mountain Shop and Guide Service
This week I went to see the new storefront for NW Mountain Shop and Guide Service. It is located on Highway 20 (The North Cascades Highway) here in Sedro-Woolley.
The new store is a place to do three things:
- You can buy mountaineering gear. They have boots and stoves and maps and jackets. Ice axes, trekking poles and a lot more.
- You can rent these items as well, crampons, boots, and other climbing gear is for rent. This is the closest place to rent gear anywhere near the North Cascades.
- They provide mountain guide services. If you would like a guided climb of Mount Baker, or Shuksan, or a list of other fantastic peaks here in the North Cascades, here is the place to contact.
They have a calendar of climbs for this year, and you can see here a list of the summits and dates planned.
I spent some time with the owner, Craig Van Hoy. Man, what a story he has! More than 50 countries visited, summited Mount Everest, as well as the tallest peaks on all 7 continents…Craig has done it all.
Here is a section of his bio from his web site:
Craig Van Hoy
It all came about after climbing one of the “smallest stepping stones”, Mount St. Helens in Washington State. Before that experience I was just an ordinary hiker. Putting on crampons, grasping an ice axe and tying into a rope put me into a whole new realm that of the Mountaineer. It wasn’t long before I was, “taking the next step” and asking what mountain should I climb now. In the late 1970’s I had my first invitation to climb in the Himalayas of Northern India. The word H-I-M-A-L-A-Y-A-S resounded in my mind and conjured up names of famous explorers like Sir Edmund Hillary and Jim Whittaker.
Since then I have traveled in over fifty countries around the world. I have climbed many peaks including Mt. Everest, the “Seven Summits”, and Mt. Rainier over 400 times. Much more then all the lofty summit are the PEOPLE and the friendships along the way. Climbing mountains has been a “good excuse” to travel for me. I look forward to helping YOU find and adventure that is both rewarding and exciting. The mountains of the Pacific Northwest are a Great place to get started and from here who knows how far you end up going? Message by Craig
In 1989 Craig summited the world’s third highest mountain, Kangchenjunga (28,169 ft.) as part of the First Successful American expedition, without using supplemental oxygen. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Nepali. In Latin America he has guided many expeditions in Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina and Mexico. In 2013 Craig completed his 20th successful summit of Aconcagua and 53rd summit of Pico de Orizaba (more than any other American guide). As a year round guide in the summer months he enjoys guiding in The Pacific Northwest including his favorite mountain, Mount Shuksan in the North Cascades.
Mount Shuksan
It was a pleasure to meet Craig and I hope to hear more stories from him sometime soon!