Mark and Danny enthusiastically recounted their trip's itinerary and standout moments. Both said all students had improved their technical leadership skills immensely and had several chances to lead on technical rock, snow, and ice terrain.

The group went first to Leavenworth, a rock-climber's mecca located just east of the North Cascade crest on Hwy 2 which is known for its diverse climbing, excellent rock, and great weather. Mark said, "We spent the first three days at an area known as Icicle Canyon. We were very curriculum-oriented and focused on technical skills. Since all the students came into the course sound on their basic skills and ready to lead climb at some level, we did a couple of mock leads and then had the students do some real leads. On the fourth day, we went to an area called Castle Rock where we climbed Saber, a 3-pitch 5.4 climb. This was entirely student-led." Since the weather was pretty hot each day, Mark said the group went swimming in the river after climbing several times.

After leaving Leavenworth on the morning of the fifth day, the group drove north to the icy slopes of Mt. Baker. With two days worth of gear, they hiked for four miles to the base of the Coleman Glacier on Baker's north side. Mark said, "We basically went through all the same curriculum as we did in Leavenworth, but this time our medium was steep ice instead of rock. We worked on ice climbing technique, setting up belays, leading and placing ice screws, and multi-pitch transitions. We also worked a bit on steep snow travel, snow anchors, and belays, and practiced transitioning between glacier travel and steeper snow or ice climbing." After two packed days and two nights, the group hiked back to the van early in the morning on Day 7 and drove east on the North Cascades Highway to Washington Pass, where they planned to climb Silver Star Mountain.

At just under 9000 feet, Silver Star Mountain involves an ascent of a small glacier and several hundred feet of 3rd class scrambling. The plan was for the climb to be entirely led by the students, with guides watching out for any safety considerations. Danny recounts: "We first hiked up to the Burgundy Col, which is right at the base of the Silver Star Glacier. We started hiking at 5pm, so we arrived at the col around 8:30 or 9pm where we set up a bivy and went to sleep. Since the climb was intended to be student-led, we (the guides) didn't set our alarms and relied on the students to wake us up, which they did. We then made a fairly quick ascent up to the summit of Silver Star in light snow and low-visibility conditions. The students did a great job leading the climb, and there were no problems. After summiting, we descended and hiked all the way out to the van parked on Hwy 20." The group then drove west to Marblemount where they spent the night in a "stellar" RV park that allowed them long, hot showers and a nice spot to pitch their tents. Before crashing for the night, they packed for the next day's travels to Boston Basin.

The next morning, which was Day 9 of the course, the group woke and traveled to the trailhead for Boston Basin. Boston Basin is a popular climbing area, lying at the heart of North Cascades National Park. It is known for the classic climbing routes that tower above on peaks such as Forbidden Peak, Mt Torment, Sahale Peak, Sharkfin Tower, and Boston Peak. For Danny and Mark's group, several of these peaks were objectives. From the Cascade River Road, the climbers hiked in to the basin and set up a high camp at 6400 feet. The next day, they woke and left camp at 5:30 for a classic route: the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak. Forbidden involves a variety of climbing skills, including ability to negotiate rock slabs, a glacier, a 60-degree snow slope, 3rd and 4th class scrambling, and one pitch of 5.6 climbing. The group made the summit in good time, then made several rappels to descend. This climb was partly led by students, and partly led by guides.

The next morning, the group split into two climbing teams. Danny and three students (Ryan, Mark, and Spencer) went to climb Sharkfin Tower. As was on Silver Star, the students were to lead the entire climb and, according to Danny, they performed well yet again. Danny said, "There was first a somewhat tricky loose gully approach to an exposed traverse across the top of some cliff bands. After that, we reached the col between Sharkfin and Boston Peak, and did one pitch of low 5th class traversing to get to the base of the southeast ridge, one 100-foot pitch of 5.0 climbing on an exposed ridge, and one last full rope-length traverse to gain the summit."

The rest of the students went with Mark to climb Sahale Peak. Again, this was student-led. They had a successful climb, and on the way up, both teams were able to see each other across the basin on their respective climbs - one team on Sharkfin and one on Sahale.

On Day 12, the course's last day, the group broke camp, walked out of Boston Basin to the van, then drove the two hours back to AAI's headquarters where the course officially ended. Both guides said this was an extremely full and rich course, with lots of climbing and learning about technical leading on alpine routes. Two students, Ryan and Miguel, have gone on to Part 3 of the Alpine Mountaineering and Technical Leadership program, and they are currently rock climbing the Bugaboos region of British Columbia, Canada.