The approach along the Boulder Ridge Trail is difficult because the trail is only maintained about two miles to the wilderness boundary. From that point, the trail is steep, muddy and hard to follow, with a third-class scramble. Once you get there the climb is moderate and less crowded because of the difficult approach.

Climbers need experience navigating glaciers on this route, which has a short season due to a bergschrund that forms near the summit as the weather warms. Two miles into the climb Boulder Glacier route is in Mt. Baker Wilderness.