Mountaineering Skills for Claude Code

Automated mountain route research for North American peaks, built for Claude Code.

Quick Start • How It Works • Features • Recent Updates • Installation • Support

Simply ask Claude to research any mountain, and the route-researcher skill aggregates data from 10+ specialized mountaineering sources to generate detailed Markdown route beta reports. Each report includes current weather forecasts, avalanche conditions, daylight calculations, synthesized trip reports, and detailed route information - transforming 3-5 hours of manual research into a 3-5 minute automated workflow with safety-first documentation and explicit information gap tracking.

Example Reports:

• Mount Si - Popular 4,167 ft front-range hike with 3,150 ft elevation gain. Great example of a heavily-trafficked trail with abundant trip reports.

• Mount Adams (South Climb) - Washington's second-highest peak at 12,280 ft. Glaciated volcano climb with 6,700 ft elevation gain, showcasing weather forecasts, freezing level alerts, and avalanche conditions.

• Wolf Peak - Challenging 5,813 ft scramble with exposed Class 3-4 summit block. Demonstrates route analysis for technical terrain with limited trip report data.

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Quick Start

Start a new Claude Code session in your terminal and run:

% claude
> /plugin marketplace add dreamiurg/claude-mountaineering-skills

> /plugin install mountaineering-skills@mountaineering-skills-marketplace

Restart Claude Code. Then simply ask:

"Research Mount Rainier"

Claude will automatically generate a detailed route beta report in your current directory.

Key Features:

• 🏔️ Multi-Source Research - Aggregates data from 10+ mountaineering websites
• 📍 Current Conditions - Weather forecasts, avalanche reports, daylight calculations
• 🌦️ Detailed Reports - Route descriptions, trip reports, permit information
• ⚠️ Quality Validation - Automated review checks for consistency and accuracy

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How It Works

The route-researcher skill follows a seven-phase workflow to generate complete route beta reports:

graph TB
    Start([User asks Claude to<br/>research a peak]) --> Search[Phase 1: Peak Identification<br/>Search PeakBagger database]
    Search --> Match{Multiple<br/>matches?}
    Match -->|Yes| Confirm[Ask user to confirm<br/>correct peak]
    Match -->|No| Info
    Confirm --> Info[Phase 2: Peak Information<br/>Fetch elevation, coordinates,<br/>location, prominence]

    Info --> Parallel[Phase 3: Parallel Data Gathering<br/>Execute 8+ tasks simultaneously]

    Parallel --> Routes[Route Descriptions<br/>SummitPost, WTA,<br/>AllTrails, Mountaineers]
    Parallel --> Weather[Weather Forecasts<br/>Open-Meteo API<br/>7-day forecasts]
    Parallel --> Avy[Avalanche Conditions<br/>NWAC, regional<br/>avalanche centers]
    Parallel --> Day[Daylight Calculations<br/>Sunrise, sunset,<br/>alpine start times]
    Parallel --> Stats[Ascent Statistics<br/>PeakBagger patterns<br/>seasonal analysis]
    Parallel --> Reports[Trip Reports<br/>Discover & rank by<br/>content quality]
    Parallel --> Access[Access & Permits<br/>Trailhead info,<br/>regulations, fees]

    Routes --> Analyze
    Weather --> Analyze
    Avy --> Analyze
    Day --> Analyze
    Stats --> Analyze
    Reports --> Analyze
    Access --> Analyze

    Analyze[Phase 4: Route Analysis<br/>Synthesize data, identify hazards,<br/>calculate time estimates,<br/>document information gaps]

    Analyze --> Generate[Phase 5: Report Generation<br/>Create structured Markdown<br/>report file]

    Generate --> Review[Phase 6: Report Review<br/>Validate factual accuracy,<br/>fix inconsistencies,<br/>ensure quality]

    Review --> Save[Phase 7: Completion<br/>Save to working directory<br/>YYYY-MM-DD-peak-name.md]

    Save --> End([User receives detailed<br/>route beta report])

    style Start fill:#e1f5ff
    style End fill:#e1f5ff
    style Parallel fill:#fff4e1
    style Routes fill:#f0f0f0
    style Weather fill:#f0f0f0
    style Avy fill:#f0f0f0
    style Day fill:#f0f0f0
    style Stats fill:#f0f0f0
    style Reports fill:#f0f0f0
    style Access fill:#f0f0f0

Key Features:

• Parallel Execution: Phase 3 runs multiple data gathering tasks simultaneously for speed
• Graceful Degradation: Continues with available data if sources fail, documents gaps explicitly
• Two-Tier Fetching: Uses WebFetch first, automatically falls back to Cloudflare-bypassing tools when needed
• Quality Ranking: Prioritizes detailed trip reports over brief logs for better route insights
• Automated Validation: Phase 6 systematically reviews reports for factual accuracy and consistency

Installation

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed
• uv (optional, for Python tools)

Install Plugin

This repo contains both marketplace and skills. It add it to Claude Code, run the following commands:

% claude
> /plugin marketplace add dreamiurg/claude-mountaineering-skills
  ⎿  Successfully added marketplace: mountaineering-skills-marketplace

> /plugin install mountaineering-skills@mountaineering-skills-marketplace
  ⎿  ✓ Installed mountaineering-skills. Restart Claude Code to load new plugins.

The plugin installs Python dependencies automatically if uv is available. If not, see Manual Installation below.

Verify Installation

In any Claude Code session:

"What skills are available?"

You should see route-researcher listed.

Usage

Simply ask Claude to research a mountain peak:

"Research Mt Baker"
"Get route beta for Forbidden Peak"
"I'm planning to climb Sahale Peak, can you research the route?"

Claude will automatically invoke the route-researcher skill and generate a thorough route beta report in your current directory.

Generated Output

Reports are created as Markdown files in your current working directory (format: YYYY-MM-DD-peak-name.md) with complete route information, current conditions, weather forecasts, and trip reports. See Example Reports above for what the output looks like.

Features

Multi-Source Data Gathering

The skill aggregates information from multiple specialized mountaineering websites:

• PeakBagger: Peak information, coordinates, elevation
• SummitPost: Route descriptions, conditions, beta
• Washington Trails Association (WTA): Trail reports and conditions
• AllTrails: Trail information and reviews
• The Mountaineers: Route guides and resources
• Weather: Mountain-Forecast.com, NOAA/NWS point forecasts
• Avalanche: Regional avalanche centers (NWAC, etc.) when applicable
• Trip Reports: Multiple sources including CascadeClimbers, PeakBagger, Mountain Project

Note: The quality of the generated report depends on the availability of peak information on these sources. If your target peak lacks coverage on these websites, the skill may produce limited output. The skill works best for well-documented peaks in North America.

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Recent Updates

v3.5.0 (2025-11-07)

• automate CHANGELOG to README synchronization

v3.4.0 (2025-11-07)

• add automated report review and validation

v3.3.0 (2025-11-06)

• add example route beta reports for Mount Adams and Wolf Peak

v3.2.0 (2025-10-24)

• expand geographic scope from Pacific Northwest to North America

v3.1.0 (2025-10-24)

• upgrade peakbagger-cli to v1.7.0 and restructure skill workflow

View complete changelog →

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Graceful Degradation

If data sources are unavailable:

• Skill continues with available sources
• Notes missing data in "Information Gaps" section
• Provides manual check links
• Always generates a report, even with partial data

Dependencies

PeakBagger CLI

Uses peakbagger-cli to retrieve peak information and trip reports from PeakBagger.com. Version pinned to v1.7.0 for stability.

Python Tools

Includes Python utilities for weather forecasts, avalanche conditions, and daylight calculations. See [skills/route-researcher/tools/README.md](skills/ro