Russian Butte is a double-peaked mountain on the western edge of Washington’s Cascade Range in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Its runoff feeds tributaries of the Snoqualmie River above the Middle Fork valley, and it is especially striking for its dramatic local relief, rising nearly 4,300 feet above the river in just 1.5 miles. The mountain was formed by uplift, faulting, and repeated glaciation, with Pleistocene ice helping carve the area’s U-shaped valleys and leaving the steep terrain and rock debris seen today. In the region’s marine west coast climate, heavy winter snow creates avalanche danger, while July through September usually offers the best viewing and climbing conditions.