goatboy

The ones I climbed on were mossy, short, and dumb.

Sooo, that's at least two climbers bit by rattlers this spring/summer while IN THE ACT OF CLIMBING. Christ. What's next? see www.snakesonaplane.com for more info.

Off White, I think we were the couple chatting about trekking poles (on the trail, as we were going down and you were going up?) If so, good to meet you! Relative solitude in Boston Basin - Goatboy

cre-vass or cre-voss Munter or Munt-ner Shukshan or Shuxtan Espresso or Ex-presso

These are the best photos I've ever seen of the route -- that is to say, they show the actual character of the climbing more than any photos I've seen. Nice work! Thanks for the specific gear beta, too.

We DID stop at Good Food and go on to the Ranger Station but we were in a Subaru....

Great photos! That's a lovely campsite, isn't it? Such great weather, the views must have been wonderful.

Did you like the "pull-ups on tree roots" section?

Jerry, I've been eating bacon and drinking coffee all day...know how you feel! Good to meet you too, CBS. Looks like you guys got some stuff DONE this weekend, huh? Sharkfin, Forbidden, and Sahale? Is that right? We saw ya'll tromping up the Quien Sabe as we packed up Sunday morning....

Were you the party of two with the Megalight camped on the snow? If so, then yes. I hope the climb was good for you guys! We certainly enjoyed it. The schrund-crossing was "spicy," eh?

Climbed it on July 1 and found the schrund crossing to be "interesting." For me, it was nice to have two tools to surmount this section. The biggest concern was knocking big ice blocks down onto my belayer, which I managed to avoid.

Climb: Forbidden Peak, all to ourselves?-West Ridge Date of Climb: 7/1/2006 Trip Report: Foreword: My wife Tamara has attempted to climb Forbidden a number of times before this weekend, being shut down repeatedly by bad weather or inability to get a permit after driving all the way from Portland. Now we live in Seattle and are much more within striking distance... Premise: We decided to brave the crowds we were certain would swarm into Boston Basin over the holiday weekend, and I left Seattle Thursday night to be first in line for a permit Friday morning at 7:00 when the ranger opened the door in Marblemount. Friday: Got permit at 7 AM and waited for wife to finish up work in Seattle that morning. She arrived in Marblemount around noon, and we charged ourselves with french fries from Good Food before shouldering heavy packs and hiking in the afternoon heat up to the low camp in Boston Basin. Took a leisurely 3 hours to get arrive at camp in early afternoon. Sunset colors were nice, and the views of Jo'berg and the basin were spectacular as always... Johannesberg Sahale and Quien Sabe Glacier Sharkfin Tower Boston Peak glowing red with sunset colors I slept well that night, awakened periodically by Tamara's shrieks as mice continued to run through her hair and over her face all night, at one point actually entering her sleeping bag, much to her dismay. Saturday: Alarm goes off at 3:30 AM and I am awake, making coffee and oatmeal. We leave camp by 4:45 or so. The morning is calm and blue, and the dull pink glow in the sky gives way to first light playing over Torment, touching on Sahale, drifting over Jo'berg. We paused in the cold wind near the high camp to take advantage of the composting toilet there and rehydrate a bit...here's Tamara climbing up to me with Sahale in the background: From here, our objective lay clearly before us, though we wondered what the couloir would be like, having heard that it was melting out fast... As we approached the couloir, it looked okay from below...perhaps 40-degrees or so and reasonably firm. ...but we decided to rope up so we could tackle any problems head on rather than roping up in the middle of the difficulties. After crossing a few snowbridges over glide-cracks, we encountered an appreciable bergschrund about 300 feet up the couloir. I have no photos showing it from below, but it was passable only by some mixed climbing on the left wall of the couloir. This entailed manteling on rock, sinking one tool into thin alpine ice along the left margin where snow met rock, scratching for purchase in steep sugar snow above, and committing upwards. A few moves like this and the difficulties were over, though it was quite exciting for 15 feet or so...from here, I ran the rope out to a rappel station just above and brought Tamara up to me. She had no problem pulling though the moves. Then, she lead up the remainder of the couloir, climbing some improbably steep snow and an aesthetic snow arete to top out: Soon enough, we were on the ridge crest, climbing the sun-warmed Skagit Gneiss, our only company on the ridge a friendly Marmot who followed us up and down the ridge: Tamara lead the entire West Ridge in two very efficient simul-climbing pitches, generously pausing at the West Summit so I could get in a token lead to the true summit. Here I am, posing with this friendly goat who joined us on top: We had the summit all to ourselves, and in fact, had the entire West Ridge all to ourselves. There were some climbers coming up the East Ridge, but we were gone from the summit by the time they came into view (note climber wearing red rappelling off the big gendarme): The North Face of Buckner looked to be in very straightforward condition, though the North Face Couloir approach appeared to be complicated by the Bergschrund beneath it: We descended via a combination of rappelling and simulclimbing. There are three rappels you can do in close proximity to each other, which sets you up for pretty easy simul-climbing all the way back to the West Ridge notch: Soon, we were rappelling the couloir. Two ropes proved very helpful for this descent: Soon enough, we were back in camp and ready for a big burrito dinner. I believe it was about 14 hours, camp to camp...we were hungry, thirsty, and proud of our great day, and especially grateful to have had this wonderful peak all to ourselves on this glorious, warm blue day. Sunday: Hiked out and headed straight to the Skagit River Brewpub in Mt. Vernon....great IPA and a towering plate of nachos! Gear Notes: Pickets, two ropes, two tools each, light alpine rack with cams to 2", extra slings for long simul-climbing pitches Approach Notes: Trail is clear and good into Boston Basin. Route through deadfall sections much clearer now than in the past....Midas Creek crossing fine, contrary to climber's register at ranger station.

Scalping Enchantment permits on CC.Com! That's a new one on me. Maybe this should be my new job? And I don't even have a Ph. D or nuthin!

I'm having the same problem with mine...

Her name is "Little Wing." Here's a timeless photo!

...or did a long (dbl rope) rappel to the ground, grabbing the chains etc on the way down....

Been to Pinnacle....what do you want to know?

I thought I'd start a thread showing photos of snow levels, creek levels, etc. for the NC since many different threads tend to ask about such things. Please contribute more recent images if you have them. These are less than a week old... Snow levels at WA Pass area: Early Winters Massif: Black Horse Point from Hwy 20: Creek crossing at Early Winters Creek (en route to Burgundy) I have a bunch more -- PM me or ask if you'd like others.

Thanks Paul -- but that's the overview one which I mentioned I already have.

Great, thanks so much.

Hello, What's the best way to acquire maps of the Waddington Range if I live in the US? I have a big overview map of the area but looking for something comparable to the USGS 7.5 quads, if possible.

(sound of crickets chirping)....

I hear ya -- but how well is that strategy working so far???

I can see the value in this idea, thought it raises questions about managing it. Pickets tend to melt out, who would be responsible if the fixed line failed? Do parties going up have prioirity over parties going down it? Anyway, it would solve some problems while creating others...in the end, people need to have the judgment and skills to manage themselves on the terrain they choose to climb. Even a fixed line there could be mis-used or could create more traffic problems if not managed well.

In the recent Mt Hood accident, the KOMO website attributes the following quotes to some of the rescuers: It was a day when you should have been a little more cautious," he said. "They were doing eveyrthing right, but sometimes somebody slips. It's an accident, it's not anybody's fault." It was too icy for the trio to brake or halt their slide with their climbing equipment, Broms said. I wonder why the tendency is often to say that there was nothing wrong with the way people managed the climb rather than analyzing what happened and potentially learning from it. For example, in this case, it sounds like the conditions were icy, parties were climbing right above other parties, and a single slip brought down several rope teams. Couldn't we infer that in fact there were some other choices that folks could have made in that situation that would have prevented the accident? Such as placing running protection, waiting for other parties to clear out of the chute, etc???