bush-in-sky

Hi all, Anyone have recent photos from the area or experience on the Torment - Forbidden Traverse? I just realized I asked the same question this time last year and the general response was that it was a bit early in the season and would likely still have too much unconsolidated snow for a reasonable level of comfort. With less snow this year I'm thinking it might be more feasible, but I don't know where the dividing elevation is between low snow and more typical snow. Thanks in advance. -Seth

Thanks

Nice report and pictures. We're looking to head there this weekend and thinking of bivying on the route - was there much in the way of snow higher on the route for water? Thanks

Nice TR - glad the route went well. I'm thinking of joining a few friends on this route in a few weeks. From the SuperTopo description it sounds like the belay stances aren't that large. Do you think a party of 3 would be annoyingly uncomfortable for this climb? Or just result in some enforced bonding experiences? Thanks

Thanks for all the pictures and suggestions. Good to have a visual for what nearby peaks currently look like. We talked to one of the rangers who read us several W Ridge Forbidden reports, but didn't have much insight on torment-forbidden. We'll try again Monday but probably err on the side of there being more snow currently than we'd like for that route and set our sights elsewhere for now. Seth

Hey, Anyone been on the Torment - Forbidden Traverse or been in Boston Basin recently? Thinking about going up next weekend but haven't seen too many reports from this early in the season and I'm worried about excessive snow on the rock portions of the route. Had the opposite problem on my last attempt but that was in September a few years ago. Any beta appreciated, thanks. -Seth

I recently bought a dslr with the intent of bring it with me on climbing and skiing trips (so a not insignificant chance of dropping and damaging/never seeing it again, water damage, etc.). I thought I'd be able to get a rider on my renter's insurance policy, but when I called they said nothing they had would cover against accidental damage. Reading online it looks like there are "Personal Article Policies" available from places like State Farm, though I don't know yet if they'll do that as a stand alone policy. Anyone climb or ski regularly with cameras that are insured? Or are you either confident in your ability to not destroy it or ok with replacing it out of pocket? Thanks, thought I'd ask before I wasted too much more time reading random photo forums.

Thanks for the input. The Cirque of Towers definitely looks appealing, as does the Titcomb basin in the Winds. The Sawtooths look cool, but maybe without quite as many long moderates as I'm hoping for. Agreed on the late season conditions in the Bugs being something to consider. I'll see how the weather shapes up in the next week. tvash, maybe we'll see you in the Winds. Certainly looks like no shortage of rock.

Hi all, I'm looking to take the first week of September off to climb for a week. I'm still sorting out partners, but I've been mainly looking at either heading to the Bugs or the Wind River Range, neither of which have I climbed at before. Depending on who I end up climbing with we should be good up to ~5.9 in the alpine. Anyone with experience at those places have thoughts about which would provide a better all-around experience, in terms of quality of climbing, amount of long routes, feistiness of local goats, etc.? I know those are subjective questions, but while I've lusted over the thought of climbing in the bugs for a while now, I'm a little worried about it being late in the season there and I don't know much about the Wind River as a backup. Any other places I should consider w/in a day's drive of Seattle? I'm looking at having ~9-10 days with which to play, including travel. Thanks, Seth

I assume you're asking about Ulrich's. We descended it by mistake in late August 2010 - I definitely would have wanted an ice axe and crampons, but I'm probably biased because I slipped and fell while descending a portion of steeper snow. It was late in the afternoon and the snow was soft on top but not soft enough to plunge step (especially in trail runners). I suspect if it had been sunny instead of cloudy and windy/snowing it would have been easier going. As it was I hurt my knee but narrowly avoided a much longer and less pleasant ride. After the upper section with a few portions of steep snow we encountered a few short cliffed out sections that we couldn't find a scramble down, but were able to rap off of trees. It probably didn't take that much longer than the cascadian, but it was certainly less straightforward. I think just having an ice axe would have been sufficient. As for the Cascadian - I think there's more recent beta available, but I descended it 3 weeks ago when there was still enough snow to plunge step for ~1500 ft. Probably about melted out by now.

Having done both Ulrich's and CC, I wouldn't recommend Ulrich's. We ended up having to rap 3-4 times. Cascadian went much quicker, even if you are sliding in dirt half the time.

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1107925#Post1107925

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1107844/Camera_found_on_Eldorado_E_Rid#Post1107844

Headed to Squamish this weekend, so can't swing Index. Another time. I'll take good care of your nut in the meantime (by which I mean use it... I left mine as part of a rap anchor the week after I found yours, so it kinda sorta worked its way into my set of nuts - that cool?). But anytime you want it back and are in Seattle or if we happen to cross paths while climbing, it's yours.

Agreed, the fin (at least our route up it) didn't get into 5.9+++ territory. Since we didn't climb the offwidth and that seems like the crux of the route (or at least I built it up to be the crux in my mind), I can't really speak to the route as a whole. I definitely don't recommend the route we took on the right side of the lower ridge. Jesse sort of mentions it, but the combination of loose rock, difficult protection, and ice made our fourth pitch fairly unpleasant, and I was only following that one.