Eric T

From the summit to the col is strait forward; either rap from obvious tat or down climb to save time to the col. To get to the glacier from the Forbidden's West Col one would walk down hill to the south and angle half right. In 75 meters you'll come to a draw or gully. Not to be confused with the ascent gully that would be to your left and have snow in it. There is a piece of bright off yellow tat not to far down even thought you could scramble down 4th and third class stuff to the next tat and maybe the one after that. On the third or fourth rap you'll cross a vertical section of cliff with no tat at the bottom. You go to rapplers right in a gully and scramble down to the last tat that gets you across the shrund and onto the glacier. IMHO this decent is the most dangerous place on the route. Multiple parties rapping at the same time through the tat is an invitation for trouble. There's lots of loose rock and it's easy to get it moving underfoot or with the rope.

Shaun and Chris, congratulations on sending hard at CBR! You two have put the hard work in this season. Shaun and Jens, way to rock Mt. Stuart! Sj, you're lucky they don't charge by the route around here or you'd be broke....CCC

Wow! That looks awesome!

Jason, Great to hear from you. We did see a team on the North Ridge and I did snap some pics. Is this you? Please post on your route with lots of good beta so we can climb it too.

How icy were the snow traverses? Soft enough for Alu crampons? Did you approach via the South ridge or SE face of Torment? The first traverse was soft and easy, the second started mushy in the sunned portion but as you move to the north side it became firm snow then very firm snow. Your aluminum's will be fine. Chris said "Those were the most solid snow pickets I've ever set." We chose the South Ridge because the shrund under the south face looked wide, but I didn't actually poke my head in it or get a good view from above. The south face looked very climbable and fun. Have fun up there! Your weather looks great.

Would you recommend bringing a screw or two for the WI2 to gain the ridge? Was there a good spot to gain the ridge without a bunch of moat issues? Hi Val, A screw wouldn't be a bad idea, it's definitely ice. The moat wasn't bad; we got under the ridge below the ice and ascended the ice 200 meters climbers right of the ridge. We then moved climbers left or south to gain the side of the ridge. The snow and rock touched at a point and stepping across was no big deal. Good move on carrying over! Val have fun out there; looking forward to seeing your pics!

Ivan, we'll have to bring more whiskey next time...lol Shaun, thank you. It's been my pleasure. Chuck, I tell you what. It was that kinda day..lol....I saw my Mom and told her we epiced on Mt.Goode. She said, "O good honey". lol

Trip: Boston Basin - Torment Forbidden Traverse Date: 8/25/2012 Trip Report: Chris Cox and I climbed the Torment Forbidden Traverse on the 25th and 26th of August. I saw the other recent trip report and post this TR so others can enjoy some photos and hear about the great vibe on the ridge last weekend. We left the car just after 7am on Saturday morning and headed for Boston basin. The trail is a little overgrown but fine. Chris and I saw a small Black Bear at the 6200ft level just below the center of the traverse. The glacier under Mt. Torment was mellow and went fast delivering us to the ascent gulley, with no shrund, where we met Andrea belaying at the col and Amanda leading on rock above. We continued climbing and met the Team of Jr Storms and Clive just below the Torment summit and joined them on top for views and hellos. All three parties made it over to the notch to repel on to the ice below. The mood was light and everyone was having fun and enjoying the company. The others let Chris and I rap first which was very cool. Chris and I moved past the first snow traverse and across the rock to the second snow traverse which is more serious than the first. We took a break to size it up and Jr and Clive came past us and rocked the second traverse. They kinda sandbagged it for me because they did it so fast. I later learned they are very experienced on the Ice and have done stuff like Liberty Ridge. Chris and I finished the traverse and started looking for a bivy site. We found a great platform that needed a little house cleaning and we were home. In the morning Andrea and Amanda joined us for breakfast and refilled their water from the small pool Clive carved out of the ice. All three teams were stoked to have the sidewalk and the West Ridge in the day’s agenda. We left relaxed and staggered and enjoyed the climbing. We again met at the notch and the summit of Forbidden. Jr and Clive chose to descend the ascent gully; I didn’t see them go that way but I could hear their voices below. (They later told us the gully was knar-bar and they should have rapped the other route.) We joined forces with the Ladies and decided to leap frog down the tat to the glacier in one of the gullies to skier’s right. This involved down climbing across third and fourth class rock with loose stuff. I was glad Jr and Clive weren’t below us because we were sending a lot of rock down. We finally rapped across the shrund and onto the ice which started the race for the BBQ caboose in Marblemount. Jr. and Clive were already eating when we arrived and had told the Peeps we were coming and to wait, which they did to my great delight. They make a fabulous Beef Brisket Sandwich! These two days were made special by stellar climbing in great weather but most of all by the incredible people we got to share this experience with. Thanks Chris for an unforgettable weekend! Gear Notes: Single rack to 3, 60m rope, one ice ax, one ice tool, crampons and two snow pickets. Jr and Clive brought two ice tools each and no pickets. Andrea and Amanda brought one ice ax each, no pickets, and skipped the second snow traverse for the rock. All depends on your style. Approach Notes: Marblemount to Cascade Pass Rd to Boston Basin Trail Head.

Trip: Mt. Goode - NE Buttress Date: 8/16/2012 Trip Report: Dave Back and I climbed the NE Buttress of MT. Goode on the 16th and 17th of August 2012. As much as I’d like to think this TR is for catharsis, it’s really a confession. I hesitate to use the word “Epic” but for lack of a better description we’ll go with that. We left Grizzly Camp at 6am on Thursday and headed two miles up the trail and found a place to cross the creek. That commenced the 3000ft climb up to the ridge over 3rd class rock slabs and some slide alder bush whacking. That brought us to the nose of the glacier which in late season was very icy and crevassed. I lead a pro less pitch of WI2 to get us to the rock ridge. Dave and I chose to simu-climb the rock ridge to the summit in blocks trading off the lead every so often. Dave admitted to me that he forgot his food so we decided to share mine. We made the summit at 4pm and after a snack some pics and a discussion about the decent we started the raps back to the notch and made it over to the decent gully. Tat is not hard to find and that was going smoothly. I recommended we traverse under the summit block to get to the Storm king-Goode Col which was an error. After traversing 5 pitches we found ourselves on another rock route and decided to rap it to the glacier and continue our traverse at a lower elevation. Being out of water and about to run out of light we weighed our options. We could carry on in the dark, drop into the valley and walk the trails back around the Mountain (14miles), or shiver biver till dawn with a small fire. We elected option three and dropped down to the wood line to get some wood for a small fire. I then discovered that I had left my food on the summit (lol) and now we were food less. The night was almost windless so we caught little bits of sleep as we tossed, turned and shivered. We were up packed and moving at first light. It took us a good hour to make it to the Col. When I peaked over the edge I told Dave, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is, we’re in the right place. The bad news is, the glacier looks knar-bar.” After rapping across the shrund we started front pointing down steep snow and ice. We had to head back to the rock where we found tat to rap across another cravasse. The next crevasse had to be jumped and committed us to continuing down the glacier. Multiple ice bridge crossings and some creative route finding got us off the glacier and onto rolling boulders. Thanks Dave for your cool head and determination on that ice! I then managed to do a full blown Wile E. Coyote crash on the rocks, landing with my left leg folded under me and my chin smacking a boulder…lol. After a short recovery we kept moving down over the 3000 feet of entry slabs, waterfalls and intermittent cliffs. We set four of our own tats and found one. This brought us back to the stream crossing more slide alder and two miles of trail back to camp. In our 34 hour push we had eaten 1 snickers bar, 1 shot blocks and 1 gu packet. This was the kind of experience that tests partnerships and Dave and I came out the other side a stronger and more experienced team. Dave, next time you get a crazy idea like that, please call me first because I’d stand in line for this….lol I loved every minute of this experience and it was one of my best climbs this year! If you head up to do Mt Goode take the advice an expert climber gave me… “Get up early and move fast; it’s big country up there.” Gear Notes: Single rack to three, 60m rope, crampons, ice ax. Approach Notes: We hiked in via the Bridge Creek trail head on Hwy 20 and it was 13 miles to Grizzly camp.

Trip: Crystal Lake Spire SW Rib - Date: 8/12/2012 Trip Report: Rumors have been swirling about this Crystal Lake Spire. First I saw this post from OlympicMtnBoy (I like his sense of humor) http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1075299 and then I heard that Jens and Dave Back had been up there. When Dave asked me if I wanted to head up with him I was all smiles. The hike up Ingalls Creek is shaded and mellow and the uphill portion wasn’t bad. Once in the basin you’re not only alone but right under Crystal Lake Spire, Nightmare Spires and the Flag pole ridge/Little Annapurna. There are no permits to get and it’s very Enchantment like. Dave and I jumped on Crystal Lake Spire the first morning and soloed the first third of the tower. We roped up for a great corner that went 5.9 and simu-climbed another third of the route after that pitch. We found some more nice cracks further up that went 5.7 and were very quality. We then traversed around a tower, crossed a knife edge ridge and went up a fun slab to the summit block. The last pitch is fun 5.8 in great position. The second day we went up for a recon climb of the Nightmare Spires and had a ball. We don’t think anyone has done the complete Nightmare ridge from bottom to top and it would make for an impressive climb. It would be at least 5.10 Grade IV. This area has a ton of potential and deserves a lot more attention. Finding water may be an issue in late season, we walked 15 minutes uphill to a trickle which I’m sure is gone now. Lots of fire wood though. Gear Notes: Double rack, single rope. Approach Notes: Head 7.7 miles up Ingalls Creek, turn right up Crystal Creek and head 2.5 miles up, look for cairns.

Trip: Mt. Triumph - North East Ridge 5.7 Date: 8/8/2012 Trip Report: Whitney Clark and I climbed the North East Ridge of Mt. Triumph (5.7) on the 7 and 8th of August. We took the Thornton Lakes trail (2500ft) which climbs to (4900ft) and then drops down to (4500ft) at Thornton Lake. Here the trail becomes a scratch to the upper lake and then a climbers trail up to the Col at (5850ft) where we spent the night. We overslept and didn’t leave the Col until 8am. The Glacier was in good condition and we crossed to the base of the ridge with no difficulties, where we left our ax and crampons. After seeing the ridge we chose to solo up to the fifth class portion which was quite enjoyable. We broke the rope out for the crux pitches and swung three leads with Whitney taking the crux. We then unroped and soloed to the summit. Weather in the form of thunder storms had been encroaching from the south all day and that made our stay at the summit brief. We down climbed back to the ridge proper and began the raps off of some of the most generous tat I have ever seen. On the decent Whitney asked me “Eric, do you hear that buzzing?” I did hear a faint buzzing and Whitney exclaimed my “hair is standing on end.” When I looked back up, her hair was indeed standing strait out to each side. We really got a move on at that point. Things were much better at the base of the ridge where we found water seeping from snow to drink. We the crossed the glacier back to the Col and arrived at 3:30pm making our round trip in 7 and a half hours. Whitney told me she wished she had more Female climbing partners. If there are any tradical Women that would like to climb with Whitney PM me here and I’ll pass your info to her. Gear Notes: One rope, 6 cams to 2 inches, crampons and ax. Approach Notes: Thornton Lakes trail

Wow! Good job Jens and Shaun!

Great work Beau.....you're missed around Leavenworth!

Thanks Luke! Please send the full size pic, I'm smithrock@gmail.com... FNSA it is, you'll have to join us next time... The link below is for all out of the "Ginger Loop" http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ginger

Trip: Aasgard Pass - The Valkyrie Date: 7/7/2012 Trip Report: Grant Sutherland and I climbed The Valkyrie on Aasgard Pass, Saturday July 7th. We thought it would be a great way to beat the nearly 100 degree heat in Leavenworth. We conducted our business car to car; and that took all day. As far as we know this was the fourth accent of this new route established by Blake "The Man that's never said Take" Herrington and his buddies Scott and Graham. Thanks guys! Here is the link to their TR with a good topo. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1073502 The Valkyrie is a 6 pitch 5.10 with sustained and varied climbing on great rock. The Valkyrie is an instant classic, just add climbers. This was the first trip together for Grant and I, both being Red Heads we dubbed ourselves "Team Ginger". Grant has climbed Acid Baby more times than anyone so I was feeling pretty solid about him leading us on The Valkyrie. The cheep beer we stashed in the creek at 7am was a stroke of brilliance by 10pm. All told, we had a lotta fun! Thanks Grant! Gear Notes: Double set to 3" - 60m rope - no need for boots or snow gear, I copied Blake's gear notes. I would recommend a 4 and 5 if you're not comfortable on 25 feet of 5.10 off width. Approach Notes: 60 Left of Acid Baby, 2/3 of the way up Aasgard Pass A big Thanks to Wsutrenny for these last four photos taken from Aasgard Pass. Thanks to Luke Shy for this pic of Grant leading the final Traverse.