snbrking

Trip: Forbidden Peak - West Ridge Trip Date: 07/22/2019 Trip Report: Myself and my climbing partner climbed Forbidden Peak via the West Ridge on Sat/Sun. We ascended through the snow couloir, which seems like it will still be in for at least another week and maybe more. The couloir isn't as steep as I expected, and can be ascended using a normal glacier ice axe. We wore approach shoes with crampons, and that was fine (another team said they used micro spikes for the snow couloir and wished they had crampons). That was the route we descended and it was fast and easy. It took us a while to ascend/descend the ridge because we took an extra cautious approach and belay climbed the ascent (vs simul climbing) and rope rappelled the descent (vs down climbing or simul climbing). We left a few slings for rappels where there wasn't already a belay station setup on the ridge, and let an ascending party know the gear was new and theirs if they wanted it. A few folks at camp reported marmots chewing on tents and packs while people climbed, so we packed up on camp before we left in the morning and covered it all with descent size rocks. To pick up a backcountry permit for Boston Basin, we arrived at the ranger station at 6:25am (opens at 7:00). We were the second group in line and by 6:35am there were another 10-12 parties in line. Make sure you arrive early. Timing Wake-up: 3:00am Leave: 4:00am Arrive at ridge: 7:30am Arrive at summit: 12:30pm Leave Summit: 1:00am Arrive at camp: 7:30pm Arrive at car: 9:30pm Gear Notes: 70 meter rope (long rope helpful for rappels) Cams: .3, .4, .75, 1, 2 Nuts: Standard Slings: 8 singles, 3 doubles (I would do 5 singles and 6 doubles to have more extended clips to reduce rope drag) Crampons Carabiners: Carabiner for each cam and sling, plus 3 for nuts. Harness: I wore my BD couloir. It was great for the ascent and light to pack in. A bit uncomfortable for the rappels, but worth it. Approach Notes: To get from camp to the snow couloir we went climbers right (based on recommendation from another climber at camp), but you have to put on crampons pretty early for a steeper snow section. In hindsight, I would have ascended a little left of the middle, right up the rock slaps.