leejams Posted July 20, 2003 Posted July 20, 2003 Climbed this awesome rte on Saturday with Alpinetom. Drove up Friday night arriving at the trailhead by midnight to get an early start by 6ish which we figured to be plenty of time. Real good beta here, DON'T bivvy here as climbing party's are getting up by 2 a.m. and on. We finally gave up on getting any sleep and by 5:45 were on our way with about 2-3 hrs sleep for us This was the first time for me to be in Boston basin and amazed at the many different zones you go through on this trip. A green zone at the bottom,timber zone, then opens up to the basin and amazing green meadows with wildflowers everywhere, then onto the glacier zone, a short steep snow couloir and onto the granite zone to the summit. A very fun climb, we soloed the entire rte up and down except the 2 pitch's in the middle that we put a couple pieces in going up, and rapped these 2 pitches coming down. I think 2 light 30M ropes would be perfect for this rte. Downclimbing the couloir was the best option and great for frontpointing. We noticed going down that the couloir during the day had actually split into 2 parts now and will be quite interesting in a week or so. Got sidetracked in the avvie debris and was so frustrating and good to see our park fee's that we pay at good work here! This rte rocks and of course now scoped out a bunch more climbs in the area to do. Quote
geordie Posted July 20, 2003 Posted July 20, 2003 Thought I'd bring back this quote from last summer (by ncascadesranger) The avalanche debris: Given that the route into BB is in the "cross-country zone" classification the Park will not automatically clear this debris, as it would have if that avalanche had hit the nearby Cascade Pass trail (in the maintained constructed trail classification). The management plan for this Wilderness states that most of it will be free of human manipulation (from trail construction to tramways) and again, we find that most North Cascades users want it that way. When mother nature splashs a little more risk and challenge into the experience in the form of unpleasant debris to cross, the NPS can't get subjective about what the Wilderness Plan dictates. However, nothing is 100% unchangeable in land management - it's your Park - and questions or most importantly comments, are best made to the ranger station in Marblemount and/or the Superintendent. Quote
Bug Posted July 21, 2003 Posted July 21, 2003 Where is Forbidden? I know it is in the north Casscades but I can't find it in the Becky guide. Looking for approach beta on the west ridge. Quote
chucK Posted July 21, 2003 Posted July 21, 2003 It's described in the Green Beckey guide, and Nelson and Potterfield Vol's 1 and 2. Forbidden is South of HWY 20, West of the Crest (or ON the crest perhaps), North of the Cascade River Road, East of Marblemount. map here smartass answer edited away Quote
Alpine_Tom Posted July 21, 2003 Posted July 21, 2003 Yeah, it was great fun. I trashed a boot on the hike out, and we got a bit lost in one of the tree avalanche on the way out, but other than that it was pure fun! A great climb, lots of exposure but not terribly technical. A funny bit: I saw a marmot up on the ridge at about 8600'. I can't imagine what he was doing there. The idea of sleeping in the parking area was mine, I had no idea it'd be that busy in the middle of the night. Sorry, Lee. Quote
ryland_moore Posted July 21, 2003 Posted July 21, 2003 Lee and Alpine_Tom, was that you two we saw first crossing the broken up glacier on the right side approaching the mouth of the couloir? You asked how much I weighed on the little snow bridge? Great route. We saw that Marmot at 8,600' as well. It took us a bit longer to get down and we ended up bivvying in the granite slabs Sat. night and going out in the light on Sun. morning. Excellent climb! The approach was definately harder than any of the climbing, but in a week or so, the couloir will be out of condition and one may have to revert to the 5.6 slab variation to the left. The snow was super soft, but thanks to Lee and Tom, they kicked in som pretty nice steps for us on the way up the couloir! Also, saw a huge avalanche (serac fall?) coming off North Face or NW Face of Torment. Almost made it all the way down to the lake. Quote
leejams Posted July 21, 2003 Author Posted July 21, 2003 RM, yepper that would be Tom that asked how much you weighed in at. Did you notice that he is a bit heavier than me and I let him go first Was that an awesome climb or what? We saw that avvie as well coming down and just amazing. Seemed like the crevasses ate up all the debris as I would have thought it would have made it to the lake. Quote
Bug Posted July 21, 2003 Posted July 21, 2003 chucK said: It's described in the Green Beckey guide, and Nelson and Potterfield Vol's 1 and 2. Forbidden is South of HWY 20, West of the Crest (or ON the crest perhaps), North of the Cascade River Road, East of Marblemount. map here smartass answer edited away What was the smartass comment. Quote
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