ivan Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 for once i beat josh to the punch on the t.r. did this car to car on wednesday in 15 hours (so many flowers to stop and smell along the way) started up the trail at 7 a.m. passing the avy debris was far easier this time compared to last year. saw 3 other folks headed towards sahale. much less snow in the basin compared to the same time last year. annoying sliding around in the scree getting up to the east ridge, but fun climb from there. didn't feel like we were going slow, but didn't make the top until 5. did my first 5.8 alpine lead on the last gendarme...only took a minute after spending 5 trying to find my balls. descended the east side route. back to the packs at 620 (420 in hawaii). didn't want to waste time w/ crampons for the brief snowfield above the bedrock and paid the price. slipped, arresting only slowed the slide, and went down the whole 200 feet or so before smashing into the rocks. erased all the skin from the top of my right hand (jerking off now signicantly more painful) and made my parka rather bloody. made it below timberline as the sun was setting. headlamp developed a loose contact and blinked off and on incessantly. tired and stumbling the whole way out. christ that last part of the trail is steep as shit. on the drive home the old adage "the most dangerous part of any climb is the drive there" was reinforced. josh, hardman of the mountain that he is, turns into a wee lass when large bugs fly around his head. found this out while he was barreling down the top part of the cascade river road in a fine piece of german precision engineering...as he swats and thrashs at the air in anger, my balls leap into my throat as the car makes a beeline for the cliff and a sweet, rapid 500 foot descent. he recovers with 6 inches to spare. then, back on the paved byways of babylon, whilst checking his messages like the consumate ubber-yuppie he plays on television, we run down a fawn that zigs when it oughtava zagged. at this point, badly shaken by two big winks from the Big Bastard in the Sky, josh relinquishes the helm to me, a potentially fatal mistake as my brillantly stoned mind can't quite comprehend the intricacies of a manual shift w/ 6 forward gears. wanna put some of those pix up, amigo? in summary: a great day, a sweet climb & an excellent conclusion to a fine summer, just watch your ass on the way home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scot'teryx Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Right on, heading up there again on Sunday after being rained off 2 weeks ago. Sounds like the east face rappel route gave you no problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b-rock Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Nice Ivan! Learn to switch hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toast Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Rad TR! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Haha! Great TR, Ivan, and well summed up. I really enjoyed this route, esp. considering it was my first time ever on Forbidden Peak. The view on top with Inspiration ice cap on one side and boston glacier on the other can't be beat. Hitting that fawn definitely sucked, but I'm sure some darrington resident found it the next morning and made himself a nice meal of it. Scott, the east ledges descent was pretty easy, IMHO. I had heard bad stories from people, but I thought it was a pretty straightforward descent. We rapped 5 times if I recall. After the first 3 or so, it seemed like you could downclimb pretty easily, but with the rope out and us being tired, continuing to rap seemed like a good call. From there you basically just traverse level across the face and you are back at the notch before you know it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 YOU KILLED BAMBI!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinx Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 YOU KILLED BAMBI! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 In hindsight I wish I had taken it so I could have it butchered and donated for a rope up venison BBQ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinx Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Just make sure to get a BeckApproval . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminal_Gravity Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 Nice TR, Ivan. I'm envious. BTW, I have a yogurt container of young spotted dear backstrap in my freezer. I resqued it from the infernal barb wire of my neighbor...It died anyway. I have to admit; choicer meat than any other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leejams Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 That's quite a bit of crash and burn for one trip, and summed it up as a great summer climb. True cascade hardmen. Way to go guys. Josh, hope you didn't hurt that audi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted August 24, 2003 Author Share Posted August 24, 2003 leejams said: . Josh, hope you didn't hurt that audi. hurt it? you fucking crazy? the krauts didn't march into french-fry land w/ machines that dent when struck by furry mammals...christ, there wasn't even a drop of blood or a puff of sweet spotted fur on the car...the nazi force field did all the work on another note, i found the east ridge descent route better than the west one. the traverse on the ledges was a bit wearing, mostly just b/c i didn't want to get stuck out after dark twice on the same damn mountain, but it did seem faster than rapping/downclimbing the 4th class gully on the west side. figured out the left hand style, all is well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricS Posted August 24, 2003 Share Posted August 24, 2003 Any snow left in approach gully/coulior for the W Ridge route? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted August 24, 2003 Share Posted August 24, 2003 EricS said: Any snow left in approach gully/coulior for the W Ridge route? No, not enough to be useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pencil_Pusher Posted August 27, 2003 Share Posted August 27, 2003 We bailed on an attempt of the east ridge this morning due to weather, but at the TH yesterday met three guys who did the W Ridge. They scrambled up where the snow stopped in the coulior. It looked like it was broke in half, about midway up. The snow for the east ridge approach was done in trail shoes and insteps. Sketchy for sure, but do-able. There are a couple of really nice and flat dirt bivy spots about 200ft below the start of the route. It sucked bailing, that looks like a neat route. Sharkfin Tower stumped the hell out of us although the approach gully directly underneath it is far better than the first orange gully on the approach. We climbed a side... which side I don't recall but it was green and from the notch where the snow goes up to the base of Sharkfin. We went down about 20ft towards the Boston Glacier and then started a rising traverse. That was mega-annoying, trying to find the route. We think we saw it on the rappel into the other notch??? There are no biting flies in Boston Basin. No mosquitos either, both due (I think) to the nearby fire that is spewing out smoke and ash. There are marmots that will customize your foam sleeping pad, at no charge. If it wasn't illegal, I'd be eating marmot soup right now, those little bastards. Saw a nice guy on the way out who was going to solo the Torment/Forbidden traverse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted August 27, 2003 Share Posted August 27, 2003 Pencil_Pusher said: Saw a nice guy on the way out who was going to solo the Torment/Forbidden traverse What's so about that? It's all easily soloable terrain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pencil_Pusher Posted September 7, 2003 Share Posted September 7, 2003 JoshK said: Pencil_Pusher said: Saw a nice guy on the way out who was going to solo the Torment/Forbidden traverse What's so about that? It's all easily soloable terrain. Umm... yeah right Funny how things look better on paper and the rock easier from the bottom, when looking up. So have you soloed this or are you just talking smack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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