[TR] Forbidden- North Ridge 8/21/2005

[JasonG]

Climb: Forbidden-North Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 8/21/2005

 

Trip Report:

Well, this isn't going to be much of a TR as AlpineDave wrote quite a nice one last year, and I don't really have much to add. It's a great route! This is mainly for those who are heading in that direction and would like to know what conditions are like. Here's a couple of quick notes:

 

. .. I would highly recommend the alternate route over Sharfin col, no worse than fourth class and a single rap almost gets you to the snow. The glacier is melting fast, so we had to do a little bit of fourth class to get onto the Boston Glacier proper.

 

. . .The Boston Glacier is VERY broken right now. We barely found a way that worked, and if a few key bridges melt out (likely within a week or two) all bets are off. To us this was the crux of the route, with some sketchy bridge shenanigans. There were a few instances where we thought we were going to have to turn around and hike back out. We were glad to have three people.

 

. . .We didn't have a problem getting onto the ridge and the bivy sites at the notch were nice, if a bit exposed and windy. We hauled snow for melting from the Boston Glacier.

 

. . . .The east ledges descent seems to be set up right now for 60m ropes (or we missed some stations). A couple of the raps took all of our rope, but you could downclimb if your rope was shorter.

 

I think our times were about 7.5 hrs to the bivy, 5 hours on route, and 5.5 hours to the cars from the summit. We aren't super alpinists, so others might be able to blast it in a day (we took two).

 

All in all, this is one of the more fun routes I've done in the Cascades: Awesome scenery, decent rock, and wild exposure- you couldn't ask for more!

 

Jason

 

Gear Notes:

Crampons, axe, 60m rope, medium alpine rack (to get longer simul-pitches).

 

Approach Notes:

The whole deal.

[zoroastr]

Strong work....congrats! That's the one ridge route I've left to do on Forbidden, but it sounds like this season's out. Thanks for the beta.

[Juan]

Hey Jason:

 

Good job. That descent is tedious, but at least it's exposed.

 

Did you do the snow face to get to the ridge (as Jim describes the route), or the complete ridge from the toe? I would guess the snow face is pretty much alpine ice now. Is that right?

 

John

[Rad]

Nice job guys.

 

Juan, looked like ice 2 weeks ago. See photos:

 

N ridge ice

 

Gene Pires and I went to do it in a day 2 weeks ago. We crossed the Boston glacier, hopping more crevasses and sketchy bridges than any glacier I've crossed before.

 

Boston Glacier

 

We got a good look at the N side of the N ridge from the higher/first notch and decided it was a no go because we had one axe apiece, no pro for ice, and I'm an ice newbie/wannbe. Tough call, but it felt right.

 

TF traverse backside

 

We retraced our torturous path across the glacier, climbed over sharkfin col on easy rock, and returned to the car around dusk.

 

escape to Sharkfin col

 

The next day I went up Eldo with another friend. In comparison, it was a creampuff outing, with extra lovely frosting.

 

Creampuff summit

 

eldo in the mist

[OlegV]

Great job, Jason! Congarts!!!

[JoshK]

Hey Jason, i didn't see an answer to Juan's question...did you guys do the ridge from the toe? If so, did it add anything more difficult than the upper ridge's 5.0?

 

thanks,

-josh

[DPS]

MVS and I did the North Ridge from the toe. The lower ridge was definitely the most technical at about 5.6. The most memorable moves were going around a gendarme on the first pitch. Report here: http://www.mountainwerks.org/cma/2002/forbidden.htm

[j_b]

so which way did you go on that first pitch (right or left?). i remember thinking it was a harder lead than 5.6 with boots and a full pack (i eventually went left)

[Juan]

Brian Miller could speak to this too . . .

 

Thanks for the photos and response. Amazing what has happened to the glaciers this year.

 

Sharp

[Juan]

Holy shit the N. Face route on Forbidden looks different than 1998 in early Aug. It's a real ice climb now.

 

Sharp

[pzack]

Hey Jason, i didn't see an answer to Juan's question...did you guys do the ridge from the toe? If so, did it add anything more difficult than the upper ridge's 5.0?

 

thanks,

-josh

Hey Josh,

 

If you do the Nelson route, and then start heading up the north ridge when you first get on it(instead of dropping over the other side and doing the ice/snow climb back to the ridge), then there is one 5.6 move very soon after you get on the ridge. Other than that one move, it's pretty much 5.0 all the way to the summit.

[JoshK]

Cool. That sounds much more pleasent than dropping down, ascending snow, and skipping part of the ridge. I never thought that sounded very "pure".

[j_b]

doing the ice face and the top of the north ridge is imo way more classic. there is something to be said for mixed climbs. though, the shrund may be out of condition. in any case, both lines are worth doing.

[JasonG]

Juan et al . . .

 

Sorry, I haven't checked back in awhile. We did the full ridge without the ice of the NW face of the north ridge. It was very icy looking with some rock cliffs to deal with down low, more than we wanted to bite off without real ice gear.

 

The lower part of the north ridge is mostly 4th class with some bits of 5th up to maybe 5.6 (at least that is what Beckey says), but nothing too sustained or tricky. Good edges for boots too. Pro is great and there is one knife edge section in particular that is absolutely spectacular. You would miss that if you did the NW ice face, but I agree that it does look like it is worth doing, just maybe with a little more snow (for a wimp like me). Access to the face is looking pretty spicy right now, but I'm sure that it is still climbable for those looking for a challenge.

 

Now I just need to go back and do the NW face (of Forbidden) rock route- that looks superb!!! Anyone done it??

 

Jason