NW Face/Rib Forbidden Conditions?

[Ben]

Has anyone who's been up there recently had a look at it? If so, did it look reasonably dry/snow free?

 

thx,

Ben

[mattp]

Armchair speculation here, but if one could ski Sahale Arm to below Cascade Pass last weekend I can assure you there is still plenty of snow on the NW face of Forbidden. However, the snow is part of what makes it a fun route.

[wayne]

The quickest way before the trail slides was over west ridge col. It looks bad but with a few rappels goes straight to the route which is fantastic! the snow should be firm if its there at all. rapp the shrund on rappellers left.

[Ben]

Sorry, I don't think I was being very clear. I didn't mean the NW face of the North Ridge (as in the Nelson book), but rather the NW face proper.

This is a rock route that starts on the prominent rib that trends NW to the Forbidden Glacier. One gets a good view of it from the West Ridge.

 

I'm wondering mainly about the shape of the upper

face -- the lower rib is pretty sharp so is probably pretty clear.

 

--Ben

[philfort]

Seen from quite far away (around Hidden Lake Pk) last wknd, it still looked like it had a lot of snow. Difference between the S face and the NW face was dramatic.

[mattp]

I was commenting on the NW (rib) Face route and I believe Wayne probably was also. It is a fun climb.

[philfort]

Taken on 7/5

 

[Mike]

From Phil's picture, it looks like the NW face/rib is clear. The lower buttress juts up out of the glacier which you can see around the base of the peak in the picture. We traversed snow to the west (right) side of the rib, ascended c. 200' on snow before crossing onto the rib. Then we bivi'ed since we came in via Sharkfin Col and it had already been a full day. We were able to scramble the first few pitches above our bivi which were class 3-4. We roped up at the point where the buttress narrows and steepens - you can't miss it!

[Ben]

Climbed it on 7/17. From a camp in Boston basin, we went in via Sharkfin col. We used the alternate gully to the right, which provided quick, single rope (actually we just downclimbed) access to the Boston glacier.

 

After a long and beautiful tour of the Boston and forbidden glacier, we accessed the rib, perhaps a couple hundred feet higher than normal due to melt out (nice bivy ledges here). From here we

simul climbed to the cruxy section of the climb, which is where the knife-edge section terminates.

 

The chimney described in Beckey wasn't that bad: we exited left at its top. Exiting right looks harder. We worked up and right to get back onto the rib proper and then enjoyed hundreds of feet of beautiful, sustained 4th and 5th class climbing to the summit.

 

We used a single 8.5 mm rope, doubled. This worked well for simul climbing, but was occassionaly a curse for the few times we actually belayed. The rack was maybe a little heavy: nothing bigger than a #2 camalot required. It took 11 hours from the basin. 6 hours to reach the rock (coming up through the forbidden glacier from that direction was tricky -- its pretty broken up at that point), and 5 hours on route.

 

All in all a fantastic route in great condition right now. It feels like the N ridge in terms of commitment, but has a lot more sustained/exposed climbing.

 

Accessing the climb via the west ridge seems quicker but more technical. I'd definitely want a little snow/ice pro, but maybe that's just my comfort level.