forbidden-torment traverse beta

[mwills]

anyone done it? attempts? suggested bivy spots?

 

what do you suggest for the route - climb se face of torment, traverse, up wr of forbidden, and descend wr? i remember glancing at the route in kroese's book but the details are vague. i suppose i could get it straight from the horse's mouth at pro mountain, but then i would probably have to buy something . anyways, i'll get my beckey guide out when i get home and should have more questions. cheers

[Norman_Clyde]

I took an overview of the entire Torment-Forbidden enchainment while climbing the W. ridge last month, wondering about bivy sites, since the book I had looked at (big coffee table book, something about 50 climbs... is that the same one you're talking about?) said there were only a few bivy spots. As of mid-July there is still enough snow on the N. face of both peaks to allow a party several options to carve out good sized bivy ledges, where the snowfields top out on the rock. Also, there's room for a bivy at the top of the W. ridge couloir. There is one spot on Torment where you'd save a lot of time by traversing North of the ridge, but if you're a purist you could stay on it the whole way and it would probably be the same low to mid 5th class as the W. ridge. Once on the summit of Forbidden you would have the usual descent options, i.e. downclimb W. or E. ridges (even with a rap, I guess the E. ridge still requires downclimbing/simulclimbing while roped).

[Colin]

The best bivy ledge is about halfway between Torment and Forbidden, on the north side of the crest, with snow to melt water. Don't underestimate the snow/ice diffuculties on this route - I would reccomend steel crampons rather than aluminum ones, and a real axe/hammer (there are two icefield's that one traverses on the north side of the ridge, which are fairly steep).