[TR] Forbidden- East Ridge Direct 9/10/2006

[Rad]

Climb: Forbidden-East Ridge Direct

 

Date of Climb: 9/10/2006

 

Trip Report:

 

If you’re tired of reading spray about spray scroll down to see Forbidden photos of Alex’s third leg!

 

We climbed Forbidden’s East Ridge direct on Sunday. The rain cleared the air for us, the sun shone, and there was hardly any wind at all.

 

We passed a party of three who were convinced they were headed for an unplanned bivy. I hope they made it out safely.

 

John Scurlock buzzed us on the summit. We waved and he dipped a wing.

 

On to the photos.

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“Head in the clouds, feet on the ground, it’s OK, I know nothing’s wrong” (TH)

 

 

Window of opportunity.

 

Sadly, it looks like Forbidden’s unnamed glacier (South side) is going to go the way of Slesse’s Pocket glacier in a few years (compare Nelson guide photos to the ones below).

 

 

A party descending the West Ridge route. Note naked rock.

 

 

Does anyone know why the Quien Sabe glacier carved these regular bumps and troughs?

 

I've seen this on hard rock below other glaciers as well (Unnamed and Terror come to mind).

 

 

Boston's frozen treat.

 

 

Alpine Inspiration.

 

 

Plucking the Forbidden fruit.

 

 

The East Ledges descent is really not bad at all, particularly if you break out the third leg!

 

 

Gear Notes:

You can get to the route without ever touching snow right now so leave your ax and crampons at home.

 

Approach Notes:

There are lots of fresh blueberries in the basin.

Hit Lorenzo's mexican food in Sedro on the way out!

[Blake]

Nice rad. You bailed out of Stehekin at the right time, that once-dormant fire is rippin' now and has scorched the hillside above the landing.

 

I've been wanting to do that climb for a while, thanks for the photos.

[Rad]

Hey Blake,

 

We saw the smoke filling the Stehekin valley. Sad.

 

Alex was kind enough to let me lead most of the razor knife-edge sections that make this route so much fun, and I didn't break out the camera there...so this route is even more spectacular than these photos suggest. You shouldn't have trouble doing it as a day trip if you go light.

 

[Kraken]

good on ya rad, that's a cool route...I'll have to come back and finish it next summer. BTW, did you have any difficulty finding the ledges on the descent?

[Alex]

RE: Finidng the E Ledges...yes, a little bit of trouble. The first 3 single rope raps are obvious from above. But the 4th anchor is hidden until you are right on top of it at the very end of your 30m rap, so look carefully. Do about 5 raps, not just 3. One or two of these anchors (especially the very top) could use some sling-cleaning/replacing. There currently is no cairn marking where to go initially after the 5th rap, but just head over 40 feet to the first rib where there is another rap station with a red sling. From here, downclimb slightly and then traverse straight across the face. The route becomes more obvious after the first two ribs you cross. It ends up being pretty casual. Not a place to be when wet/snowy, however.

[kurthicks]

Do five single rope (with a 60M) raps. no more, no less.

[John_Scurlock]

I can neither confirm nor deny that on the afternoon of the 10th, while on return from Salmon Arm BC via Oroville, we swung by Forbidden at ~ Mach 0.26, in order to give K a view of the summit, where we saw Rad waving at us like the gentleman he is!!

 

A beautiful clear bright day for climbing & flying, for sure, especially because the smoke had blown out to the northeast.

[Weekend_Climberz]

 

Nice show boyz

[NYC007]

about how long ctc?

[Rad]

about how long ctc?

 

12 hrs.

 

4 hrs to the base of the route. 3 hours on the route. 2 hours kicking it on the summit and descending back to the notch. 3 hours down (including picking blueberries for the wives, soaking in the scene, and leisurely descending).

 

We pitched out the 5.7 tower and the 5.8 notch, both of which are only about 50-60 feet. The rest of the climb is low fifth that is easy to simulclimb.

 

BTW, I didn't plant that question and we didn't find any neutrinos.

 

The forecast is for 2 inches of snow down to 5000 tomorrow so conditions may change...

[pnut]

Does anyone know why the Quien Sabe glacier carved these regular bumps and troughs?

 

Those bumps are called drumlins, or eskers if they are more elongated than the ones in the photos. They were created as bedforms in wide outwash streams under glaciers and in front of terminus.

 

Nice photos!