[TR] Forbidden peak - East ridge direct 7/12/2008

[A2THEK]

Trip: Forbidden peak - East ridge direct

 

Date: 7/12/2008

 

Trip Report:

We headed up cascade river road friday afternoon, arriving at the trailhead(much to my surprise the road is now open) about 2

;30 or so, took the leisurely stroll to boston basin & set up the bivvy. After a calm, starry night with only minimal rodent attacks & someone's aching left buttock, we started climbing about 4:45am. The snow was perfect for cramponing, & we made the ridge in something like 2 hrs where I promptly sent my helmet into the great unknown. Watching it ricochet hundreds of meters down the gully was entertaining, like giant pinball with appropriate comments from the peanut gallery . The climbing was varied with sustained, wildass exposure, mostly low 5th class with the occaisional spicy move to keep it interesting. Pay attention to potential ropedrag, as you will likely cross & recross the ridge many times & there's lots of ups & downs. The stiffer pitches had strightforward & quality protection. we were able to simulclimb most of the route, basically two pitches with actual anchors & belay.summitted in 5 hrs from low in the basin, just as becky's description says. The descent raps are quite easy to locate & in good condition. All of them are creatively set up & fairly solid. Traversing the east ledges took some time, a bit tricky in rock shoes, but decent cairns along the way. There are multiple rap slings along the ridge,but The best option is to take all 5 raps directly off the summit and then traverse low & east to the final gully west of the first gendarme, which is dirty but ends exactly where you probably left your packs & boots. The descent was a pleasure of glissading &quick back to the bivvy site. We hiked out in a couple hrs, picked up some frosty beers & had burgers at Good Food.Overall one of my favorite routes in the cascades!!

 

Gear Notes:

crampons & iceaxe, 8 full length runners, 2 doublelength, could use 2 more, lots of horns to sling.1 set nuts, doubles 4,5,6. 1 blue,1 orange, 1 yellow tcus. 1 #.75, 1 #2 camelot. 4 big hexes. 2 cordalettes. We used every piece on the rack, I felt well protected & not one ounce too much weight!

 

Approach Notes:

trail is brushy & not too well maintained expect maybe 3hrs up. creek crossing slightly spicy during high water.

[kayfire]

Nice job. That's a pretty big rack though. I think I placed 2 pieces on the entire ridge, but that's just me. I think doubles of anything are unnecessary.

[StreetBoss]

Nice job. That's a pretty big rack though. I think I placed 2 pieces on the entire ridge, but that's just me. I think doubles of anything are unnecessary.

 

Agreed, and over use of the word "spicy"

 

 

[Off_White]

Hey! Not everyone is as cool and talented as you two, if you want to kvetch about someone's TR go whisper it to your pillow.

[sweatinoutliquor]

Nice trip report, and welcome to the site! Any pictures from your climb? Kayfire and StreetBoss are clearly very awesome climbers.

[kayfire]

Without regard to any climbing prowess I may or may not possess, I am merely pointing out to those who might look to this TR for advice as to rack size, that there are some who would find A2THEK’s rack excessive. Just providing a different perspective. Considering that in A2THEK’s own words there are “lots of horns to sling," that most of the route can be “simulclimbed,” and that most of the route is “low 5th class,” think doubles of any piece probably overkill. Maybe not overkill for A2THEK, but generally overkill for most reasonably experienced alpine climbers who would try this route. I’m not putting A2THEK down—his accomplishment is respectable and I congratulate him; I’m just throwing in my $0.02. If I hadn’t climbed the route before and came across this thread, I’d find the varying opinions regarding rack size informative.

 

[TrogdortheBurninator]

doubles of 3 small nuts hardly seems like a lot of extra weight.

[A2THEK]

I'm a mid 10's rock climber with 20 yrs experience, I feel that if you're going to bring protection you should make an honest effort to minimize the chance of injury if you do fall. Alpine rock can be more friable, there are different route conditions, and if theres any kind of epic / rescue, that rack could be burned through in a hurry. I'm not opposed to soloing or running it out when necessary, but taking the few minutes to pop in a piece every 30 or 40 feet is responsible and kind of fun! Imagine simulclimbing, your second falling 25 feet over the other side of the ridge & you are 20 feet past your last# 4 nut. That makes a heck of a double whipper & high possibilities for injury.No thanks. Iguess the other option is to be peter croft.riight...

[Off_White]

Thanks for the TR, did you guys take any pictures? That's such a scenic route.

[JoshK]

I would have to agree that rack seems HUGE, esp. for somebody who can climb .10 in the alpine.

[Trent]

Some Pictures:

 

Dallas and Jberg

 

KK on the approach

 

Jberg at sunrise

 

First pitch

 

Brooks having fun

 

Dallas on route

 

Dallas and Brooks with Boston

 

Dallas belaying

 

Westies on the summit block

 

Dallas contemplating his eighth time on Forbidden's summit

 

Concerning the size of the rack: I thought that it was just right. We were running the pitches, and there was ample opportunity for placements. The size of the rack allowed the leader to run the pitches for a ways, and still have enough peices to build a bomber belay anchor. If one was planning to belay each pitch, a smaller rack would have been sufficient. But being into unnecessary suffering, I invariably bring more gear than I need just to get a good workout on the approach. As far as the route was concerned, I thought that it was of higher quality than the West Ridge. It is one of the best in the Cascades according to Dallas, who has climbed just about everything. Steve.

 

[Off_White]

Wait a minute, you mean folks have been critiquing Dallas Kloke's choice of rack?

 

Thanks for the pics, I love that route, I'd take it over the west ridge any day.

[Waydough]

Jeez, Kev, nice first trip report on cc's.com! It has it all: good beta, opinion, encourages others to climb the route, and it inspired lively debate and armchair attacks on your climbing style and capability by people who don't know you. Awesome!

 

There was a weird comment from someone about why would a 5.10+ climber need so much protection? Hopefully that comment was done in jest or under the influence of lots of booze. A 40 foot fall due to a broken hold is the same for a 5.14 climber as it is for a 5.6 climber

 

I think that using "spicy" IS spicy, and once, twice, or 3 times is just right.

 

By the way everyone, Kev is great to climb with and protects routes great without wasting pieces, so I don't doubt they wanted and needed the whole rack to climb the route the way they did (mostly simulclimbing). It's not like you have to worry about an extra pound of gear for an approach like this one. They summitted at 10:30 am, so it seems like the rack they chose worked out about perfect for them to move efficiently and safely.

[JoshK]

There was a weird comment from someone about why would a 5.10+ climber need so much protection? Hopefully that comment was done in jest or under the influence of lots of booze. A 40 foot fall due to a broken hold is the same for a 5.14 climber as it is for a 5.6 climber

 

You aren't serious are you? I think it's well established that climbers are likely to carry more gear on a route that stretches their climbing limits and less on a route that is well below their level.

 

I'm sure their rack was great for their climb, and there was no reason for myself or anybody else to doubt that - I'll admit that. But saying that two climbers of drastically different skill levels will/should climb with the same rack is totally unrealistic.

 

But back to the real point - this IS a great route, and well worth doing. It is better than the west ridge in every way, and most notably doesn't involve some shitty sketchy gully to access.

[Waydough]

joshk~

The large rack was needed because the pitches were simul-climbed several hundred feet at a time. Having 12 slings for several hundred feet of terrain does not seem excessive to me. A rack with lots of pieces to choose from to place 12 pieces exactly when/where desired so that one can climb effiently to summit asap seems like a better way to go on an technically moderate climbing route (I call 5.7+ moderate for alpine climbing if leading level is mid 5.10 at the crags). I've wasted incredible amounts of time on routes because I could not find a piece left on my rack to protect a certain 20-foot schetchy section (hence my original comment about 40 foot falls being the same regardless of climbing ability).

 

I'm not trying to change anyone's climbing styles, to each his own. But those who I climb with do tend to place lots of good pro and do tend to also bring an large rack. I can't think of a climb I've done where having a few unused pieces of gear at the end of a pitch/day really bothered me much. Some of us actually like placing gear that that is part of the cool experience of multipitch climbs.

 

This has been fun, but I'm done. It's time to go climb at Mt. Erie on another wonderful day. Has everyone forgotten about the crappy long spring yet?

 

Thanks again for the report KK.

[Waydough]

joshk~

By the way, you should see KK's rack when he climbs a route that challenges him - it is HUGE!

[JoshK]

I took back what I said about them having too large of a rack. (that sounds funny...). I was just saying that the skill of a climber can definitely influence how much gear they would bring for certain climbs. Me - I suck - I want a rack with like triples of everything, floating next to me, suspended by a helium balloon.

 

But yeah, anyway, this drifted way off topic, sorry for the hijack to the original posters. Great TR and good climb.

[A2THEK]

ok,last interjection, first, thanks for gettin my back Wade, you rock! Second, now you know Kloke was in on it, all the sudden the rack seems reasonable?? Come on "off white"!Besides, Dallas & I compared racks the day before,& mine was SMALLER so now everyone can kiss my ass. Thanks for the photos Steve, they're awesome.

[Superman]

Whoa, slow your roll brah. I think Off_White was taking your side.

[olyclimber]

what ever you rack was, it looks like a great time in the hills. thanks for posting, great pics!