S. Ridge of Torment

[Darren]

I'm thinking of doing this route. Has anyone done it recently? How is the rock quality? Is it solid like Forbidden? I'm thinking of approaching from Torment Basin. Is there any reason that would make this better or worse than Boston Basin? Thanks for all of your insight.

[crazyjizzy]

CircleK and I did the route in 1990, and I remember that it was easy. We found that belayed downclimbimg was the easiest way to descend. I think that the Torment Basin trail has largely returned to the forest.

[forrest_m]

did this route in, whoa, must be '86 or so when I was green like lettuce... even then, the torment basin trail was considered overgrown, i can't imagine what state it must be in now. we came in from boston basin, which made for a long-ish traverse in the morning, but was convenient on the descent, since we did about 4 raps directly back in to boston basin from the notch below the summit.

<warning, newbie epic story follows/>

we were so slow and made so many route finding errors that we ended up rapping in the dark. the last rap is actually overhanging for the last 60 feet or so, and when our ropes got stuck when pulling, we finally just gave up and left them there.(hell, they could still be there for all i know) we spent an extra night in the basin and hiked down in the morning. i was 15 at the time, and it was the first time i'd ever been overdue from a climbing trip. by 7 am, my mom had alerted the rangers, the sheriff, the national guard, etc. so embarassing...

<end newbie epic>

[dberdinka]

I also did this a ways back. I approached from Boston Basin by crossing the obvious col into Torment Basin well below the route itself then following snow slopes to the notch at the base of the ridge. Getting to this notch from the Taboo (???) glacier could be really difficult if melted out.

As for the rock quality I remember the rock being exceedingly shitty. Not something I'd go back to do again. Have fun!

 

[mark]

I did the South ridge route a couple of weeks ago (Sat 7/7) We approached from Boston Basin which took about 2 hours from the car to the top of the Taboo glacier. It was short enough and straight forward enough, that I don't see why you would risk taking the Torment basin approach. The gully that leads from the glacier to the notch in the ridge was part snow, part rock, but was not a problem. I thought the rock was reasonalbly good for the cascades, but not as good as Forbidden. The route moves along the left side of the ridge probably 200 ft or so below the crest for about 5 pitches before an easy gully takes you up and over the ridge, then you finish on third class ground. Because your climbing on the side of the ridge instead of the crest, the route isn't as good as some other ridge routes (imho). To descend, we down climbed the S.E. face most of the way and then made a couple of single rope raps to clear the moat and some steep snow/partial shrund. Round trip took us 9.5 hours from the car. Although it won't make my top ten list, I still thought it was a fun route and good enough to recommend.

Have a great time.

Regards

[This message has been edited by mark (edited 07-18-2001).]

[Darren]

Thanks for all of the info everyone.