Calder Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 Trip: Boston Basin - Torment-Forbidden Traverse Date: 7/4/2009 Trip Report: I've been wanting to do this climb for a long time now. I've actualy been up to the basin with the intent of climbing it twice, but events conspired against me. After searching for a partner for the weekend I was contacted by Craig ( Alpine Monkey). He said he'd never been to Boston Basin so I suggested the TFT. He was game and we decided to try it single push, car to car. We arrived at the trailhead late Friday and tried to get a few hours of sleep but it wasn't easy. We left at 1:00am and were in the basin in about an hour and a half, making our way over to Mount Torment. We decided to do the Southeast Face as I had been partway up it before. The berg was big and steep so we passed it on the left via this blank corner. Craig soloed it using some crazy stemming and reachy moves. After following him I decided right then that he is a diseased young man, but he got us past the berg. Click on the thumbs to view a larger pic. The first pitch of the Southeast Face. We cruised to the top of Torment and were on the summit at 6am. We downclimbed to the notch, made the rap to the snow and started heading east. We moved on snow, then on rock, climbing up to the snow traverse. It was pretty mushy, even though it was only 8am. There was about a foot and a half to two feet of snow over ice. There were a few spots where someone had cleared the snow down to the ice to get in screws. I imagine in a few weeks or so this will be mostly ice. We gained the ridge again and started cruising on fun climbing and scrambling. The rock quality seemed to improve as we went along. We cruised up the classic West Ridge of Forbidden passing several friendly parties along the way. We hit the summit at 12:i5 and immediately began the East Ledges descent. We had some beta about the descent and tried to follow it but it made no sense once we were there. We wound up going back up to a notch on the East Ridge and after some shenanigans began rapping a gully on the south side of the peak. It took us to the snow and all was good. We got back to the car at 6:40pm for a round trip time of 18hrs and 40min, which I was pretty pleased with. After grabbing a buffalo burger at the restaurant in Marblemount we started driving. I dropped Craig at his ride in Orondo and made it the rest of the way to Spokane for a 25 hour "day" I really enjoyed this route. With fun climbing and scrambling, awesome exposure, some spicy bits and magnificent views the whole way this was a real treat. For me at least it was truly classic. The West Ridge was my first mountaineering experience, so it's always fun to go back there as well. Thanks Craig for tying in with me. Gear Notes: We brought four cams, a set of nuts, six slings and two cordalettes, wich for us was plenty. Yet again I blew the ass out my new pants; REI will be hearing from me! Quote
chimbo Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 Nice work. I plan on heading up there to do the Traverse this week even though the weather looks poor. Sounds like it was a great climb. Quote
AlpineMonkey Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 Nice write-up John. Never have I agreed to do a climb so big and so fast with someone I had never before met. Glad it was all good. A long, but fun day out. Quote
Calder Posted July 6, 2009 Author Posted July 6, 2009 Rocky Joe, I can't make em bigger. The dimensions are too big so the post would look like crap. You'd have to keep scrolling to the right. If you click on the photos though it will take you to a bigger version. Quote
Longshanks Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 Nicely done guys. I'm the one who put in the screws on the ice traverse, and you met my wife and I near the WR notch as we were descending Forbidden. Sorry to hear the east ledges didn't work out well for you! By chance, did you find a Spyderco knife (green handle)on one of the flat sections of the ridge as you near Forbidden? I think we lost it around there when we stopped for lunch. Quote
spotly Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 Nicely done. How was the temp? I might head into there this weekend and not sure which bag to bring. As noted though, looks like the weather may be questionable Quote
Calder Posted July 6, 2009 Author Posted July 6, 2009 Longshanks, Thanks,we didn't find your knife. sorry to hear about that. Spotly, The temps were very warm. If you plan on sleeping on the route, I think you could get by with a very light bag or no bag at all. Ask Longshanks though, I believe they spent the night on it. Quote
Longshanks Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 It was indeed quite warm. I think overnight lows were probably in the 50s. Most of the bivy sites are on snow, however, which will make quite a difference. As long as you have sufficient ground insulation, I would think a light summer weight bag would be good enough. No bag would probably be bearable, but you might not get much sleep. There was also no wind to speak of this weekend, which helped. The bivy sites are not all that well sheltered. Quote
Kyle_Flick Posted July 7, 2009 Posted July 7, 2009 Fast work guys! A bivy high on the ridge isn't bad either. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.