[TR] Forbidden - West Ridge 7/9/2010

[ira]

Trip: Forbidden - West Ridge

 

Date: 7/9/2010

 

Trip Report:

Chris, Dave, Jen and I had been planning on doing the west ridge of Forbidden for about 2 months now. We had two previous dates planned but bailed on both due to the weather. We finally had a good weather window last week so went up on Thursday. Lucky for us, but quite surprisingly, we got the last permit of the day for Boston Basin. It was also full the day before. This was also my third time in three years I went up to Boston Basin to climb forbidden, the other two times i got weathered off before we got up the couloir.

 

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/ira.rushwald/Forbidden?feat=email#

 

The hike in was brutally hot as thursday was in the 90's down in seattle. We stopped a number of times and just took our time as we knew once we got to the lower camp there would be no shade and we'd just bake out there. We arrived around 5 PM, got the last good site at the lower camp and set down our 4 bivy bags. The creeks are running high on the way in and the first one has to be taken with some care. Also, right now the upper creek in Boston Basin can still be crossed on snow which was a nice find. The lower campsite is pretty much snow free but the rest of the basin is in snow.

 

The next morning we left camp at about 6 AM and arrived at the base of the couloir 2 hrs later. There was one open crevasse low down on the glacier that was an easy step across and there were open crevasses just to the right of the big rock below the couloir that you have to walk around. Very easy but taken with care. The couloir is in very good shape right now. There are moats opening up but they are easy to avoid. We did not bring pickets or crampons with us due to the hot weather and found we made the correct choice as it was easy to kick steps. After about 500 ft (not vertical but slope) the snow ended and we got onto rock. This was really the sketchiest part of the entire climb as we had our climbing boots on, no rope, it's class 4, loose rock with some snow, etc. This goes about one rope length until getting to the notch.

 

At the notch we found the north side of the ridge still under quite a bit of snow so we ended up staying right on top of the ridge the entire route. Amazing exposure or highly intimidating, depending on your persuasion. I found it fun. The climbing is easy, a lot of class 4 and low class 5 with some mid-class 5 sections. The crux pitch has a fixed pin which was nice to clip and i put 2 more cams above that to get to the belay above.

 

So, while climbing up was fun, the downclimbing kind of sucked. Since we were a party of four, it took a long time, even with the two ropes. Part of the route can be rappelled and the rest has to be downclimbed. Not sure the rappelling saves much time as you have to be very careful going down the ridge. Anyway, by the time we got back to the notch it must have been 6 PM. I knew this wasn't good and I turned out to be right.

 

We did a double rope rappel down the rock part of the couloir which worked great. We did another double rope rappel down the upper snow section to an anchor on the climber's left. This turned out to be a mistake because as we did our third double rope rappel the rope kept getting caught in the moat on the left side of the couloir between the rock wall and the snow/ice. This ate up enormous amounts of time and by the time all 4 of us were down it was dark. We pulled the rope and worst of worst, it was stuck. The knot was only 20 ft above us but the rope must have gotten stuck in the moat as we couldn't get it loose no matter how hard we tried. I climbed up the 20 ft to untie the ropes so we at least had one. We left one behind.

 

It was now very, very dark as heavy clouds had come in. Going back to camp was slow but we finally got there at 1 AM.

 

The next morning we were going to climb Sharkfin Tower but instead we went back up to retrieve the rope. But as i expected it was already gone, one of the morning climbing parties had bagged it.

 

So, if anyone hears of someone finding a rope in the couloir on saturday morning it's ours. It's a 70m, 9.2 I think, green.

 

In spite of the lost rope and the long day, it was a great climb. We all really enjoyed the views and the rock climbing. What a fabulous area.

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Gear Notes:

I had double cams from .4 - 2. Used most of them

Set of nuts - used one

4-5 double length slings are nice as there are many places to sling rather than place gear

 

Approach Notes:

Get a permit early in the day.

 

First creek could be nasty. It was fine going up but coming down all rocks were under water. We actually belayed across this as it just seemed to risky to take a fall.

[dennyt]

Wow, that's a lot of snow! The North side was snow-free when we did it last year 7/4.

 

Sorry to hear about the rappells & losing a rope. We had similar trouble. Downclimbing the couloir is a better option if people are comfortable with it.

 

Also, going left of the rock at the base of the couloir avoids those crevasses. But what fun is that?

[icebella]

For more pics of the route from out climb here's also the link to my photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/Genkeeper/Forbidden#

 

Nice job with the trip report Ira!

 

- Gen

[JasonG]

Did the NW face look very snowy??

[mountainsloth]

nice job! still one of my favorite alpine rock climbs... also my first. I hope the rope fairy delivers for you!

Who ever has the rope, don't forget, Karma is a bitch!

[dberdinka]

Did the NW face look very snowy??

 

I was checking out Forbidden from the north (Ruby Mtn) last weekend (7/10) and the northwest aspect was still quite snowy. Looked like it might be a couple more weeks before it fully melts out.

[JasonG]

Oh well . . .strange spring we had. Thanks for the info!!

[kevbone]

Great pictures.