[TR] Forbidden Peak - West Ridge 10/26/2013

[Alex Stoll]

Trip: Forbidden Peak - West Ridge

 

Date: 10/26/2013

 

Trip Report:

Having been in Squamish for the past two weekends and wanting to get some early season skiing in, I asked my friend Charlie if he wanted to ski the Easton Glacier. But, after realizing it had been dry and warm in the mountains for the past few weeks, we decided it was still alpine rock season. Skiing could wait.

 

We did some looking and decided the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak would be a good intro to alpine ridge climbing as it is mostly easy ridge walking with a few short steps of real climbing. Also, it would allow a good look at the terrain on the Forbidden tour, a skiing goal of mine for this winter.

 

After getting out of class, we drove out of Bellingham sometime around 3:00 pm on Friday, hoping to approach that evening and climb the next day as high winds were forecast for Sunday. We parked under Johannesburg around 5:00 or so and got hiking in the fading light. By the time we came out of the trees and into Boston Basin, it was nearly dark.

 

 

The basin seen from the walk out. Even the alpine has fall colors!

 

This is where the lowlight of the weekend begins. We somehow missed the trail that traverses northwest towards the bivy spots and wound up going way high onto talus. After a few hours of traversing in absolute darkness, tripping over loose rocks, and going over countless steep moraines, we figured we were pretty much under Forbidden and found a snow patch to sleep on, having given up on finding the bivy sites. We went to sleep feeling less than stoked.

 

The next morning we woke up and figured out where we were. The bivy was a few hundred yards down the hill! We were happy to be in the right place.

 

 

We romped up the tame glacier with crampons on our shoes. Once at the base of the gully to the left of the main couloir, we decided to 3rd class up to the ridge.

 

 

This was exciting but never really felt dangerous or insecure. We passed countless rappel stations. "50 Cluttered Classics" I guess.

 

 

Charlie after the gully kicks back.

 

 

We simuled the whole ridge in way less time than we expected, maybe three hours from the glacier? The ridge crest was mostly dry, I had to step in snow on the North side maybe 2 times. Late October seems extremely late for this route to still be in prime condition, what luck!

 

 

The mighty and cold looking North aspect of Johannesburg seen on the way up.

 

 

Boston and Sahale.

 

 

You have to climb over the first summit then down and up again to get to the true summit. I got to be first on the top, slung a horn, and brought Charlie over.

 

 

This area really does look like the alps.

 

We had some chocolate and enjoyed the spectacular views and weather. It was so nice that I spent the entire day wearing just a long sleeve base-layer! We then headed back down the ridge via simuling and a few awful rappels. We made a few more in the gully and were back on the glacier before we knew it. After a talkative and knee punishing walk down the trail, we headed home.

 

Gear Notes:

Slings! Our rack was 5 or so smaller cams, a set of nuts, and maybe half a dozen slings. The only reason we had to stop was because the leader ran out of slings. It would go on slings alone no problem, there are that many horns and things.

 

We used a 60 meter skinny 7.7 mm glacier rope and it was awesome to not carry a full diameter rope.

 

A pair of approach shoes were all I took and was happy as the glacier was fine with crampons just on the shoes.

 

Approach Notes:

Steep! Watch for the trail that breaks off left shortly after leaving the trees. It crosses a few creeks and is hard to see but is very well defined from there on out. We missed it and had a terrible night.

[JasonG]

Well done! I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised that the route was back in such good shape.

 

Absolutely beautiful.

 

Ah, youth!

[Alex Stoll]

Yeah, we were surprised too!

[bigeo]

Bonus! Way to sneak in a late season classic.