[TR] Torment Forbidden Traverse - TFT 7/19/2015

[bellows]

Trip: Torment Forbidden Traverse - TFT

 

Date: 7/19/2015

 

Trip Report:

Wojtek and I & Will and Guy climbed the TFT as two parties of two over the weekend. It was gorgeous.

 

Looking at the traverse from Boston Basin on Saturday morning:

 

Views of Johannesberg never get old:

 

Crossing a broken Taboo glacier to the sharp notch leading to the south ridge of Torment:

 

From the notch we climbed a short pitch to get to the bottom of the gray dihedral, then two long simul pitches brought us fairly quickly to the summit of Torment. Lots of familiar faces in the register which was fun to read through while enjoying the views:

 

Forbidden, still a day away:

 

Easy simul-downclimbing and traversing brought us to the north side rap. With the huge moat and a secondary bergshrund we used both ropes and did a big 70m single rappel to get to easier snow below:

 

4th class around a rib gave us our first view of the steep snow traverse which looked pretty melted out:

 

Wojtek and I chose to skip the snow traverse and climb directly up on the ridge. Tedious route finding found us in a hideously loose steep chimney just right of the crest, then a short rappel, finally easier climbing put us on the ridge proper and more solid rock:

 

After the gendarme we eventually met back up with Will and Guy who saw us fighting the chimney and decided to take the steep snow/ice traverse. They had decent things to say about their choice, using a picket and a couple screws along with two tools to make it across. After that point things got decidedly easier and we pushed on with the WR of Forbidden getting ever closer:

 

Finally to the west ridge notch bivys where we spent a beautiful Saturday night:

 

Sunday morning had us climbing the highly enjoyable west ridge all by ourselves:

 

Forbidden summit:

 

To make a true traverse, we took the sketchy east ledges descent. My first (and last) time taking that route down. To steal a quote from my friend Colin - this is how I choose to remember the east ledges:

 

All in all it was a really fun route. I've had my eye on it for a couple years and it all came together very quickly and went really well. It's doable in a day, but why rush through such fun terrain!

 

Gear Notes:

Screws and a second tool if you want to take the steep snow/ice traverse.

 

Approach Notes:

Stay on the trail all the way through the upper Forbidden bivys even when it seems like the trail is not being very direct.

Edited July 21, 2015 by bellows