Humbled by Forbidden Peak
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- West ridge of Forbidden Peak, car to car. Was not expecting this to be so hard, but it took us 17 hours.
We weren't sure we could get a permit to camp in Boston Basin and also didn't really want to carry all of our backpacking gear up to camp so car camped close by the trailhead (Mineral Park Campground - highly recommended). Got up at 3am, leaving trailhead at 4:20am.
The trail up to the basin is very rough with lots of vegetation and steep rocky sections. We also went to lower camp instead of staying on the real trail. By the time we got to high camp, there were two parties ahead of us heading up to the West Ridge and one going up the East Ridge.
I assumed we'd be able to scramble up Catscratch gullies but the lower part was pretty sketchy so we roped up and ended up behind both parties. There were a bunch of spots with loose dirt and nowhere to place pieces. Top of the gullies could have been scrambled, but we ended up just pitching it out almost to the big notch.
Climbing on the ridge was a lot of fun, but we did have to take lots of breaks for the parties ahead of us both as they were climbing up and then back down.
The exposure on the ridge is incredible. No hard moves, but there were a few sections where I couldn't place pieces and really had to commit to the next move. Third pitch probably would have been easier if I dropped down to the north but I stayed on the ridge.
Crux was fun with a good piton right before and lots of good placements.
Got to the summit around 2pm then climbed back to the false summit, another climb back to crux anchor. Two rappels there then two more pitches of downclimbing. Luckily rope drag was pretty minimal. The gullies took 4 rappels with a couple where we went to the end of our 70m rope and then scrambled a bit down to the next anchor. Rope got stuck once so I had to scramble back up and free it.
Hiking out took forever, sunset right after high camp. My feet were killing me so all the downstepping was brutal. We got back around 10pm, drove back to camp and went to sleep.
Nice video, thanks! Brings back memories of my C2C in '87. We were earlier in the year, had snow in the gully almost to the ridge and were happy to have our axes but did not need crampons. We stashed our rope and rack and went Class 4 from the notch to the summit. Yeah, lots of exposure but pretty easy going and really fun. I don't remember exactly how long we took but I think 14-15 hours, all in daylight. We did not see another party all day. We soloed the descent too (no rapelling) and yes, the descent from Boston Basin to the road is arduous. A true classic, indeed.
I know people solo the west ridge, but I'm not yet comfortable doing that yet, especially with approach shoes. I generally picked the more interesting line instead of trying for the easiest.
Now I just need to come back and do the North Ridge at some point, but that definitely requires camping, and thus a permit.
Now that's a classic adventure, the exposure is incredible!
Great job guys!
This is incredible! What a climb! Count me as a new sub.
Pretty incredible fellas. Not for me.
Unreal! What class would that be do you think?
Definitely 5th class. The crux is a 5.6.
I had assumed that getting to the ridge would be easier but it was definitely low 5th and we had to rope up much earlier than expected.
@@daniilmag Early season can be easy snow and/or ice in the gully. The ridge is 5.2 at worst in my opinion and commonly done Class 4. Sounds like traffic was an issue for you as well.
@@joehook9635 MP says 5.6, and I'd agree for the crux moves around the piton (around 5:10 mark in the video).
www.mountainproject.com/route/106450596/west-ridge
Can you please tell me what is the gear I need to rock climb this mountain? Can you please be detailed as possible, I need a rope and what else?
How much experience do you have with climbing? I would recommend knowing how to place trad pieces as there's no fixed anchors on this route. Also, practice general alpine climbing on sport routes. There's several around here that feel like alpine but are all bolted like Tooth Fairy at Snoqualmie Pass (ruclips.net/video/d-W99CNqVcw/видео.htmlsi=A_-OuCtEbuyKM4Si) or Mile High Club out by Vesper Peak (ruclips.net/video/GKRKYscDweM/видео.htmlsi=6M7CAXFaa3_ynnsX)
We had 8 cams, .3 - #2 with doubles in #2, #1, and .75, 8 alpine draws, 4 extra slings (couple of quads) and some extra 6mm cord. Each of us also had a rappel/belay device and some prusiks for backups when rappelling. If I was doing this again, I would bring my set of offset nuts as there were a lot of places to put those. In early season you'll also need glacier travel gear.
For rope, we had a 70m 8.5mm Beal rope which worked really well for the rappels as it let us get to lower spots than we could have with just a 60m rope.
Thanks for leaving out what range this is in I'll guess California Sierras.
Ha, nope. North Cascades National Park in Washington state.
lol love the "fuck this is way worse than I thought" look 1:52.... I've given that look more than a few times. good climb, congrats! on my list.
Yeah, reading previous reports I assumed we'd just be able to scramble up the Catscratch gullies but that plan evaporated as soon as we started.