With an iffy forecast, Rich and I headed out to take a look at the north ridge of Forbidden. We hiked up to Boston Basin under sunny skies in the morning.
Torment-Forbidden
We climbed up the left edge of the Quien Sabe glacier toward Sharkfin col.
Sharkfin col on the left, Sharkfin on the right
Instead of Sharkfin col, we climbed up the next col to the right and made a single 30m rappel off an existing anchor onto the Boston Glacier. There we roped up and traversed the glacier to the far notch of the North Ridge.
North Ridge of Forbidden on skyline with summit on left
We had great views on the Boston Glacier.
Buckner, Ripsaw Ridge, Boston, and Sahale
We climbed up to the notch on the north ridge as described in Beckey and bivied for the night.
North Ridge notch
The next morning, we were lured to Forbidden by the promise of clearing weather.
North Ridge from the notch
We started out on classic ridge climbing.
But soon after the clouds descended and the drizzle began.
As long as we stayed off the black lichen, the rock stayed reasonably grippy for boots and the temps weren't too bad, so we continued. We did note the bivy sites along the way, just in case.
After seven hours of climbing, we finally reached the summit.
With a quick turnaround, we started down the East Ledges descent. After five raps, we started a descending traverse, with a supplimentary rap anchor and occasional cairns marking the way.
After crossing four rock ribs, we stopped traversing short of the dirty gully and ascended to the East Ridge. By that time we had started to dry out and warm up. Unfortunately, our descent snow gully was melted out in the middle so we had to make one final rappel.
We packed up the gear and tromped down the snow to Boston Basin. There we enjoyed the flowers and greenery.
Obligatory marmot shot
And we made it to Good Food in Marblemount within 5 minutes of closing. Boy, it was good.
It's your lead. Chop, chop.