Forbidden Peak North Ridge Climb with Mountain Madness.

I just got back from a climb of Forbidden Peaks north ridge with Mountain Madness.  I have been wanting to climb this ridge for over 10 years and after looking down it after my west ridge climb a few weeks ago it was more on my list of things to do than ever.  I got a call on Wednesday asking if I was interested in working a north ridge climb and I jumped a the chance.  

The north ridge is not one to be taken lightly.  Just getting to the ridge can feel like a climb in itself since it involves a climb up loose rock and a rappel down the other side of sharkfin col, followed by a walk across a big glacier, and then another climb over a ridge on the other side of the glacier.  

We spent the night at the base of Sharkfin Col with the intention of climbing over will full packs and then spending the night somewhere on either the north or west ridge (our descent route).  We woke up the next morning at 5 am and made the quick decision to go for the whole thing in a day and leave our camp at Sharkfin Col.  

Sharkfin col.  The notch we used to get to the Boston glacier is  located directly above the finger of snow on the left side of the photo that points up and slightly right.

The rappel down the other side of Sharkfin Col at 6:15.

It was looking to be the best weather day of the year so far.

Our objective in the distance.

Crossing the Boston Glacier

There were not to many crevasses on the glacier so it was fairly quick moving.

The north ridge col is located at the lowest point in the ridge on the far west side of the Boston Glacier.  Many people miss this and go up one col too early (south).  This also works but requires a rappel or two on the other side.  I did not like the look of the standard crossing due to a large chunk of snow that needs to fall off, so we climbed up the col just to the south of the standard one.  After we got there we made one rappel and I changed my mind about the route variation choice.  We climbed back up the col and reassessed our situation.    We were planning on climbing the NW facing snow slope that takes you to the north ridge, but after having a better look at the complete north ridge I decided we might as well just start climbing from where we were.

I was very worried about time, since we were not carrying any bivy gear, and although spending the night on the ridge would not have killed us, it would have been a very uncomfortable night.  I figured we really needed to be at the summit between 12 and 1 to get down at a reasonable time, and right now (9:30) we were quite a bit behind that time.  I put the camera away and we got serious.  We climbed the ridge with a few short pitches and a whole lot of moving together on whatever terrain looked to be the easiest.  We bypassed a couple of steep snow sections by downclimbing around them on relatively easy ground.  The climbing was easy, and very enjoyable.  After an hour of climbing we had made it to the snow crest where the NW variation usually joins the ridge.

The only photo I shot on the lower part of the ridge.

The NW facing snow slope that gains the ridge does so at a point where the ridge builds up a lot of snow over the winter.  There were still some cornices on this ridge so we had to traverse the slope lower down where it was a bit steeper.  We did three full pitches on firm snow with picket anchors.  It was now time to relax a little since I was sure we could make it off the peak before dark.  

Looking across the first pitch of the snow traverse.  My crampon marks visible in the bottom right of the photo.

The second pitch.

The final pitch back to the rock ridge.

John maybe wishing he was somewhere else.

The upper part of the ridge was amazing.  Super fun and easy climbing.

Climbing the upper ridge with the snow traverse visible in the background.

The last few moves to the summit.

The entire ridge can be seen below in this photo.  We joined the ridge just after the farthest tower visible in the photo.

Opps,  I forgot to shoot a photo of us on the summit.  Someone else did, so when he emails them to us I will post them.

I took a second to shoot a photo of the n. face of Mt. Buckner.

Much to my surprise we were the first party on the summit, followed shortly after by another guided party.  It was 1:00.  We were soon warned of the large number of parties heading up the west ridge.  We took a short break on the summit and started down.  We down climbed and made 3 rappels on the descent to the top of the gully.

The crux of the west ridge on our descent.

We also passed 4 parties still heading up.  At the top of the gully was a large group of people who had decided to turn around and were trying to figure out how to rappel (or something like that, I don't really know what they were doing).  We walked past them and headed directly to the first rappel station on the right of the gully.  After a little route finding and several raps we made the final rap to the snow below the gully and were surprised to find that were also the first group off the peak.  We decided not to camp at Sharkfin col where all our overnight gear was, so we dropped a pack and ran up and retrieved our gear cached there.   At 7 pm we rolled into the lower Boston Basin camp and started cooking a very needed dinner.  It would be somewhere around 2am before the final group on Forbidden passed our tent heading back to camp.

All in all this was one of the best alpine routes I have done in the Cascades.  It has everything.  It is never difficult, but its length, remoteness and variety make it quite serious.  It is a route I highly recommend, however only to experienced parties of very competent climbers.

Back at the car.

Mount Rainier Climb with Mountain Madness on the Emmons Glacier

I just got back from a climb of Mount Rainier with Mountain Madness.  It was a return group of folks that I climbed with in Bolivia last year.  The Mt. Rainier climb starts with the drive to Mt. Rainier National Park and then a short hike to the Glacier Basin camp.  We spend the night there and continue up to Camp Sherman the next day.  Although some people choose to climb from the trail head all the way to Camp Sherman the same day the break at Glacier Basin makes for a much more enjoyable hike and an overall better experience.  

Wildlife at Glacier Basin camp.

Danny learning the details of the First Light tent.

We got an early start the following morning and headed up the Interglacier to the ridge below Camp Sherman.   

Looking at our group heading up the Interglacier.

Once at Camp Sherman we had the option of climbing to the summit the following morning or taking a rest day and heading to the summit the next day.  Given the unstable weather we decided to take a rest day.  

The view from my "alpine office".

Mountain Madness guide Jamie.

An RMI group heading up the mountain.  Although the weather looks good in this photo, the group turned around before the summit due to bad weather.

The ranger hut at Camp Sherman.

Two climbers arrive back at camp after turning around before the summit.

The next morning was clear and  cold.  The weather forecast for most of the Puget Sound was for rain.  We were above that rain, so we roped up and headed for the summit.

Camp at 4am.

A rope team heading to the summit.

Rick, Nancy and Jamie on the rope in front leaving camp.

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Traversing above a crevasse.

Feeling the altitude on a steep slope around 11,500ft.

Rick enjoying the day.

Nancy and Rick with Little Tahoma in the background.

It is always worth taking the time to stop and fix blisters before the get worse.  Guide extraordinaire Jamie doing some blister maintenance

Jamie's rope team at about 12,000ft.

Nancy enjoying the weather.

Nancy.

Mt. Rainier is not an easy climb.  Danny takes a few minutes to reflect on that fact.

Danny looking a little better after a Cliff Bar and some water.

Danny, Margen and Nancy all went to the summit with Jamie.  Rick and I turned around and headed down.
   

Rick heading down after a long battle with blisters.

Heading down for me was a good excuse to concentrate on some photography, which is always a good way to spend an afternoon.  

A rope team arrives back at camp from the summit.

An icefall on the Emmons Glacier meets the clouds.

Interesting patterns on the glacier.

I have spent a lot of time over the years shooting black and whiter photos of glaciers.  Much of this was in Alaska from the air.  If you have not seen those photos they are posted on my website here.  The Glacier photos are under mountain images in the "glacier project" gallery.

Jamie, Margen, Danny and Nancy returning to camp from the summit.

Margen and Nancy drinking tea after climbing Mt. Rainier.

Jamie making it look easy.

Anyone who knows me understands that it is really not possible for me to go anywhere these days without shooting photos of some birds.  This bird is a grey crowned rosy finch.  They are common in Washington's alpine areas, and very common at Camp Sherman.  

Grey Crowned Rosy Finch.

The following day we headed down, getting an early start knowing that food, and beer were waiting for us back in town.  

Photos from a trip to Mt. Baker's Easton Glacier.

I just got back from a trip to Mt. Bakers Easton Glacier. This trip was a 3 day Mt. Baker Summit climb. The weather was a little challenging on this trip, and the summit conditions were some of the worst I have ever had to deal with. These trips start with an early morning meeting and gear check and then a drive to the trail head at Mt. Baker. We then hike in and build a camp just above treeline. Day 2 is usually a skills day covering snow walking, ice walking, ice axe use , and roped glacier travel. Day 3 is summit day and the long hike out.

Fog covering the trees on the approach hike. I shot no more photos worth posting the first day due to crappy weather and zero visiblility.

Fog in Valley below on the morning of day 2.

Jeff and Jeff enjoying the morning.

Fog in the valley.

Dwayne and Alex.

The Twin Sisters range.

Cindy heading up for skills day.

A guy walking on the ridge next to camp.

A second shot because I cant figure out which one I like the most.

Tim and Cindy.

The first hint of light in the morning. This is the first time I have tried using the D300 at 3200 ISO. I like the results.

A little later on the summit trip. The weather is still holding out.

Clouds moving up the mountain. Us too.

Moving around crevasses.

The well beaten trail up the mountain.

Our Summit shot. Fogged lens. Between turning around at the summit crater due to heavy rain and temps in the 30s I put the camera away. It was just too wet to be shooting photos. The camera still got soaked, but there were not ill effects. The other rope team of five very hearty soles chose to continue to the top with Chris. The slightly smarter group agreed to go down with me. I owe Chirs a beer for the seriously rough summit duty.

Today I am still chasing off a case of the flu brought on by a few too many days of work in a row. As always, its still better than sitting at a desk. Even on the worst days.