NW Face of Forbidden Peak

This last weekend I climbed the NW Face of Forbidden Peak. It was my most enjoyable climb this year due both to the terrain and the good friends I spent the weekend with. I will post more comments about the photos later.

The hike in to Boston Basin is always enjoyable, despite the steep overgrown trail. Once above treeline the views are amazing. Our objective, Forbidden Peak can be seen in the center of the photo.
We stopped along the way and made dinner since we had a long way to go the first night. After that we continued over Sharkfin Col and dropped down onto the Boston Glacier and our camp right at dark.
Our bivy site on the Boston Glacier.
A lazy start to the day got us moving about 8am and heading for the base of the north ridge where we could cross over to the Forbidden Glacier where our route starts.
Pat descending the Boston Glacier.
Looking back across the Boston Glacier toward Mt. Buckner, and Boston Peak.
The notch at the base of the north ridge was not expected to be an issue, however due to receding glaciers it looks like it is going to be an issue as the years go on. Most reports I have seen about this part of the route talk about a simple snow gully.
Instead of a snow gully we started with a step across a moat on a barely there snow bridge(which Barry managed to break before I could use it. Thanks dude), followed by a steep climb up a short steep snow section.

Next, was an 80 degree loose dirt gully (crampons required) to gain the notch. Leading this was fairly serious as a fall here would be bad since there is no way to protect dirt. That is unless you climb in Scotland in the winter where the only good protection is frozen dirt. In this photo I am looking down the gully at Degay and Pat.

Pat at the top of the dirt gully.

At least the going looked easy on the other side.

Now we were on the Forbidden Glacier and we could at least see our objective ridge.

Getting to the ridge however was not as easy as we thought it might be. Route finding through crevasses on a steep part of the glacier made for a couple dead ends.

After messing around for a bit we did manage to find a snow finger that lead directly to the rock and was not blocked by a moat.

Our next worry was if we would find a place to sleep once we were on the rock. We had heard that there was some places to bivy on the route, but from below it did not look promising. Luckily we found a site big enough for three of us. Degay slept in a second site just below. From the site we had a great veiw of Eldorado Peak and Morain Lake below us.

Sunrise on Eldorado Peak. Time to start climbing.

The climb itself was abosolutly stellar. The rock was great, and the climbing was enjoyable.

This shot shows all of the ridge from the knife edge traverse to the summit. The crux of the route lies just on the other side of the knife edge ridge. The chimney mentioned in Beckey's book was beyond the actual crux of the route one pitch below. The crux was full on 5.8 climbing made harder by the fact that I did not worry too much about going light on this trip carrying two camera lenses and a tripod in addition to several other luxury items.

Looking back across the knife edge ridge at Barry. The crux of the route came just after this pitch.

Once through the chimney the cimbing eases considerably and you are treated to some amazing pitches of low fifth class climbing on perfect rock.

Pat climbing into the belay with Eldorado Peak in the background.

Pat is getting a little sick of me and my new camera lens.

Barry looking down the entire ridge from near the top.

Degay on the summit.

This route was one of the better routes I have done in the Cascades. Although not technically difficult the whole package makes for a serious outing. There are two ways to approach this route. One is to rap off the West Ridge Col and descend to the base of the ridge. We decided not do go this way due to the seriousness of rapping off the ridge in the unknown below. It is a quicker way to go than our route, but it misses many of the things that made this trip so enjoyable.

Most of the photos in this trip report were shot with a new lens. I have previously been shooting most of my alpine trips with a Nikon 18-200mm VR Lens which makes for a very good all around lens. On this trip I decided to bring a second wide angle lens which I bought just a few weeks ago. I was very impressed with the lens and love many of the photos I shot with it on this trip. It is a Tokina 11-16mm Lens I will add a blog post in the next couple of weeks entirely devoted to photos I have shot with the new lens.

Torment Forbidden Traverse

Here are a couple of photo i shot from the NW face of Forbidden Peak of a party of two climbers on the Torment Forbidden traverse on Saturday.

Denali Photos

These are the photos from this years Denali trip. This was my third trip to Denali and one of my most successful. After a one day delay flying onto the glacier everything else went perfect. We summited on day 13. This was certainly the strongest team I have had on Denali, and a fun group of people to spend two weeks with.

This photo was shot on my first trip to the Alaska Range on a climb of Mt. Foraker. This is also the photo that I have sold the most copies of thanks in part to Denali Images Gallery in Talkeetna who have sold a lot of these for me. You can have your very own copy by ordering from here. That one won't have the route drawn all over it.

Crevasses from the plane.
Vaibhav on the flight in.
Kahiltan base camp and the ski equiped Otter that landed us there.
Ray.
Richard and Mary's rope teams just behind us.
A couple guys dragging sleds.
A snow sluff caused by warm temperatures.
A rope team ahead of us.
Two climbers on the lower Kahiltna Glacier.
AAI guide Mary Harlan.
Ascending Ski Hill.
7800 ft camp from the top of Ski Hill.
Camp at 7800 ft.
Richard at 7800ft.
Avalanche.
Ski hill

Pat taking a break.
Two climbers at Kahiltna Pass
Icefall below 11 camp.


Moving toward camp at 11,200 just above Kahiltna Pass.
Almost there.
The final few steps into camp at 11,200ft.
My good friend Ray.
Camp at 11,200ft.
Clouds signaling unstable weather while at 11 camp.
Two skier descend toward Kahiltna Pass.
Tony and Pat enjoy the beautiful weather.
Brian at the top of Motorcycle hill in high winds.
A cup of coffee and a sunset at 11 camp.
Richard and Mary enjoy the evening.
Richard and Mary enjoy the evening.
Seracs near 11 camp.
A campsite at 11,200ft.
Late evening light on Mt. Foraker and Kahiltna Dome.
Nearing the top of Motorcycle Hill.
Starting the climb out of 11,200ft camp with Kahiltna Dome, Mt. Crosson and Mt. Foraker in the background.
A very windy carry day.
Clouds spill over Kahiltna Pass from the north side of the range.
Richard and his rope team on Motorcycle Hill
Richard at the top of Motorcycle Hill.
Another team moving through Windy Corner in perfect weather.
AC Sherpa
Brian
Vaibhav, Brian, and AC Sherpa below 14 camp.
Angela
AAI Guides Angela and Mike.
Pat and Tony at the Edge of the World.
14,200ft camp with Mt. Hunter in the background.
Same as above.
14,200ft camp shot from half way up the fixed lines.
Park service helicopter at 14,200ft.
Vaibhav, Juan, and AC Sherpa on the ridge below me.
Vaibhav, Juan, and AC Sherpa on the ridge below me.
Richard on the ridge.
Tony on the ridge.
Richard leading on the ridge.
Juan and Vaibhav on the ridge.
AC Sherpa at the top of the fixed lines.
On the ridge near 17 camp.
What is unusual about this photo? Helicopters apparently can fly at over 17,000ft.
Richard in the tent.
Me.
Juan
Mt. Foraker from 17 camp.
17 camp.
17 camp.
Me calling in the dispatches, or talking to my lovely wife.
Me.
Two climbers taking in the view of Mt. Hunter.
Mt. Foraker from 17 camp.
Solo climber above Washburn's Thumb.
Climbers and Washburn's Thumb
Killing time at 17,000ft.
Juan

Seracs.
Clouds at Windy Corner.
Climbers on the ridge above Washburn's thumb.
Climbers on the ridge below 17 camp.

Richard at 17 camp.
Richard.... Looking a little wasted.
Sun shining through snow wall protecting the camp.
The team returning to 17 camp from the summit.
Clouds over Mt. Foraker.
The team coming down from the summit.
Decsending the Autobahn.

The team just below 14 camp on the way down.

A rope team above Kahiltna Base. Ash from the Mt. Spur eruption is clearly visible on the glacier in this photo. Crevasses on the flight out.

An Alaska Road Trip.

Susan and I drove to the Arctic Circle yesterday.

Denali National Park.
Denali State Park. Just south of the Alaska Range.

The Arctic Circle. A really long drive north.

Other sites along the way...

Wolf

Caribou

Momma Bear

Babies

Willow Ptarmigan

Rainer Crevase Fall a Few Years Ago

I have told several people about this accident I had on Mt. Rainier a few years ago and I don't believe the story can be told correctly without the photos shot by one of the people on my rope team. There are before and after photos of the crevasse that I fell into. The first photo shows another rope team ahead of us on the glacier. The location of the highest climber is about where I was when the collapse happened.
This second photo is the same shot a few seconds later.
The next three photos are of immediately after the collapse. I was standing just about where the guy in red at the top of the crevasse is. I was pulled backwards into the hole and hit the bottom of the crevasse. It was about 50ft from where you can see to the bottom.


rI walked away relatively ok. A few broken ribs, and a few broken teeth. I hope to not have this experience again.

Obviously these are not my photos. They were shot by one of my clients. Unfortunately I can not credit him because I don't have his contact info any more.