[gyngve]

Last week at the start of the forecasted good weather, AaronZ and I went up to do the North Ridge of Forbidden. Each of us had independently climbed the East and West Ridges and wanted something more remote. As usual, the drive in caused us to gape at Johannesberg. I had the double pleasure of ogling the peak while hearing Aaron's tales of the NE Buttress from the previous week.

The hike in was pretty straightforward, aside from me losing the trail in the blowdowns. Beta is to contour left, and if you're not on an obvious path, backtrack. Stream crossings were mellow, and we made good time to the basin and the slabs above. Up next lay Sharkfin Col. Being late in the season, the gully was crapilicious. Note that we used the next notch to the right... go behind a tower and to the left of a gray badge. This notch let us get away with just a 30m rappel plus some easy downclimbing.

At the col, we had an amazing view of the expansive Boston Glacier and the remote headwaters of Thunder Creek. We were at a turning point: once we rappelled and pulled the ropes, the two easiest ways back out could have been our intended route or around Boston to Sahale.

The moat wasn't so bad, and the glacier, while circuitous, did not pose any major obstacles.

We had to go low on the ridge to find an access point that wasn't too moated, and after some more steep loose dirt, we found some nice bivy sites on the ridge.

We enjoyed the sunset and refueled. Overnight the temperatures got colder than we expected -- we had ice crystals in our water bottles in the morning -- another sign that the days of summer are coming to an end.

The clouds from above had mostly filled the valleys, creating a patchwork carpet of clouds, but that was only the start of the weather phenomena we would encounter. The first part of the ridge was mostly walking and fun scrambling, aside from an ugly dirt couloir down from our bivy site to the next part of the ridge. Aaron's simul block took us past the first set of towers, finishing on a chimney with big holds; he did a good job of avoiding the loose flakes inside. My simul block was mostly a walk in the park before I encountered a deep gully and a short but steep headwall opposite from me.

With overnight packs, boots, and no pro, the climbing felt challenging enough to warrant a belay. Aaron remarked that our location matched the description of where Brian Miller broke both his legs. http://www.seattleweekly.com/2005-02-02/news/down-from-the-mountain.php The rest of my block continued up a left rib of the ridge until the whole ridge flattened out. The climbing was not hard, though there was a fair amount of loose. Aaron then took over, and the climbing became classic ridge. Solid and exposed. The ambience with the moody clouds was incredible.

Soon we arrived at the fabled snow arete. Aaron and I had each seen this feature previously from the summit and had wanted to come back for it. As we donned our crampons, dark clouds swirled on the east side of the ridge, while leaving the west side bare.

The classic ridge climbing continued, with a minor foray to climber's right. We were in an alpine playground.

Finally at the summit, we looked to the south and saw only a wall of gray. We quickly began the five rappels to reach the east ledges.

And then it hit. What better place to be for a graupel onslaught than on rubbly downsloping ledges a thousand feet above the glacier. We took our time, but exposure aside, the descent on the wet slabs on the south side was perhaps more treacherous.

As we painstakingly picked our way out, we encountered a trail of abandoned gear. First a water bottle. Then a pair of crampons. Clearly someone getting the hell outta dodge. But the weather slowly began to clear.

By the time we reached flat ground again, we were back in blue skies. The weather forecasters in Seattle were completely oblivious to our adventure, reporting that there's an anomaly over NCNP that is likely just virga, and sticking with their mostly sunny forecast. Our trip was much more memorable than it would have been had it been the bluebird day we anticipated. We felt grateful for being able to watch nature's show without being charged admission.

[peltoms]

Awesome report. I cannot believe the pics of Quien Sabe at the end are just shortly after the graupel attack. I had never seen the route up to Sharksfin Col totally devoid of snow. It looks like that is lucky for me, snow looks easier. The perspective from there on Boston Glacier makes you

[wildernessed]

nice TR / pics. When I was up in Boston Basin there were a group of college kids from Alabama majoring in "Outdoor Recreation" and there lab assignment was to climb in the North Cascades for 9 days. They had done Eldorado, Forbidden, Sahale, Boston, Liberty Bell etc..., not a bad assignment.

[Matt]

Terrific climb and trip report. Fascinating overview of the route and the changing weather.

[Randy]

Right on Gary.

[Tazz]

SWEET SWEET SWEET! Good stuff Gary!

[cartman]

Terrific pics, great job!

[ActionBetty]

Scary, beautiful, and muy impressive ! Thanks for sharing

[Dayhike Mike]

Wow! Nice work, Gary... Great pics as well.

[Magellan]

Great pictures, Gary. Thanks for including the tale this time.

[pimaCanyon]

Amazing photos! And what a great story to go with them!

[Mark Griffith]

Fantastic report. The pics are awesome.

[Layback]

I just stumbled onto this at CC.com. Somehow it eluded me here. Looks like a great trip G. I particularly like this photo:

[SlowWalker]

Outstanding! Truely an example of local mountaineering at its best. Cheers to you and AaronZ!

[Nisquaww]

D to the ank! Sick bivy!