~*CutebutChossy69*~ bluebagprincess
Joined: 08 Jul 2019 Posts: 58 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
Being my Birthday weekend and all, this Birthday girl wanted a Birthday Bulger... and I got my wish!
Alden and I had been watching the forecast for the weekend shift around all week and when it was looking rainy almost everywhere we thought surely we'd be going for my last WA ultra prom (Abercrombie) with the weekend. But we were pleasantly surprised with the forecast improvement bc it meant we could more feasibly give Forbidden a go. We pinged a few friends and Sam was available last minute and up for the fun.
We had our eyes on the East Ledges route bc scrambling is our group's forte and preferred method of travel over carrying ropes around.
CRR opened up just days before to the Eldorado TH so that made the road walk more manageable for a c2c effort. Sam graciously hauled 3 bikes (Alden and I don't have any lol) to the TH and met us there around 3:30a on Sunday for a 4a start. I got paired up with Sam's bike he got at his Bar Mitzvah bc it fit me the best.
I'm not much of a biker and there is about 1000' of gain from the Eldo TH to the Boston Basin TH so much of my "bike ride" was just me pushing a bike uphill. We stashed the bikes in the forest at the start of the trail and saw 2 other bikes already stashed. Oooo friends! We wondered if we'd see them, and where.
I hadn't been up the Boston Basin trail in a few years (2020) and it was bringing back memories of the few times I had done the approach previously in my youth. Ah, alpine nostalgia.
The stream crossings on the approach before the basin were all rock hoppable in the am without getting one's feet wet TOO much.
Thaaaats pisssssssss
Snow began around 5500' just before the lower creek crossing in the basin. It was a mixed bag of quality but nothing too terrible. The creek crossing before low camp in the basin was rock hoppable, but did wet our feet a lil (we were all wearing La Sportiva Jackals, not boots).
what the snow was like right around 5500'
Looked like some of the low camp spots were melted out already.
We continued on with our eyes on Forbidden as the clouds danced around the basin. Jberg showed its purdy face eventually. We traversed onward, (high camp is snow rn btw) and found ourselves at the base of the wide gully that leads up to the east ridge of Forbidden. We decided to hop on a melted-out rock rib and scramble up that since the lower entrance of the gully looked like it had running water under thinner snow in much of it. The upper part of the gully seemed more favorable. While heading up the rock rib I spied 2 dots on the Quien Sabe- there are the bike owners! We watched them top out on the ridge and Alden got some cool super-zoom shots of them. We wondered if they were going for Boston or Sahale? (We later learned they had their eyes on the N face of Buckner, but it didn't look so hot once they laid eyes on it).
peekaboo jberg I am standing directly below the couloir we ascended in this pic Cat scratch gully leading to the W ridge closer up
The final bit of snow leading up to the ridge gets a little steeper but the snow made for perfect bucket steps.
Once we topped out on the gully we headed for the col where we would drop down and access the East Ledges. There was a mix of snow and rock to contend with to get to this col. We found the brain of a backpack before the col that someone must have forgotten last summer. It had an inreach, some very moldy snacks, and some joints in it. Alden texted the owner (their name was on the screen of their inreach) but hasn't heard back from them yet. So if you know a Mike Walter who lost his inreach let me know!
nice shot of the Quien Sabe
When we got to the col some of us had a morning business mtg and others snacked. You could see Boston Glacier and N face of Bucker, Logan, Ragged Ridge, man what a view!
Sam with the Boston Glacier and N face of Buckner behind him
I peered down the "gully" as Beckey calls it and thought hmmm looks more like a chimney to me! Not the first time I've challenged his definition of gully lol. There were 2 small snow/ice patches in the "gully" that required caution, the melt from them made the mud super slick in spots too which wasn't great, but it was manageable. They should be gone soon tho if you go out there!
goin down the gully
Btw-Ditching sharps at the col would be fine. Alden carried his down to the ledge to get eyes on the ledge and then called up to us that we could leave ours at the col.
One by one we went, and I headed out on the traverse following the path of least resistance towards each next cairn. It was pretty loose and very exposed, comprised of a mix of dirt, plants, rocks etc. While scrambling I kept hearing these terrible sounds that sounded like ppl screaming, I think it was some kind of baby bird either on the cliffs below us or over on the N ridge? I couldn't quite make out where the sound was coming from, and I looked all over for signs of birds and didn't see any. The screams just really weren't the vibe for this kind of terrain tho
ledging "Walk a mile in these Louboutins, but they don't wear these shits where I'm from" view of Logan center from the ledges, with the ragged ridge to the left
After awhile the cairns disappear and you just gotta feel it out. We made our way to about 400' directly below the summit and stared up at the lighter-colored, less dirt/plant filled rock. The last 100' of climbing was a bit stiffer than I found the traverse (some 3rd mostly 4th C) to be. The last ~35' being the hardest and I think low 5th (aka "Beckey 4th class"). I wasn't stoked on downclimbing that section, and many choose to do a series of 5 raps off the summit over this section for the descent. We saw several rap stations as we were scrambling up.
N ridge in view behind us
Alas we were on the summit! Wow, we had Forbidden to ourselves, what a rare treat! The clouds were playing in the basin again and hitting the East ridge, like a wave cresting a cliffside, it was really neat. We did have views of Moraine lake, Eldo area, Logan, Ragged Ridge, and Buckner tho - wowza so gorgeous.
Sam walked on over to the classic photo op spot below the false summit and started undressing, he went from Sam the climber to an alpine rendition of Adam, complete with an usnea merkin made by yours truly! I was supposed to be Eve next to him but I did not feel like scrambling over to that spot, I wanted to save all of my remaining gusto for the downclimb we had ahead of us lol.
So I did my Eve photoshoot on the summit I was a little sad tho bc my usnea lichen pasties fell apart in my pack Alden hauled up one of my favorite cakes- Ube cheesecake from Hoodfamous Bakeshop, highly recommend. The Marblemount shell station didn't have a number 3 and 2 candles but they had my favorite number Now there's a nice wholesome family photo
The cloud wave was cresting and threatening to spill over onto the E ledges route, which we didn't rly want so we quickly dressed and headed down.
Downclimbing the moves just under the summit were not as bad as I imagined in my head while sitting at the summit, but they definitely required careful focus!
so uhh the beta is do not fall taking a break from downclimbing scary sh## to take a pic of my cute face
Once we made it down low enough we traversed back across the ledges. What a route! I didn't hear the bird(?) screeches on our descent.
Forbidden ripped my pants
We retraced our steps back to the col, downclimbed the snow, hopped back on the rock ridge on the side of the wide gully and began our traverse back towards low camp. As we got closer to low camp we saw a tent! We stopped and chatted with the fellas for a few mins and had a nice exchange. Nice to meet you Danny and Jackson! They got a good laugh out of the ~8' (?) stuffed snake Sam pulled out of his bag.
snow on the way down from the couloir was so soft we faced out the whole time its been a minute since I've done a day like this and I was def feeling like ET in the creek once we got down from the hardest parts it me 2 studs marmots are out idyllic
The creek and stream crossings were all a bit higher and our feet got a bit wetter than on the ascent. We made it down to the bikes and rode out back to the cars. My bike's brakes squealed quite loud whenever engaged, and parts of the road are kind of steep so I did a mix of jogging downhill next to my bike and riding it while sounding like car with a bad belt and probs scaring every living thing within earshot.
I was so happy to arrive back to the cars, we helped Sam load up the bikes and he hurried home to get ready for a 12 hr shift that started within 9 hrs We ate some dehydrated meals and ptfo in Sally the Sentra.
It was a great season opener and birthday Bulger
the watch said:
17 miles
7500' gain
(including the 2.5 mile bike/road walk each way)
Choss is a girl's best friend
Thedrunkbaguette, Eric Gilbertson, geyer, MangyMarmot, Route Loser, Fedor, LukeHelgeson, Cam, Nancyann, jstern, Now I Fly, Songs2, wallorcrawl, raising3hikers, rubywrangler, zimmertr, JimK, williswall, Mesahchie Mark, Slim, John Mac, mosey, Tom, Chief Joseph rstoddard24, Alden Ryno
Choss is a girl's best friend
Thedrunkbaguette, Eric Gilbertson, geyer, MangyMarmot, Route Loser, Fedor, LukeHelgeson, Cam, Nancyann, jstern, Now I Fly, Songs2, wallorcrawl, raising3hikers, rubywrangler, zimmertr, JimK, williswall, Mesahchie Mark, Slim, John Mac, mosey, Tom, Chief Joseph rstoddard24, Alden Ryno
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