Forbidden Peak/West Ridge

Our party of three got a permit through the new NCNP reservation system. Cascade River Road was still gated around milepost 21 so we had an extra hike to the trailhead; the road was reopened while we were out climbing.

To get to the West Ridge notch from our camp in the Boston Basin we climbed up the snow in the couloir. There was a large crack running halfway across the snow about mid-way up and we protected the steepest section with pickets.

From the notch to the summit we largely simulclimbed. We used 30 m of our rope and a rack that was larger than strictly necessary (small cams and a handful of nuts) so we could climb in longer blocks. The route was backed up at times, with perhaps 10 parties on the route. Everyone cooperated and we were able to climb past or rappel through other teams. Even so, we spent quite a bit of time waiting.

The weather was great and there were fantastic views in all directions.

We descended using rappels and down climbing. The established rappel stations looked recently freshened; we added some cord to one anchor that looked like it had been sampled by a rodent. From the notch we joined forces with two other teams to make two double-rope rappels down the couloir. We donated a picket to add redundancy to the mid-couloir anchor.

Approximate times: Left camp at 5 a.m., reached the summit at 11:00 a.m., returned to camp at 6:30 p.m., arrived at the cars at 10:00 p.m.