First time to the Basin. Going mid July, have 5-6 days to climb and looking (weather permitting) to do Shark Fin, West Ridge of Forbidden, and Sahale. Planning on taking cams, .5-3 and a set of nuts, along with glacier gear, including 1 picket each (2 of us), 1 fluke (maybe), and a couple screws. Probably 1, 60 meter 7.8 half rope. All thoughts/opinions welcome.

You don't need the screws, don't need the flukes, can get away without the # 3. Assuming you are doing the Quien Sabe glacier, thus the need for glacier gear?

Unless he wants to do Terror/W. Forbidden traverse. Its a great traverse. Some very steep snow sections. Though 1 picket... Isn't going to help you much on a traverse like that. Better just go solo on terrain like that or VERY short rope each other. On 45 snow slopes, if you do not stop the slide in 10-15 feet, the possibility of stopping it is fairly minimal to non existent. So, either carry a lot of pickets, or Short rope each other or go solo.

Forget Screws.

Go for the North Rib of Forbidden. Its better. You wanted to do Sharkfin anyways. You would already be there. Put up camp at the col. Climb sharkfin, climb North rib Forbidden and descend E. Ledges back to camp. I have done the W. Buttress Forbidden couple of times. If the snow coulair is full its a nice climb, if its not, its a dirty ugly climb on the lower half and good up high. One can get around this by climbing Terror and traversing to Forbidden and down. Most of this traverse can be simul climbed for speed. that and its safer in regards to rockfall if you are taking the west coloir instead of the standard colour.

Enjoy! I did when I was last there. For a funner descent rather than taking the climbers trail back down, run up and over the Queen Sabe Glacier and down Sahale arm. Unless you like climbing death rides, do not climb Boston. Its a pile of crap red rock. Steep LOOSE rock.

Uh, no I do not seem to know how to spell couloir. There 5 different "try's" =)

I agree that the North Ridge of Forbidden is one of the best climbs in that area, however, it is more committing in that once the climber raps onto the Boston he has to climb something to get back, is on the biggest, and heavily crevassed glacier in the North Cascades NP, something these climbers might not be comfortable on. By sticking to the original itinerary the climbers avoid large glaciers, which I assume is partially why they chose those peaks.

That is correct. While it is my first time at BB, it is not my first time on a glacier. However, I will have a partner who does not have any glacier experience. We rock and ice climb, but IMO glacier travel is it's own world. I thought my original plan would include limited glacier travel (and experience) along with snow/rock/alpine climbing.

Just noticed you said 5-6 days. Unless bad weather, W. Forbidden up down from BB is about 4 hours unless you are pitching it out instead of simuling. The vast majority of it is class 3 with some nice 4 and a VERY tiny bit of 5. Its easy enough one might decide to carry over Forbidden via E. ramp to Sharkfin tower.

Note, on descent. If the col to the W. ridge is not filled, descend the slabbish stuff to the W. of said main col and one can zig zag down this entire slab/loose 40-45 degree face and then wander back over to the W. col/runnel and do a single repel from the station there. Descent the S. "glacierette" to the West as well. Do not go down the super slick as snot rubbed raw with a nice sprinkling of sand on top slabs below this glacierette. This will bring you back to camp with little to no fuss.

If you have extra time and coming down off of Sahale, go up to Cache col and keep on going till go up mix-up, magic, cascade, Jberg. I really enjoyed Magic, top last bit is class 4. If you camp at Kool Aid "lake" expect LOTS of "overly" friendly goats though at least they weren't trying to drink straight from the "spigot" like at Ingals lake last time I was up there. That may have changed.

gilbo wrote: I thought my original plan would include limited glacier travel (and experience) along with snow/rock/alpine climbing.

That is what I guessed. Your plan is a good one, the Quien Sabe glacier is pretty mellow. I consider WR Forbidden to be the first 'real' alpine climb I did. Colin Haley said the same. The NR of Forbidden http://mountainwerks.org/cma/2002/forbidden.htm would require crossing the Boston Glacier, a no-nonsense glacier - the largest in the park. Unless the weather drastically changes, the approach couloir on West Ridge of Forbidden should still be snow filled. If you descend the route rather than take the East Ridge descent roue, you may need to do belayed downclimbing depending upon snow conditions. ExcitableBoy on the Boston heading to NR Forbidden. Image is MVS's.



In adddition to Wastral's suggestions, if you have extra time (with good weather, fitness, and efficiency you could knock off Forbidden, Sharkfin, and Sahale in 3 to 4 days as these peaks frequently get climbed CTC in a day) you could backtrack down Cascade River Road and do Eldorado Peak. The glacier is super mellow, (I never rope for it) and the elegant knife edge summit ridge is unique. Or head up HWY 20 to Washington Pass for some super fun alpine rock climbing with very short approaches. The Beckey Route on Liberty Bell is great, as is the SW Buttress on South Early Winter Spire (SEWS - 5.8'), the South Arete on same peak is easier at 5.4. If you have the guns for it, Direct East Buttress on SEWS (5.9, A0 or 5,11), NW corner of North Early Winter Spire (5.9), and East Face of Lexington Tower (5.9) are awesome day routes with short approaches, but no giveaways for the grade.

Wastral wrote:If you have extra time and coming down off of Sahale, go up to Cache col and keep on going till go up mix-up, magic, cascade, Jberg.

I REALLY am not trying to start a pissing match with Wastral, but I thought Mixup was a ho-hum peak and Jberg is not one I would recommend to someone new to the Cascades. Many other peaks with more friendly approaches, descents and better rock. Many Cascades locals have a story about epicing on Jberg. My favorite one involves my friends John and local legend Jim Nelson being over due and a high ranking congressman and an ensuing helicopter 'rescue'.

Wastral wrote:Unless he wants to do Terror/W. Forbidden traverse.

The Terror Forbidden traverse is also very good, but is a big step up in committment and difficutly over the other climbs discussed. As anyone who has climbed in the Cascades knows, difficulty cannot be measured by the YDS system alone.

Whatever you decide to climb, you really can't go wrong. After climbing the NF of Buckner we were trying to hitch a ride back down to our car at the Boston Basin TH, three miles distant from the Cascade Pass TH. A family from Sri Lanka were admiring the views of the mile high NF of JBerg, the Tripplets, Sahale Peak, and Sharkfin Tower. They asked me to take a photo of them with the mountains in the background. Upon learning that I had climbed all these peaks they insisted I identify each peak in the view shed, then they all took turns having their photo taken with me, the 'famous' climber who had climbed all of these intimidating looking peaks.

Personally If I had 5-6 days, I would go into the S. Pickets via Goodell Creek and skip Cascade pass region entirely as that whole region can be done on weekend trips. For S. Pickets: 1 day in, half day out leaves 3.5-4.5 days for wild hair crack(Himmelhorn), Inspiration, Dagenheart, E. McMillian. Solid rock. Great climbing, not committing either if you are worried about that respect. No glacier travel. The icelet patch below Inspiration does not count as a glacier. Or 5-6 days does Challenger, Luna, Fury in the N. Pickets.

PS. Agree about Mix-Up, but but ... its there... N. Buttress J-Berg is just great by using the bypass version of the lower buttress. Skips the vertical brush/tree pitches.
PPS. 200 posts in 4 years is hardly a pissing match =-) I only took aggrieved at the usage of world class destination for Index.

Wastral wrote:Personally If I had 5-6 days, I would go into the S. Pickets via Goodell Creek and skip Cascade pass region entirely as that whole region can be done on weekend trips. For S. Pickets: 1 day in, half day out leaves 3.5-4.5 days for wild hair crack(Himmelhorn), Inspiration, Dagenheart, E. McMillian. Solid rock. Great climbing, not committing either if you are worried about that respect. No glacier travel. The icelet patch below Inspiration does not count as a glacier. Or 5-6 days does Challenger, Luna, Fury in the N. Pickets.

PS. Agree about Mix-Up, but but ... its there... N. Buttress J-Berg is just great by using the bypass version of the lower buttress. Skips the vertical brush/tree pitches.
PPS. 200 posts in 4 years is hardly a pissing match =-) I only took aggrieved at the usage of world class destination for Index.

I can see the logic in your itinerary and if I had 5-6 days I would head into the Pickets and try Challenger, North Buttress of Fury, Luna Peak, and perhaps the Central Pillar of Swiss Peak, however, to a couple of guys from Ohio, the Pickets might be a bit much, even from the south. There is a famous story about a local climber dropping his pack with his partner's gear in it on the deproach because it was too much effort to carry. Boston Basin, with its short approaches is probably just about right and will be plenty of alpine adventure.

<pissing match>As far as Index being a world class destination, I don't think I called it a destination, and If I did I shoudn't have. Mt Rainier, Mt Shuksan, the Picketts, and Washington Pass I would consider desinations. That said, Toxic Shock, Breakfast of Champions, Princely Ambitions, Model Worker, City Park, Godzilla, Sloe Children, Iron Horse, Thin Fingers, Davis Holland, Loving Arms, Green Dragon, Town Crier, and Swim are as good as any pitch I have climbed at Squamish, Smith Rock, Joshua Tree, the Bugaboos, the Tetons, etc, and better than many others. That was my reasoning for calling it world class climbing.</pissing match>