The Tale of Two Ridges

This past summer a friend and i had a few days off in june and we knew we had to take advantage of a somewhat rare opportunity to hit the road and check a climb off the list. We had both had our eyes on the west ridge of forbidden peak for quite some time now and after learning that cascade highway recently opened we eagerly packed our kits and hit the road. Its just over a five hour drive from Leavenworth to the trailhead into boston basin. we arrived in early after noon and began the unforgiving approach into the clouds. The weather had been touch and go all day with rainstorms moving in and out constantly. The trudge through old growth took a few solid hours and we made the basin by early evening.

A typical north cascades approach "shwacking" is a common term in these parts

many beautiful stream crossings this time of year

Beautiful Boston Basin with weather constantly moving through

We decided to wait until the next morning to make our attempt on the mountain. We awoke to a steady rainfall and worse of all near whiteout conditions. I had spent a rather restless night in my bivy, lovingly referred to as the burrito, and after hours of being fully zipped in to stay dry i was eager to get out. I begged my partners to allow me to join them in their tent. it was a squeeze but i payed my way by boiling water for the crew.

here we are hiding from the mountains wrath 

We sat in the tent and chatted for what seemed like hours while the rain fell, it was my duty to poke me head out every 15 minutes to check conditions. Many sucker holes (random holes in the cloud cover that allow light through for a short while but mean nothing to the actual weather ) had come and gone and we decided to put our gear on and at least head up toward the route just in case we got lucky and had a window to attempt our ascent. 

with visibility remaining low we relied heavily on map and compass just to move across the glacier 

we were able to find the base of the west ridge couloir (although we couldnt see it)

We continued to watch the weather and notices that conditions we only worsening and it was time to make a decision. We had one more day of "stay power" before we needed to back at work but it was clear that if we stayed we would likely spend another day sitting in the tent hiding from the weather. We decided to throw in the towel and made our way back to the trailhead with our heads hung low. We made the trailhead at about four in the afternoon. 

wet and sweaty at the trailhead, sporting my "what can you do?" face.

We resolved to return to boston basin at our next availability but decided that in the future we wouldnt waist our time without a decent weather report. 

As we sat at the Red Robin in marysville bumming over our defeat we decided that not all was lost. we had one more day off and we were determined to make the best of it.

THE SECOND WEST RIDGE

We pulled into the driveway at around ten that night and immediately began packing a light alpine pack for our attempt on the west ridge of Prussik Peak in the upper enchantment plateau. After a few brief hours of sleep we jumped out of bed and drove to the Colchuck Lake trailhead. We began our daunting journey at around seven o clock. We made the usual time to the lake, just under a couple hours and then began the ass kicking soul sucking trudge up aasgard pass. A brief stop for lunch at the top of the pass and we were back on the way by around noon.

The pass (upper center) rises 2000 vertical feet in under a mile.

a beautiful shot of Prussik Peak, the west ridge rises on the left skyline

We arrived at the base of the climb around three pm and sat on the large perched rock to hydrate and gear up for the climb. It was really fun to do this climb in a ultralight style with only a 50m rope, and a handfull of various chocks and tri-cams. The pitches we fun and smooth with exciting exposures and interesting route finding.

Here partner trevor follows the best pitch of the route

takes a stand in an amazing place of exposure 

a victorious moment in an unforgettable setting. Little Annapurna in the back left

A few more pitches of fun easy climbing had us at the summit. we rapped off the north side of the mountain for six or seven rappells and then made our way traversing a steep snow slope back to the bas of the route, this was cold and rather unstable moving with a dangerous runnout if a slip were to take place so we roped it up and simulclimbed the traverse using trees and the occasional chock for protection. Finding ourselves back at our packs by around six we needed to make a decent pace as we really did not want to descend the pass in the dark. we made it to the top of the pass at about 8:45 pm and began the descent. We were pleasantly surprised to find snow conditions idea and we able to boot ski the pass in about 20 minutes!  A stop for some food and the long dark hike out by headlamp had us back at the car around 1:00 am.  This was the longest day of climbing for me to date and at around 18 hours of constant movement on top of two days of climbing and driving previously, i was ready to go to bed. It was a great feeling to have success on Prussik after being shut down in the north just the day before. I look forward to heading back out to Prussik soon, however i think ill pack for an overnight. 

Drying some gear on the porch the next day while the little neighbor girl plays with the dog

GOOD TIMES