Torment-Forbidden Traverse

As this summer's scheduled week of vacation, my plans to climb in the Bugaboos fell through as I wound up being a third.  This put plans of doing a hard climb (NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire or something similar) in jeopardy.  I quickly scrambled to put something together, and stumbled across a Mountaineers climb led by Rich Draves on the Torment-Forbidden Traverse.  I quickly jumped on it, and after he called in my references (thanks guys for saying good things about me) I was added to the roster.  The Torment-Forbidden Traverse enjoys legendary status after being published in Mark Kroese's book of 50 Classic North American climbs.  Jim Nelson wrote the piece, describing the mile-long traverse on a spectacular ridge linking Mt. Torment to the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak.  The climb requires a broad range of mountain travelling skills ranging from 5.4 rock in boots,simul-soloing tons of 4th class terrain, and crossing 50-degree hard snow/ice slopes.  The commitment level is high, since bailout options are nil once the traverse is begun.  Depending on conditions, this is a Grade IV to V climb.  This was my first climb of this level, and I felt well-prepared for the task.  Conditions were ideal, making the snowslope crossings, which are often the crux of the climb, quite manageable.  The Spring's heavy snowfalls meant that despite it being late July, the moats and bergschrunds were all easily negotiable.

The Traverse as seen from Boston Basin: Torment is on the left (8120 ft), the mile-long ridge, and Forbidden on the right (8815 ft.)

Mt. Torment.  Two options are commonly used to reach its summit: the Soutn Ridge (left skyline), and the Southeast Face (large open face to its right).

The usual crappy Boston Basin approach led us up 3000 ft from the cars, to where we chose to bivy thr the night in the upper basin.  Our multiple options for doing the climb included a beastly one-day push, bivying on the ridge and doing the climb over two days, or bivying in Boston Basin and climbing the entire route in one day.  We mulled over our options and decided as a group on the third choice, which would enable us to move light and fast, while giving us better chances of success than the first option.  For the record, I wanted to bivy on the ridge.

Rich's and my bivy sites in the Boston Basin, with the usual stunning view of Johannesburg.

The rest of the crew hangs out in Boston Basin.  Left to right: Andy Wyatt (black), Aaron Rose (green), Jordan (Andy's brother-in-law, backpacking only), Doug Walker, Chris Potts.

On Sunday we set our alarms for 3:30, thinking that by the time we were on rock on Torment it would be getting light.  We made quick work of the approach over the Taboo Glacier and surveyed our options.  Both the South Ridge and Southeast Face looked in fine condition.  We decided that we'd chose the easier Southeast Face (4th class), since the moats and 'schrund looked manageable.  It proved to be a good choice.  Once we got on rock, we were quickly on the summit of Torment.  Rich and I topped out at 7am.

Stepping off across the moat onto the Southeast Face of Torment:

Rich signing the register on top of Mt. Torment, with Eldorado in the background.

First look at the traverse from the top of Torment:

Johannesburg, Glacier Peak, and the Ptarmigan Traverse Peaks:

The other parties made what I consider to be a wise decision to forego the summit of Torment, and proceeded directly to the notch leading to the North side of the Traverse for the first of two major snowfields. They had taken quite a bit of time placing lots of pro on the Southeast Face.  Aaron had been on the traverse before in poorer weather, so he led the way to the notch.  We were able to jump across the moat onto a flat landing area, before racking up for the steep snow traverse.  Previous parties had kicked some very nice steps, and the snow remained firmly frozen in place.  We each carried a picket and we used them all, but ice was not encountered, and screws were not necessary (we didn't have any anyway).  The snow was probably 50 degrees in places.  Two tools would have been nice in only a few spots, but were overall unnecessary.  I did carry my Aztar instead of a traditional piolet, and I was glad to have it and it worked well.

Rich heads down onto the first snowfield:

Aaron descends from the notch:

Doug and Andy lead the way across the first snowfield, followed by Rich and I.

Aaron and Chris bring up the rear:

After crossing most of the second snowfield, which was equally steep but much softer, we climbed up to the saddle and traversed the next block on the South side of the ridge.  This leads to where Steph Abegg describes the grassy ledges, which we barely saw but were mostly snow-covered.  It looked like the previous parties had all stayed on the North side this year.

The second snowfield:

After traversing the snow-covered grassy ledges, Rich led up a steepish snow ramp to some slabby 5th-class rock which led to easy ledges.  We hip-belayed this section, and finally were able to traverse around and regain the ridge crest proper.  We all relaxed a little, as now the major routefinding difficulties and snow issues were behind us!  Now we were able to enjoy the super-aesthetic ridge climbing past the sidewalk and to the notch marking the start of the West Ridge of Forbidden.

Andy belays Doug as he starts the easy 4th-class ridge crest proper.

Back on the ridge crest:

Aaron rounds a corner, with Klawatti and the Inspiration Glacier in the background.

Me on the famous sidewalk, nearing the end of the traverse:

At this point Doug and Andy had picked up the pace, while Rich and I spent time waiting for Aaron and Chris.  Doug and Andy got quite a ways ahead, and decided to drop packs at the notch and start up the West Ridge of Forbidden.  We hadn't firmly decided on a descent route, but the decision was made at that point.  Rich and I preferred the East Ledges descent (and Rich had done both), while Doug preferred descending the West Ridge. 

Rich and I reached the notch at 1:45pm, having been at the summit of Torment at 7am.  We would have been about 1-2 hours faster on our own, but given the size of our group we felt that wasn't too bad.

Rich and I waited for Aaron and Chris to reach the notch before starting up Forbidden.  By this point, Doug and Andy had topped out and were halfway back down.  The climbing was very easy.  Rich and I did it in two sections, simul-climbing and pausing only to rerack gear.  The rock was very solid and setting was of course, ideal.  The route goes at 5.4, but the vast majority is 4th-class.

Halfway up the West Ridge, looking back at the traverse:

Rich and the North Ridge of Forbidden from the summit, which he climbed a few years ago but didn't see it due to weather conditions:

Me and the false summit block:

We downclimbed and rapped the West Ridge to regain the notch and our packs.  I think both Rich and I definitely would have preferred the East Ledges.  Rapping was a cluster.  We had two stuck ropes on two rappels - one which I rapped down to and freed, and I lowered Rich to the other and he reclimbed the section.  After that, we went back to downclimbing for the remainder.

The West Ridge of Forbidden, and the Traverse:

Chris on his way up the West Ridge.  We doubled over 8mm 60m ropes and used them as twin ropes most of the day.

We all regrouped at the notch before descending to the Unnamed Glacer.  We downclimbed the snow gully, which had a small but manageable bergschrund.  Rich led on the way down, and placed all 5 pickets that we had with us.  The snow was very sloppy, and while it was steep took kicked steps well.  We finally emerged onto the Unnamed Glacier and make quick time back to our bivy site in the Boston Basin.  While we were coming down the gully, Aaron and Chris were starting down the steep snow section.  Doug and Andy were supposed to wait until they made it through the steep section, but somehow that didn't happen.  We ended up spending about an hour in our bivy sites nervously watching for Aaron and Chris to emerge from the gully.  They did in the end and made it back fine to the basin, but just had taken their time coming down the steep snow in order to stay safe.

We quickly packed up and started down the always enjoyable Boston Basin "trail".  Having finally reached the cars around 10pm, our long day had come to an end. 

This was a fantastic climb.  It confirmed for me many of the skills I have acquired to this point.  It required confidence, good decision-making, and speed on all types of terrain.  I'm glad to have done it with such qualified partners, and hope to climb with them again someday.