I had corresponded with Kel Rossiter about Torment Forbidden traverse in North Cascades National Park a few years ago, but I never got a chance to contact him in 2020. This year, he contacted me and we arranged a trip to Seattle to do it.
In between two intense heat waves, I was lucky to have a window of opportunity to finish my work.
Above pic: Kel on the West ridge/false summit. Mt.Rainier 300 miles away on the left. Glacier peak, Mt.Shuksan on both sides. Taken from the summit of Forbidden peak.
Day1: Walk for 3miles/1000ft on Cascade river road, followed by another 5 miles and ~4200ft from car to the glacier high camp with 30lb backpack. Rain throughout, tricky stream crossings, overgrown trail.
Welcome to Pacific Northwest.
Things started heating up on steep wet slabs and on the glacier, as we left our trail shoes near the official high camp and headed up with mountaineering boots. In the tent we discussed multiple options and slept in our wet gear. I woke up multiple times in the middle of the night to check the weather outside. It was slowly clearing up.
Day 2: We woke up around 4:15 AM. No change in the plan. The first objective is to cross the bergschrund at the base of the Mt.Torment SE face. Multiple posts in the fb group said climbers were bailing here, but it wasn’t that bad. We downclimbed at one of the sections and then headed towards the base. From there, it’s 2 pitches to the col, which is mostly low class 5 but extremely wet and loose rock. Luckily, we’re the only one on the climb.
Once we reached the col, we had views of the Eldorado basin still in clouds. From then, the climbing started getting interesting. Loose rock, wet rock and scree in some sections. Doing it in mountaineering boots and with your entire pack is the main challenge. A few pulls (5.7 mostly) here and there. At the top, the rock quality and the views were stunning. Sunny and warm here. But many parties we met on the last day were surprised with the weather above high camp. There is a reason why the West ridge of Forbidden peak is one of the 50 classics. The rock quality is stellar. Exposure is extreme and the views are through out. Pitch after pitch, it just gets amazing.
The West Ridge of the Forbidden is a classic. You feel like you are on the summit the entire time. Downhill climbing is tricky in some sections, but overall I’m happy with the rappelling, transitions and efficiency. If there is a complaint, it’s mostly the end part of the hike back to the car, where the terrain is rock climbing shoes-less. I’m happy to finish it with mountaineering boots, and I consider this training for the Alps.
We reached the car by 9 PM. Despite missing a few sections of the original route, we made it up with the glacier travel and gaining the ridge again. Overall, I was very happy with the uphill fitness, keeping up the pace and moving fast especially on day 2 with the pack on rock. Although I’m not rock climbing actively, most of the climbing (except some occasional moves) is under my ability.
Until next time, North Cascades.
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