Route:  Forbidden Peak/W Ridge
Climbed:  June 21, 1995


The trail to Boston basin starts as an abandoned mining road which
forks off from the cascade river road a couple miles before the
parking lot.  The trail is well used and obvious, but steep.  There
are two established camps in the basin with toilets and rodents: one
at 5200 and one at 6400.

When approaching the peak, there is a lower basin which looks just like
the peak, with the obvious coulior west of the S face.  Don't be
fooled, continue on to the correct basin.  From a distance the false
and correct basin are obvious.

The coulior is steep, with broken blocks of snow at the base, but in
soft snow I was comfortable walking up it.  Latter in the season
there may be several open holes in the snow.  At the top of the
coulior we entered an obvious gully which ran up at to the right.  We
rope up here.

At the col there are several bivi pads.  It would be possible to climb
to the col on the first day, bivi, and get a very early start on the
climb.

Looking up the ridge there are four "towers".  The lowest is of no
consequence.  The second is a bit to the right, the third to the left,
and the fourth in center.  I started climbing on the ridge.  Where the
ridge got steep (after the first tower), I climbed on the N face,
about 10 down from the ridge.  I regained the ridge at the base of the
second tower.  For speed, climbing from the base of the gully to the
base of the second tower can be simul-climbed.

The first tower looks like a friction face, but it has many 3 inch
ledges and one crack which accepted a nut.  Above, the route runs
along the ridge top to the base of the third tower.  1 pitch.

The third tower it a little more difficult.  There is a crack system
with an old piton around to the N, but I climbed on the face.  Above
the route runs along the ridge top to the base of the fourth tower.  1
pitch.

This is where we stopped.  Looks like the fourth tower can be climbed
in a small depression just to the north of the ridge.  I presume that
above the route runs along the ridge top to the summit.  1 pitch
should take you up the tower and part way along the ridge.

On descent we rappeled down the third tower, down-climbed to the second
tower, did a single rope rappel, then down-climbed to the col (all
roped down-climbing).

The climbing is all easy, even the towers.  Take plenty of cams
because they are fast to place and to clean, big and small, they will
all get used.  I usually conserve cams for where they are needed.  On
this climb I had to break that habit and used the cams first.  On
most pitches I placed no more than 4 or 5 pieces though the towers took
more.  Excepting the 4th tower, it is easy to rappel the route on a
single rope - in fact a double rope rappel would not be an advantage.
The 4th tower was the highest, but my guess is it is possible to make
a single rope rappel from it's top to it's base.





[Route description written by Tom Unger]