Boston Basin, July 2007
Struggling to decide on what to climb courtesy of a constantly changing weather forecast, Martin and I finally settled on Forbidden Peak's East Ridge Direct in a day. It seemed a worthy objective, longer and somewhat more difficult than the West Ridge which I had climbed five years prior. Not having been in Boston Basin before, much less on Forbidden Peak itself, Martin was going to get a good taste of what the North Cascades National Park has to offer...or was he? At most, I'd say he got but a faint whiff.
We decided to do the climb on Sunday and needlessly squandered away half of the weekend before making the drive to Marblemount late on a Saturday afternoon. With a bivy the night before at a campground just off Cascade River Road, Martin and I woke up at o-dark-thirty and completed the short drive to the gate at the Eldorado Peak Trailhead. With the car parked, we hiked at least 2.5 miles of road, through two significant washouts, before reaching the Boston Basin Trailhead. We made good time hiking up into Boston Basin proper, only to be greeted by an ominous blackness looming in the western sky. Still defiant, we continued up to slabs beneath the Taboo Glacier before the skies finally unleashed and so doing drove the final nail into the proverbial coffin that was this outing. The rain was then followed by periodic bouts of hail, seemingly punishing us for even entertaining the notion that the East Ridge was ours to be had on this day.
click here for photos.
