Boston Basin Circuit

Boston Basin Circuit - July 2002

Robert Meshew, Mark Pratt

Sahale Peak, Boston Peak, Sharkfin Tower, Forbidden Peak (E to W Traverse)

We began the trip by ascending the Sahale Arm.

That evening we bivied on the ridge between Sahale and Boston. From there we had excellent views of Buckner and ripsaw ridge among other things.

The following morning we climbed Boston Peak in a little bit of drizzle. The reputation of bad rock is a little overblown. We no trouble except a 15 minute spelunking event to retrieve a dropped cam.

It was still early so we dropped down the Quien Sabe Glacier and headed for Sharkfin tower. From there the views of the very pyramidal Forbidden Peak were terrific. We saw several parties ascending Sahale as we were coming down from Sharkfin. We had intended to complete our trip with a Forbidden-Torment traverse but Rob tweaked his knee on the glacier descent. We then just traversed to below Forbidden and set up camp and waited to see if the knee would get better.

The following morning Rob was good to go on a reduced plan of an E-W traverse of Forbidden. On our ascent to the Ridge, Rob got some early morning pictures of the awesome N. Face of Johannesberg. We had an enjoyable morning, simulclimbing a good deal of the route. As we neared the top, we could see a party on the N. Ridge. Rob got some excellent pictures of them over the last two pitches. From the top we had excellent views of Eldorado, the Klawatti Ice Cap and Buckner's North Face.

We simul-descended the W. Ridge and were back at camp early. We found that the marmot (pictured earlier) had made a snack of my bivy sack. I couldn't find him or we would have had marmot fritters for dinner.

The hike out was a pleasant transition from glacier to meadow to forest. There was a short section of trail that was a little difficult to navigate due to downed timber from a rather large avalanche. From the trailhead, we were able to hitch a ride to the car. Our beers had been buried in snow that melted away over the course of our trip so we were rewarded with warm beer for our efforts.

last modified by mrp on 030619