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Torment-Forbidden Traverse, Sharkfin Tower, & North Face of Buckner Whirlwind!
Wow- what a trip! Tracey Bernstein and MM guide Ian Nicholson send some Cascade classics in one trip. And while the summer was full of new adventures that keeps Mountain Madness and its clientele at the forefront of unique guided climbs in the Cascades, like Mt. Challenger-Pickets Traverse, an Olympic traverse on unexplored terrain, and climbs of Mox and Spickard in a remote corner of the North Cascades National Park, this trip stands out for the sheer amount of alpine climbing accomplished in one trip. Nice job Tracey and Ian!
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=524672af3282d4dd27e88dd499140f67 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=7e060f52b4ca0f22ae4454fd6e16d671 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=224a8bfcb811f186c8780db039280635 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=ecadc41f3d5246d7bc2b892d3c819f09 767w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=8bdc3ee3bae8338258bcf7c441b9400e 767w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=baf31323f3bc22df30a04088d72168bf 767w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=e7e9c9d0f7adbc21943c99e4ff29843c 767w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=b32f3a5d9edad24dfc28c61117bd60a2 767w)
Sharkfin Tower. Ian Nicholson photo
Reported by Ian Nicholson:
“Our trip began at the Marblemount Ranger station where we secured our permits for the next 6 days. Our objectives: Torment-Forbidden Traverse, SE Ridge of the Sharkfin Tower, and the North Face of Mt. Buckner! We drove up the Cascade River Road and hiked into the Boston Basin High Camp at 6,300 feet where we found a dry spot to set up camp. It is unbelievable how much snow there is this time of year! Above our camp towered our primary objective for the trip: the mile-long, knife edged Torment-Forbidden Traverse.
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On the Torment-Forbidden Traverse. Ian Nicholson photo
“We left camp early the next day, leaving camp behind and carrying a light load: with the clear weather forecast, we planned to bivy on the ridge with only a stove, our pads and sleeping bags. Tracey and I crossed the Taboo Glacier to gain the Southwest Ridge of Mt. Torment. We reached the summit by noon, where the challenges began.
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On the West Ridge of Forbidden. Ian Nicholson photo
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Summit of Forbidden with Buckner in the background. Ian Nicholson photo
“From the summit we traversed down and eastward toward a notch in the ridge, which allowed us to rappel onto the North side and onto the upper Forbidden Glacier. We were confronted with a 30+ foot moat guarding the glacier! After scoping out our options, I rappelled in, knowing I could always prussik my way back up the lines. After investigating the inside of the moat, I discovered a 25 – 30 foot vertical section that would allow us to climb out onto the surface of the glacier. Tracey joined me and we used our ice axes to climb out, crossing steep snow and gaining the rock ridge. After 12 hours of travel, we had reached roughly the halfway point along the traverse. We chose a beautiful bivy spot on a grassy ledge with a 1,500 foot drop off on the far side.
“We awoke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise. After a long, hard first day, we were surprised when the second half of the traverse only took us 3 hours. Tracey couldn’t believe how cool the climbing and exposure was on the second half, where we sometimes walked along with 1,500−2,000 feet of exposure on either side. We left our packs at the West Ridge notch and climbed the West Ridge in a little over an hour and a half. That evening we returned to our Boston Basin High Camp.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=3b994a067ad725588d45a5eda895232d 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=444cf94213f58df18e8c6306691ba4d8 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=440ceed0c7e870815154e578868daf82 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=aba925514ea841e5e5f06d13a6dcb1da 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=200ebe6656254ec1a2ef1ee8afd8cffc 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=fddaffc3e4517046f560a28f31869c23 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=29785cd12504ab1f2c57f7f658b695bc 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_9.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=ec8ebe76aa6f3683078d43803e2a53a1 1024w)
On Sharkfin Tower. Ian Nicholson photo
“We started out another stellar day in the Cascades as we made our way up the western edge of the Quien Sabe Glacier to the base of Sharkfin Tower gulley. After the Torment Forbidden Traverse, Sharkfin felt like a Sunday morning drive, and we climbed to the summit in 45 minutes. We descended to Sharkfin Col only to be greeted by another gigantic moat on the Boston Glacier side. We rappelled about 20 feet below the surface and traversed 50 feet in the moat before using our tools to climb to the surface. The photos we took from the top of Sharkfin helped us greatly to make our way through the maze of crevasses and saved us a lot of time. We reached our tent site at 6,900 feet below the North Face of Mt. Buckner where we spent the night.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=f29ee78300f8156f496ddddc79b55e44 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=0ca944047867722cadfd0182ecae6aa8 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=0abfb278a236480816bfb014e14a9e72 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=8876f3d4d11c8066846a4192316dc83d 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=9b2966fc2d35bd4f826023f34153f5a7 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=dccbc29b83526aad3ba8a62013762ab2 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=63401913d1828501709e2de6066940f4 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_10.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=741938190996519ac08b62b272990e3a 1024w)
Looking back at Forbidden (West Ridge on left, East Ridge in center, and North Ridge on right). Ian Nicholson photo
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The always tricky moat crossing getting on or off the Quien Sabe Glacier. Ian Nicholson photo
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Approaching Buckner. Ian Nicholson photo
“Chilly temps woke us up at 4:00 a.m. as we prepared for our summit push. We skirted one huge bergshrund that was 1⁄3 the height of the face, which proved to be even easier than we’d anticipated. Once at the ‘shrund, we climbed 14 pitches on firm névé and ice up to 50 dgrees to the summit where we arrived at 10:00 a.m.
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On the steep north face of Buckner. Ian Nicholson photo
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Steep snow traverse on route. Ian Nicholson photo
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Doesn’t get much better for after a hard day of climbing! Ian Nicholson photo
“We relaxed on the summit for almost an hour, taking in our accomplishments and enjoying the views, before we descended into Horseshoe Basin and traversed to our next camp at 7,700 feet on the Sahale arm. The last 5 days had started to catch up with us and we were getting tired, but with only the walk out the next day, we were extremely satisfied!”
~ Ian Nicholson
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=2f44dbe35c61fb06492b8294610c6270 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=7266691dfe4bffb1f4655bad136483df 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=4f40b68751ca3a966eca11a43cb064d8 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=2ef3142908692c7a546d784041e51a2b 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=b9d13e2022846375e13e0d6cf221e74d 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=24532d519d89b109af4198ea9b922e77 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=28cf9e3facb37449efc7e586640c8dce 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_23.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=9344551b011112f1711fcce81e830fc8 1024w)
The Torment-Forbidden Traverse (left to right). Ian Nicholson photo
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=28ccc343871504c99d109949969d9577 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=af7df42183e1d410028a342421968c7f 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=6f31f5ca6eda3fd08329dab061a3fccc 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=7ef5febd051b021f2f5ae3afa4cb4044 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=1cf3a8d8b0322ea0b1fba8b91a96707f 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=3425e3c3fdae59a3f0424d5d1ce7eae8 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=9ef8fa39cf724bb8aed1aee89a66884c 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fnewswire%2FTFT_25.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=30236c4ca332f1f16c96249c9ddb50b9 1024w)
Late flower bloom, with the Magic Mtn. and the start of the Ptarmigan Traverse in the background. Ian Nicholson photo