mvs

That was a great article. The then-and-now picture of the South Cascade Glacier is astonishing!

I've got my threats from Mike Adamson too, dating back a couple of years. These emails constitute the only sorry and squalid memories I've got from 6 years of wonderful adventures making friends and expanding my limits. There was an incident with tequila one time, and although it was squalid, I'm still not sorry about it. Jon, Tim, thank you for this site, which I love more than I should. :-)

I saw the towing signs at that convenient parking area in July, so I drove down to the Alpental road to park. I wouldn't care if it was an empty lot surrounded by trees, but I can picture some of the homeowners nearby being eager with phone calls to tow truck companies...

Here are a few pictures from our trip, including one from Sir Donald: Sunrise from the start of the NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire: Robert at the Wiessner Traverse on Snowpatch Spire: Robert on pitch 5 of Bugaboo Spire: Robert high on Sir Donald:

Good luck to John...

Awesome Dan. Nice to meet you and Will. We didn't see the bear at Cub Lake, but we ate some of his berries for sure. I had an accident with a freeze-dried meal, and slept with chili powder all over my legs. I could have been a tasty morsel!

Theron Welch and I hiked the traverse Monday to Saturday. Everything about it was spectacular, except the car shuttling time. Along the way we climbed Formidable, Old Guard, Spire Point, Dome and oddly enough, Dynaflow Tower (not recommended). Old Guard is an incredible view peak, really the best, because it looks down on the seething mass of Chickamin Glacier and the peaks around it. We camped the first night on heather benches after the "Red Ledge", then Yang-yang, then White Rock Lakes (really beautiful there), then Itswoot Ridge, then Cub Lake. I had worried about getting down Bachelor Creek, but it wasn't bad. Expect slow travel for about an hour, then good trail through a few miles of brush. It's definitely a trip of a lifetime!

Robert Meshew, Mark Pratt and myself had a great time in the Bugaboos. We stayed at the Kain Hut, which was great. We climbed "The Snowpatch Route" on Snowpatch Spire. That is a great long climb. Do get "sucked into" the variation 5.8 hand crack low on the route, it is fun. Descending the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col was interesting, we were happy to have ax and crampons to make it over the bergschrund safely. A brief storm convinced us to call it a day early. The next day we got an early start for the NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire, but were scared away by thick rain clouds at 6 am. We ended up scrambling up Eastpost Spire, which was fun. But the bad weather never materialized, and this provided motivation to try again the next day. So we did, and found the route to be awesome. We reached the south summit after 3 hours of climbing, then rappelled the upper Kain Route in light snow flurries. We had time to hike over and climb the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire which was a supremely scenic short climb. We decided to take a "new" way back to the hut, via rappels down a very steep cliff between Snowpatch Spire and a dramatic icefall. This went well, but I got kind of lost in slabs and crevasses while my partners napped below. We heard about a bevy of accidents on the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col back at the hut. The next day we slept in happily, then climbed McTech Arete, an incredible 5.10a corner and crack system. 5-6 astounding pitches! It was time to go, so we hiked out the next morning, and got in position to climb Sir Donald near Roger's Pass. Only I slept soundly at an noisy campground - Robert threw pebbles at me to knock off the slobbering snafflehounds. Mount Sir Donald via the Northwest Arete was an incredible climb! We brought a rope, but soloed up the 2500 foot "specimen class 4" route. The rock was angular and solid, often rough and scraped free of lichen on the right side of the crest. Robert and I simul-climbed down with a rope, then made the mistake of trying the western slabs rappel route 1000 feet from the bottom of the route. We made 5 25 meter rappels then wandered on scary scree-covered ledges looking for the next set of rappels. We never found them, and Robert pioneered a traverse back to the ridge 500 feet from the base. Frazzled by the exposure, I elected to make 3 time consuming rappels, then finish with nerve-wracking downclimbing. Despite what guidebooks say, the lower section of the ridge is very steep, and has the loosest rock on the route too. The hike down ruined our knees for a few days. 14 hours round trip. If you do the west slab rappels, get good beta first! Thanks to Robert and Mark for a great trip!!

thanks Travis, that is so useful!

Whoa, it took us 13 hours not 11. Don't want to start another speed ascent controversy!

Sunday I descended via the Ramp Route back to Bedal Creek, and it is a route which it makes sense to solo (as opposed to the Sloan Glacier route). The route is as described in the Green Beckey book. The interesting points 1) are getting from the snow to the rock of the lower ramp (there is at least one snow bridge here that is very solid) 2) The slabs of the lower ramp are easy to climb up, but you might want to make a rappel on the descent. 3) There is a 5th class short pitch getting from the lower ramp to the corkscrew trail in an open book. We were glad to be able to rappel that. So carrying a rap rope may be a good idea. Have fun!

Here are a cupla pihcs:

Climbed the West Face yesterday, it was a very worthwhile climb. We ignored the (complex) Beckey description and just headed straight up from the high spur, finding climbing from 4th class to 5.7. The only sign of passage was a fixed nut in a steep chimney, and that curious kicked-steps-in-heather look on grassy holdless sections. I'm pretty sure mountain goats can't cause that! We met the corkscrew trail near where it begins scrambling up a gully after 5 pitches of simulclimbing, and 250 feet of unroped scrambling. We seemed to have the whole Sloan/Bedal group to ourselves. Views were a bit beclouded. Hey Scott'teryx, what's up with "don't forget the stoppers" in the summit register? We descended the ramps on the south, a little unsure of the way on the exposed ramps and slabs. But it went fine, as did the traverse back into Bedal Basin. The Bedal Basin trail is good, but there are very brushy sections in the first half. The berries are a nice consolation prize though. It took us 11 hours there and back from the car. There is loose rock, and it's easy to get onto scary terrain covered in black lichen. But the views looking down the face and across to the Gemini (?) peaks are steller.

Thanks Hikioawa. I went ahead and reserved the hut yesterday. Maybe we'll do a combination of hut and Appleby campground. (depending on the hut smell I guess ) Sounds like you had a great time there? There is a IV 5.6+ route on Snowpatch Spire that sounds like a fun route, did you do that? I hope we get a good weather window for Howser. Did you need to bring your own chicken wire? Thanks for the info!

mmm, succulent vermin....

Huh, must have been a government pork program, since cancelled. Thanks guys. Dbb, so you didn't need to bring your own gas? Just want to be sure. I don't want to have to collect methane from the outhouse.

Old topic...new questions! I read in the guidebook that they have microwave ovens in the hut. In that case, I wouldn't need to bring a stove, because I could just boil water for a dehydrated meal in the microwave right? And you have to bring a sleeping bag? Why don't they have flea-ridden blankets for us? thanks, --Michael

Guye was great, thanks all! Only 3-4 pitches of "rock climbing," embedded in a lot of dirt scree and moss, but very worth the effort. The crack climbing on the pitch before the Improbable Traverse was great for it's solidity and steepness. The traverse had great exposure, especially as you round at least 2 corners wondering what's next. I took a digital camera and got some pictures, but they don't compare to Eric8 and Slothrop's. Above the traverse we alternated between trying to keep the climbing interesting and then scaring ourselves and giving in to piney ledge walks. One memorable short pitch I rated 5.7 X for delicate moves on a licheny vertical wall. This brought us to an alcove containing a fairly new chopped rope, which suited the mood (we carted it away). We climbed to the north summit directly rather than dropping into the gully. I did an idiotic 5.9+ R lichen variation on the left, but Theron came up on the right with a 5.6 lieback. We got home a few hours late, so it didn't quite meet the definition of a "morning trip," but the special person who cared was distracted by a piano and didn't mind. Whew! Here are some pics, first is the route as we did it: Here is a picture taken on the traverse looking back: Here is Theron on top: Note the disturbing, prehensile foot ( pre·hen·sile : adapted for seizing or grabbing): Random self portrait on the road hike, very thirsty:

50 GU packs...my body would never need to produce it's own mucus again... that picture from the traverse is really sweet...Guye it is then!

If you had just Sunday morning free, what would you do - Chair Peak East Face or Guye Peak Improbable Traverse and you live in a constrained reality where those are the only choices!

Stimson s!

I was up there this morning fondling the sling too. It's so mysterious! Another mystery, how can so many of us converge on that area, yet it's always empty when I'm there? And what's that motor running behind the test door? I validated that GM+HOC is better than Godzilla, it is true.

Tee hee! Well Kris went to the Galapagos for 3 weeks, so I've got some serious climbing time I'll wander over to Alex's office later today. Jja, RobertM and I will be there at a similar time. Looks like August 9 - 14. With the little I know right now, I'm focusing on Mt. Sir Donald, Temple and Assiniboine. Your weather backups sound good, can I copy them? Maybe we can climb Temple together or share conditions info over some

Boy is my face red. jja started a topic with lots of replies at: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=196073&Forum=UBB1&Words=canadian%20rockies&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=196073&Search=true#Post196073 I'll just go read that.

Hi, I'm going there in a few weeks with a friend. Any advice or trip reports that might be useful? We'd like to climb classics like Assiniboine, Andromeda, Edith Cavell. Some limestone cragging would be fun too. We have (a mere) 6 days. Info on weather, huts, books, helicopters and sandbags are really appreciated! thx! --Michael