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mvs

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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!! bigdrink.gif

 

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As I remember (its been 10 years), the raps down that face start out on the right (as you face down). Is that god awful station still in the gully? The one with the small chockstone stuck between the top of a rock and a ledge? I think this is the 3nd station. The 4th is just below in the same gully. You then work down and over(way over) slabs to the left. And then there are 2 raps down a nasty corner to terra firma. An outstanding mountain to ascend.

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robertm said:

The BC Parks have been replacing all raps with brand new petzls and chains. The raps down Sir Donald are new petzls with steel rings. All raps in the bugs are now new petzls with chains and steel rings. All raps are being set 25m apart.

 

Actually, alot of that work is being done by CMH boyz and they helicopters. You know, bored, nothing to do, fly into N side of Howser for a lazy afternoon on Beckey Chouinard, replace a few stations, fly back home.

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Convenience bolted stations in the mountains are usually suck, but in the Bugaboos the pikas will harvest rap slings to make their nests. The nest usually provides a food source in winter, so the pika ends up with a gut full of nylon and starves.

 

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robertm said:

The BC Parks have been replacing all raps with brand new petzls and chains. The raps down Sir Donald are new petzls with steel rings. All raps in the bugs are now new petzls with chains and steel rings. All raps are being set 25m apart.

 

Actually, most of the gear is Fixe ring anchors, or the nice ring-chain setups. Also, that is some serious misinformation about the raps being 25m apart (at least in the Bugs) as most are more like 35-50 m apart. The one notable exception to this would be the Kain route on Bugaboo.

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fern said:

Convenience bolted stations in the mountains are usually suck, but in the Bugaboos the pikas will harvest rap slings to make their nests. The nest usually provides a food source in winter, so the pika ends up with a gut full of nylon and starves.

 

bolt a station, save a snaffle snaf.gif

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dbb said:

robertm said:

The BC Parks have been replacing all raps with brand new petzls and chains. The raps down Sir Donald are new petzls with steel rings. All raps in the bugs are now new petzls with chains and steel rings. All raps are being set 25m apart.

 

Actually, most of the gear is Fixe ring anchors, or the nice ring-chain setups. Also, that is some serious misinformation about the raps being 25m apart (at least in the Bugs) as most are more like 35-50 m apart. The one notable exception to this would be the Kain route on Bugaboo.

 

Actually the NEW stations NOW BEING INSTALLED are 25 m apart. Eg rap from Snowpatch-Pigeon col down to S face of Snowpatch. See new Bugs guide from Elaho.

 

Its a convenience bolting for guides mostly so they only have to carry one rope. boxing_smiley.gif

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Here are a few pictures from our trip, including one from Sir Donald:

 

Sunrise from the start of the NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire:

14unbelieve-med.jpg

 

Robert at the Wiessner Traverse on Snowpatch Spire:

14robertsnowp-med.jpg

 

Robert on pitch 5 of Bugaboo Spire:

14nearetemorn-med.jpg

 

Robert high on Sir Donald:

14sirdonclimb-med.jpg

 

bigdrink.gif

 

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