bumblyjoe Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 Hello, I am heading up to the Bugs for our first time up there. A couple of specific questions I have. Firstly, we are gonna be doing mostly the "classic" routes so nothing harder than the Becky/Chounard. About the approaches to the climbs: is it mellow enough to just strap crampons to my tennis shoes? Do I need to really bring my hiking boots? And is there a place to stash the crampons/axes at the top of the col/base of the climb, or are we carrying our gear up and over( like I said - we are only gonna be trying the more popular routes this time - the 50 crowded and the like). Secondly, ropes. Do we need 60 meter ropes? Do we need 2 60 meter ropes for repels? Can we get away with a 50 meter rope and a tag line? I am very experienced with alpine climbing and usually climb with double 60's but do I really need that for the Bugs? Well, thank you in advance for any help you can offer. See you in Canada!!!! Quote
specialed Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 I've been to the bugs, haven't climbed Becky/Chouninard but talked to many that have. If you're staying at or near the Kain Hut, the preffered technique seems to be to stash axes / poons at the top of the col and make a somewhat sketchy descent to the base and then carry over, since you rap to the north and wouldn't want to have to retrieve gear. You don't need anything but strap-on crampons and light boots for all of the approaches. The glaciers are pretty mellow. As far as ropes go, I'm sure you could get by with 50's. In general 60's are a better choice for the mountains as you can often link pitches or make pitches longer. Quote
dbb Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 The footware will depend on how late you stay. Tennies with crampons should do fine for most everything, though later in the season the bugaboo-snopatch col starts to melt out to ice (35 degrees at the most?). I haven't descended to the base of B-C, but from looking at the steep snow on the descent off the tower it looks pretty steep. I would say bring the 60s. It's only like 1.5-2.5 hours into the hut (2.5-3 to applebee) and you'll be able to climb a LOT faster with the longer lines. That's just preference though, I'm sure you would be just fine with 50s as it is the alpine afterall. For many of the standard descent routes (bugaboo, snopatch) I heard that they were bolted for one rope descents last year. We needed two 50s though to get off snowpatch when I was there. Quote
snoboy Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 Hmmm... it is hard to answer your questions as they are very general, but I will try. If you are comfortable with the tennies and crampons, then you will probably be OK with that, I have seen that done there. However you are probably going to want your hikers for the way in anyways, so... Gear gets stashed for some routes (Kain Route, W ridge Pidgeon) and carried over for others (NE Ridge of Bugaboo, Beckey-Chouinard almost anything on Snowpatch), it really depends on what route you are talking about. 60m ropes... I would guess that you will be able to get away with a 50m and a tag line for raps, but you know the trade off of doing longer pitches, etc. Some of the harder, new routes require 60's or even 70's(?), I think. Read the guidebook. The new one by mark Piche from Elaho Publishing is the better of the two. Quote
dberdinka Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 My memory is hazy but for the B-C....... 60 meter ropes might be nice to ensure getting over the Bergshrund. Seems like it was pretty close to a full length rap. Lots of long pitches as well on route. We left our crampons and axes at the Pigeon-Howser Col. I bashed up my elbow real-good sliding down ice into a talus field. Not good I'd probably do it the same way again and just be very, very careful descending. Quote
snoboy Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 I have heard the same thing about the B-C descent as dberdinka mentions, that 60m is GOOD. Quote
bumblyjoe Posted July 23, 2004 Author Posted July 23, 2004 Thanks for all your help ya'll. Just what I was looking for. cheers Quote
PaulB Posted July 23, 2004 Posted July 23, 2004 The rap stations that descend from the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col are set up for single ropes, but having double 60's will let you do the whole thing in two raps using the stations on the Snowpatch side. The Kain Route on Bugaboo is fully equipped for descent with a single rope. Due to the nature of the route, I don't think having doubles would make much difference. Quote
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