wbk Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Trip: Bugaboos - Various Date: 8/6/2011 Trip Report: Back from a killer first trip to the Bugs!! Had stable weather so we climbed until we couldn't anymore!! Day 1: surfs up (5.9) up on west side of snowpatch spire and the we ran over and solo'd pigeon spire (famous west ridge route - 5.4). Amazing day and a sweet intro to bugs rock and routefinding. Day 2: NE ridge of bugaboo spire. Good route but a tad oversold ihmo. Crazy exposure up high!! Descent went smoothly Day 3: Slept in and climbed sunshine crack in the afternoon. That offwidth on p2 is pretty intense and I got the 11- roof pitch which was super fun. Found the route to be pretty damn sustained but definitely one of the best long crack climbs I've ever done. Day 4/5: after sleeping in and much debate over weather we hiked to the base of the beckey chouinard and scpope out if it was too icy/snowy. we'd heard reports that it was still out of condition. after descending to the SW side of Howser and hiking up to the base we decided to just start climbing even though it was 3pm. We hit a bivy ledge above p10 and slept on the coolest bivy ledge looking up at the ridge's badass headwall! Woke at 4:30 to lightening! but it moved through quickly as we huddled and quivered under a jutting rock. We finished the ridge by midday and spent extra time climbing between ice patches on the summit ridge which was somewhat tricky and time consuming! The new rap route is pretty slick. In retrospect climbing with bivy gear and boots made us way more tired and took a little fun out of some of the 5.10 pitches but that bivy position was super memorable! We pretty much climbed most if not all of the variations that avoid the chimneys and tension traverse, etc. on the upper section. The glaciers were in great condition and the big snowpack allowed us to boot ski down from the snowpatch-bugaboo col day after day!! As a first trip, we were totally stoked and look forward to future trips!! Hats off to James, my partner from Peru whom I hadn't climbed with since 2006! Was great being up there with you! Stoked on Surf's Up Au cheval on Pigeon Spire NE Ridge Bugaboo Spire Start of NE Ridge Bugaboo Spire One of the many variations on NE Ridge that bypass the mid fifth chimneys Traversing summits on Bugaboo Spire Sunshine Crack systems can be made out if you look carefully Sunshine crack - p3 - lots of roofs on this climb Playing with camera features on Sunshine Crack Elated to send the 11- roof pitch on Sunshine! Dropping from Pigeon Howser col! Wrapping around seeing the S and SW faces of Minaret and S Howser SW blows your mind! Approaching the B-C! The headwall gleaming far above! Headwall magic! Nearing summit of S Howser Videos on B-C and at bivy More photos on Flickr: Gear Notes: Didn't take #4 on B-C and didn't miss it much really Approach Notes: 5.5 km, 950m to Applebee - approach is way more mellow than I had been led to believe, even with heavy packs Quote
JasonG Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Holy crap, that is some fine climbing! I need to get my rock skills brushed up and head back up there. . . .Thanks for the reminder. I am impressed with the amount and quality you guys climbed in such a short few days . ..nice work! Quote
therunningdog Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Dude. Amazing. Well done. Way to send! I'm with Jason. Gonna stop groveling my way up choss and start rock climbing next year. Thanks for the inspiration! Baap! Quote
yikes Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Moderators please remove this thread. That stoke is so hot it's liable to catch my laptop on fire. Super Rad! I'm forwarding this TR to all my partners. Quote
wbk Posted August 11, 2011 Author Posted August 11, 2011 Never stop choss dogging but I'd love to see you both at Index more! I also got up some choss in the Rockies near Canmore while passing thru with my cousin and her bf Demitri! Quote
JasonG Posted August 11, 2011 Posted August 11, 2011 Wait, is this the same Demitri that Scott climbs with when he is up there??? Quote
wbk Posted August 11, 2011 Author Posted August 11, 2011 Yep - you bet it is! Good stories re: Huckabee and Robson for sure! Quote
wbk Posted August 11, 2011 Author Posted August 11, 2011 James' hand post B-C and other bugaboo madness! Quote
pope Posted August 12, 2011 Posted August 12, 2011 Dream trip! That rock looks clean enough to eat off of! Have to get back there. Years ago, Buckaroo and I watched the rain and snow come down every day for most of a week. July was probably too early. Quote
chancho Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 nice shots Ben. I'm already thinking about the next trip up there... or perhaps I can convince you to join me on a trip to the the NW territory! Quote
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