Bugaboo Trip #1

Pat and I have been talking of doing a climbing road trip for a few months now. We parted ways with our jobs and will be living the climbing bum lifestyle for a little while. I finished work a week earlier than he did and took the time to go to one of the "world famous alpine rock climbing centres" called the Bugaboos. Pat and I do plan on going there towards the end of this month. On this trip I climbed with a co-worker (Audrey) and met up with a friend (James) that introduced me to climbing when we were both working at Monods Sports in Banff.



Applebee campground under the moonlight.




Relaxing at camp with a morning coffee.




The kitchen. A friend left behind a half-frozen jar of Nutella. Score!





A rare scene. A tree above "tree line" in the alpine.





Snowpatch Spire to the left and part of Bugaboo Spire to the right.





Crescent Spire to the left and part of Eastpost Spire to the right.



Aug. 8^th, 2011

Bugaboo; Crescent Spire, Ears Between – direct start 5.8, 6 pitches

We used rocks to peg down our tent since the whole “camping ground” is on top of a large rocky surface.

We had a lazy start to the day since Audrey and I hauled our monster load 5km uphill to the campsite. It had taken us 3h45 from the car. We woke up at 0700h and didn’t leave until 1000h. We walked out to attempt a climb called “Ears Between” on Crescent Spire which wasn’t too far from camp and seemed like a good start to the week. We went for the optional direct start and were climbing by 1045h. It was great to be climbing on granite! The rock was mostly solid. A nice change, since the Rockies is mostly made out of more shattered limestone. The last pitch was the best with the two previous ones also being good. We topped out at around 1530h. There were two short rappels near the top. We then stuck to the ridge and down climbed sections of easier terrain to get back to the tent. After a drink and a quick bite to eat I scrambled up to the sub-peak of Eastpost Spire to take in the views of the lowering sun.



On our way up to Ears Between on Crescent Spire.




James leading up the first pitch.




James halfway up the first pitch.





Stopping on our way back to fill up the water bottle. Straight from the source.





Great views along an alpine lake on the walk back to camp.



Aug. 9^th, 2011

Bugaboo; Bugaboo Spire, North-East ridge 5.8, 12 pitches

Total time: 13h50

Ascended: 905m

Approach: 2h45

The climb: 7h15

Descent to Bugaboo/Snowpatch col: 3hrs

Descent from Col to camp: 40min

Woke up at 0345h and left for the North-East ridge of Bugaboo Spire by 0500h. Audrey and I approached up a wide gully to the right of what is suggested in the guidebook. While James and Mark were about 10min behind us. They kept going and found the suggested path up. It saved them around 20min. The crux was the first pitch which we combined with the second. It had a great finger crack to start off. Most of the route in the lower half was more technical with great cracks and corner systems. It eased off once in the chimney section on the sixth pitch. The scenery on top was a little spoiled by the view of an oncoming storm from the South-East in line with the Howser Towers. I was told that a lot of storms in the Bugaboo’s originate from the heat build-up of the valley behind the Howser Towers. Here was my proof! The descent was as much of an adventure. During one of the days previous to our arrival James fortunately had climbed the Kain Route up to the gendarme (which is also the descent for our route). There was a mix of exposure and traversing on sections of narrow ridges. It reminded me of the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire which I climbed last summer. We made good time lowering off the mountain and saw a few isolated dark clouds pass by us. We got off the mountain with only a few rain drops on us and the sound of thunder in the background.  



Sunrise with Crescent Towers in the background. Can you spot the climber?





The North-East face of Bugaboo Spire in the morning glow.




Somewhere up the N-E of Bugaboo Spire.




James heading up Bugaboo Spire.



Aug. 10^th, 2011

Bugaboo; Eastpost Spire, South-East ridge 5.6, 550m

Audrey and I Traversed Eastpost Spire with a departure time of 1000h. It was nice to sleep in a little and rest up from yesterday’s big day.  We were both still feeling tired but knew that today’s climb would be a more relaxing one. The forecast also called for afternoon thunder showers so we didn’t want to get onto anything too committing and get caught by surprise. We roped up for the first part of technical climbing at 1100h and topped out at 1230h. The guidebook was vague as to where the start of the climb was. We started on loose and ugly rock. Then “hiked” up steep scree and passed through some bushes to finally arrive on good solid rock higher up on the main ridge. When we arrived in camp we had time to sort our gear and get into the tent before dark clouds and strong winds brought rain, lightning and even hail!



Eastpost Spire. The traverse went from the rightside over to the left.





High up on the climb.





The exposed ridge top.





The oncoming storm!





The hail storm beating down while we're in the tent.
Some people were caught climbing during the storm.



Aug. 11^th, 2011

Bugaboo; Hounds Tooth, North-West face, 3^rd class 100m

Eight of James’ friends including us planned to climb the East Ridge of Marmolata Peak (5.6) as a group. We left at 0700h and crossed the Pigeon Fork/Bugaboo Glacier roped up as two teams of four.  We ascended 480m on our way to the top of Hounds tooth which we reached by 1000h. As we were finishing up the summit photo session of Hounds Tooth peak we started noticing cloud accumulation coming up behind the Howser towers (Again!).  We decided as a group to sit around for a little while to see if it would improve or worsen. After 15min the cloud cover seemed to make its way towards us. We took another group decision to head down and not keep on going for the East Ridge of Marmolata peak. With more clouds rolling in we reached the Applebee campsite around 1300h. We could see from our camp that the clouds kept covering Marmolata most of the afternoon but it didn’t rain. The decision to turn around was still the right one since the cloud cover could have made the descent trivial. Especially when having to cross some large bergshrunds on the way down. 



The crew heading out from camp.




Roping up for glacier travel.




View of Pigeon Spire along the way.




Hounds Tooth is on the left side and Marmolata on the right.





The group on top of Hounds Tooth. Marmolata ridge in the background.





Clouds starting to build up on Howser Towers.




Isolated showers nearby. Just missing us.




What's left when looking towards the Howser Towers.



Aug. 12^th, 2011

Bugaboo; Snowpatch Spire, Buckingham route – The enjoyable way 5.8, 8 pitches

Total time: 8h30min

Asc: 660m

Approach: 1h20min asc, 348m

Climb: 3h30, asc.225m

Descent: 2h20

Return to camp: 1h10 asc. 70m

We left camp at 0730h and went up the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col. The col was easy. I didn’t use crampons since there were already good steps. Once at the base we met two other guys who were getting ready to climb the same route. One of them look so much like a friend of mine called Dom. He even spoke like him! Since we were trying to squeeze in the climb before having to pack everything up and leave. We asked if they would mind us passing them since we planned to simul-climb the first few pitches. We passed them on the first pitch and kept going for the following 5 pitches on easier broken ground (5.6). The last three pitches were more sustained and great. From the last pitch of our climb we could see and hear James with a few friends yelling up towards us as they went by to do “Surfs Up” also on Snowpatch Spire. We had clear skies above us when we topped out and had great views of Pigeon Spire, the Howser Towers and Bugaboo Spire. James had warned us yesterday about the rappels back down being quite time consuming and there were risks of our ropes snagging. Sure enough our ropes caught on the first three rappels down... Frustrating! We had to climb up to our stuck ropes while being belayed with the other double rope. After that we switched to using only one rope which solved the issue. Less rope to deal with, lesser problems!

We arrived back at the Applebee campground around 1600h and cooked some lunch/dinner and took down our camp. We headed off to the parking lot around 1820h and arrived at the van at 2000h tired from the day and the massive load on our backs. We were in Banff at 2330h.



On top of the Buckingham route - The Enjoyable Way.