Climb: 8hrs10min (asc. 420m)
Rappels: 1h45min
Base of Snowpatch Spire to camp: 1h25min
Total: 13hrs 35min
We left camp at 0400h and walked bellow and around the subsidiary peak of Snowpatch Spire named “Son of Snowpatch”. A short ramble up a steep slope with loose scree and boulders saw us on the Son of Snowpatch/Snowpatch Spire col just as the first glimpse of light came across the horizon. The start of the technical climbing on the route was fairly easy (mid fifth class). We kept our mountaineering boots on all the way to the top of the “snowpatch” on Snowpatch spire. We went off-route on the sixth pitch by going too far left. This brought us right bellow the snowfield. We were a little worried about the exposure to snow and rock fall which we witnessed come down later on during the previous day with the heat of the sun. We planned well to start the day early. We weren’t feeling the heat of the sun much and moved quickly to get out from underneath the snowfield. We simul-climbed up mossy and wet cracks on a lower angled slab (not too enjoyable) to get up left of the snowpatch. Usually people would climb up the lower angled rock to the left of the snowfield. But since we still had our mountaineering boots we kept simul-climbing up the snow and along the rock to allow protection in the rock as we kicked steps upwards. The left side of the snowfield wasn’t threatening us with snow or rock fall and travelling on the snow was quick and simple. We kept simul-climbing up to the 15th pitch where the “real” climbing began. The topographic description in the guidebook was good and made route finding easy for these last pitches. It was a long climb with a fun mix of climbing.
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| Snowpatch Spire. The route follows the left side of the mountain. |
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| Sunrise with silhouette of Son of snowpatch. |
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| Near the top of the snowfield. |
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| Off of the climb. Looking back at snowpatch Spire. Bugaboo Spire in the back. |
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