Pigeon Spire, Cooper-Kor (5.9 A0, 18 pitches)

Approach: 2hrs30min (ascended 455m)

Climb: 8hrs (asc. 440m)

Descent of West ridge: 1hr

Return: 1hr20min

Total time: 12hrs50min (total asc. 1030m)

We left at 0520h and approached towards the East face of Pigeon Spire via Bugaboo glacier to climb a long classic line named Cooper-Kor. For a climb that is given 3 stars in the guidebook. It was good but not quite like the other three star routes we had done the previous days. What stood out on this climb was an intimidating traverse along a slab that was poorly protected. This made things spicy for both the leader but also the person seconding because of the potential to pendulum if there was a fall. Overall, the route wandered up left and right and followed nice weaknesses along the headwall. This made the climb lengthy. We had some route finding issues after the traverse. But we solved it without any problems. The tension aid sections we passed through added some complications and were a good learning experience. This was our last day climbing in the Bugaboos. The next morning we packed out all our gear to drive back to Banff and stay two days in town. It was great to see Erin again!

I didn't bring the camera along for this climb (shaved some weight off my pack).
Here are a few random photos taken elsewhere in the Bugaboos.

Alpine flowers reaching for the morning sun.

Can you spot the climber walking by?
Click on the photo to enlarge.

Pigeon Spire on the left.
The Howser Towers in the back.

Our tent with Snowpatch Spire in the back.
The col to the right.

Sun setting behind Bugaboo Spire.

Pat's monster load as we start the walk out.

.... and my monster load.
The legs and shoulders were happy when we made it back to the van.

Snowpatch Spire, Surfs Up (5.9, 9 pitches)

Approach to climb: 2hrs (ascended 435m)

Climb: 5hrs (asc 290m)

Rappels: 1hr20min

Return: 1hr10min

Total time: 9hrs30min

We left camp at 0840h with another beautiful day. We arrived to the climb before any sun was hitting it. This and the wind made for a cold start. The highlight of the climb were the two pitches above Surfs Up ledge. Fortunately Pat and I are slowly getting used to climbing granite and cracks by now. Since these two pitches had a great hand and fist crack running all the way up with no features on the wall to grab onto. A nice pure crack line!

Pat climbing up the second last pitch.
Pigeon spire is on the left with the Howser Towers in the back.

Pat showing off good crack climbing technique.

The last technical pitch.

Bugaboo Spire, North-East Ridge (5.8, 12 pitches)

Approach: 1hr30min (Ascended 380m)

Climb: 4hrs (Asc. 350m)

Return + Rappels: 3hrs10min

Total time: 8hrs 40min

We left camp at 0745h. I wasn’t too worried about needing an early start for this longer route. I was familiar with it (I climbed it last month) and the weather still seemed to be of no concern. Everything went smooth and not having to look at the guidebook for route descriptions saved us time. It was still great to do it a second time around. I was glad Pat got to do this classic line. We both approached in shoes to lighten the backpack during the climb instead of carrying boots. But this meant leaving the crampons behind for the descent down the steep and snowy Bugaboo/Snowpatch col on the way back. All went well during the descent. The snow was soft enough to kick my heels in until the slope lost some steepness. From there it was a quick and controlled butt slide down with the help of a mountaineering axe. What made the day was when two guys came up to the base of the climb to also do the North-East ridge and mentioned that Fred Beckey (One of two climbers that pioneered the Beckey-Chouinard route that we did two days ago) was staying at the Kain hut last night. He was climbing on Lions Way today (we climbed it on our first day) and he’s rumoured to be 88 years old!

Bugaboo Spire in the morning sun.
The North-East ridge is on the right.

Views across a broken glacier. The shadow of Bugaboo Spire bellow.

Can you spot Pat?
Click to enlarge photo.

Summit photo. As we look towards the Howser Towers.

Pat's throwing the rope down for the first of 5 rappels.

Full Rest Day in camp

We had a recovery day. Pat and I pretty much ate drank water and took in the sun all day today. To stay busy we read over the guidebook and counted our food rations.

Relaxing in camp as the sun sets with some new friends from Seatle.

South Howser Tower, Beckey-Chouinard (5.10, 20 pitches)

Approach into East Creek basin bellow ridge: 2hrs30min (Ascended 575m)

Scramble up ridge to bottom of climb: 1hr (asc. 195m)

Climb: 11hrs25min (asc 560m)

Rappels: 2hrs30min

From bottom of rappels to camp: 1h45min

Total trip: 19hrs15min

We started our long day towards the East Creek basin at 0300h. There was only a marginal freeze overnight but the glacier travel was quite simple. At the Pigeon/Howser col we were able to follow faint footsteps in the snow from a previous climber. This made for easier route finding while it was still dark. The snow had melted lower down in the basin and we started crossing boulder fields and talus. From here we lost all sign of any tracks other than a random cairn (a small pile of rocks) here and there which helped marked the way. We were pretty lucky to find the right scree gully to get onto the ridge of the climb while it was still dark. It wasn’t easy to distinguish. As the first light across the horizon started to show the contours of the ridge above I began to feel excited about this bugaboo classic and according to the guidebook “One of the most esteemed alpine routes in North America”. On our way into the Bugaboos I didn’t even consider climbing this route because I thought it was too long and the grade too consistently demanding for us. After getting to test out other routes during the past few days the confidence grew. It would have been hard to pass it up with the perfect weather we’ve had and which was still in the forecast. The climb did not disappoint. The best pitches were found near the top. All 15 of them were great but pitches 10-14 were amazing and offered interesting and sustained crack climbing. The pitch that stood out for me was the 12^th. There were two different lines that could be climbed. Either an off-width chimney or a system of cracks on the face could be taken. I opted to climb the system of cracks on the face which lasted a sustained 60m. This pitch took a toll on me. I was completely exhausted afterwards. The added weight from carrying the boots on our packs definitely didn’t help. If I was to do it again I would have approached with lightweight shoes and strap-on crampons. The quality of the climb was worth the effort. We climbed quite well which allowed us to get off of the climb just as the sun set. The only minor things that happened were going off route on the first pitch and losing some time searching for the third rappel station on our way down. One hard to find rappel anchor wasn’t too bad since there were twelve single rope rappels in total. To top it all off we had a beautiful sunset as we walked back to camp along the Vowell glacier. Quite tired but satisfied of our day.

Pat standing on a ledge mid-way up the climb.

The cracks above the bivy ledge.

On top... figuring out the descent.



Sun setting with Bugaboo and Snowpatch Spire still in the sun.




Pat doing the last rappel past the bergshrund.



Rest/Restocking Day

Both Pat and I got woken up at 0400h by a critter crawling underneath us in the van. It was going through our bags of food underneath our sleeping setup in the van. We got up and opened the Tupperware bins that contained our food. We found small holes chewed in our oatmeal bags and other food items... but no critter. We figured a mouse likely crawled up through the van while it was parked. We decided to delay the mouse hunt until later in the morning. We then sorted through the bins to assess the total damage and hopefully find the culprit. No luck! All we could do was seal the bins the best we could and hope for the best. We walked back up to the tent with new supplies of food.

Crescent Spire, Paddle Flake Direct (5.10, 6 pitches)

The climb: 5hrs30min

The approach to this climb was the same as for McTech Arete which we did two days ago and started a few meters to the left. Again, this climb was tons of fun! We were looking to “recover” from yesterday and had a later start (1000h). This climb followed sharp finger sized cracks to the left of a big dihedral. What made it fun were the sustained pitches on good quality rock. The fourth pitch caught me off-guard with its slightly overhanging section at the top. I was one move away from pulling it through but ended up falling onto a solid #1 Camalot and a fixed piton. A little change in my technique the second time around made it feel easier. Once back at camp we ate dinner and at 1930h and started to walk back down to the van to restock on food for more days in this amazing place. Since our first day we’ve had blue bird skies, day time temperatures in the 20’s and the weather forecast looks amazing!

The first pitch of Paddle Flake.

The squeeze chimney behind the "Paddle Flake".