A quick TR for your dissecting pleasure. - Lord Slime BUGABOOS / CANMORE ------------------ Aug 25 - Sept 1 A not-so-famous Russian once said, "It's not the vodka that kills you, it's those goddamn steppes!" Well, I found out that the locals call the approach to the Applebee campsite in the Bugaboos "The Stairmaster" for good reason: there's a gain of 3,200 ft in only 3.5 miles. I had always wanted to climb in the Bugaboos but somehow had never pulled together a trip there. I had a credit with CMH, who runs the Bugaboos Lodge, so I arranged to use my credit towards a climbing trip with a private guide. Of course, it wasn't a typical guided experience. I got to choose the climbs, swing leads, and snagged all the crux leads for myself ;-) In addition, we had porters to carry the heavy stuff, such as post- climb beer, and Marc did most of the cooking, while I sipped beer and took-in the scenery. The guide I climbed with was Marc Piche', co-author of the current Bugaboos climbing guidebook, and a super-strong climber, mountaineer and skier. But perhaps the most amazing thing was how fast he could hike with a huge and heavy pack. Sunday was socked-in with rain and several centimeters of snow up high, so we hiked up Monday morning through many snow squalls. We carried only what we needed, hoping the weather would clear enough for us to get a route in. As we left Applebee (another 30min of uphill hiking) for the Crescent Spire, it was snowing pretty hard. I had absolutely no confidence we'd get off the ground, but as we got to the base it cleared, the sun came out, the rock dried, so we climbed! McTech Arete 5.10- (6 pitches) was really fun and a good intro to Bugs rock. The rock is granite, very solid and clean, with much better friction and edges than many of the polished classics in Yosemite. It was a full moon that night, with an eclipse! I was lucky... I got out of my tent to pee at 2am. The moon was a dark orange color, like something in a sci-fi movie. Eerie lighting. The next day dawned perfectly clear and we did Paddle Flake Direct 10c, 6 pitches of 5.10, in about 2.5hrs. We topped out just as the weather broke and hung out at camp for a few hours as it snowed hard and Marc got (bad) weather forecasts for the rest of the week over the radio. Since all the other routes we wanted to do were on the West Face of Snowpatch, and would take several clear days to melt out even if the snow stopped, we decided to head down to the lodge. So we practically ran down the trail (1.5 hrs!) in the snow/rain. I think I had about 25lbs in my pack, but Marc had 78lbs when we weighed it back at the lodge! Sore, so sore. Wednesday we drove through Kooteny National Park to Canmore and stayed at Marc's house there. Both of us were knackered from the hiking of the first two days. Marc due to the weight; me due to having bad feet and not being in good hiking shape. Thursday we did Sisyphus Summits (10d, 21 pitches, twelve are 5.10) on Ha Ling (aka "Chinaman") peak which overlooks the city. A beautiful route on mostly excellent limestone. About 1000' gain on the approach, 2000' on the climb, and, of course, 3000' downhill on the long hike out, ouch. I limped around after that. Friday was our last climbing day and we drove 20min to Yamnuska and did the 1.5 hour "Son of Stairmaster" approach. Marc had suggested a 6 pitch 5.11b/c route, but my legs were horribly sore and tired that I didn't think I could do it. So we climbed The Bowl route (10c) and I was hurting badly. I found myself pulling with one arm and mantling with the other so I wouldn't have to push so hard with my legs! Climbing the "Adventure" routes on Yam was an experience. These very traditional routes follow the crack systems, where the rock is often fractured and chossy, and the gear is fer shit if you can get anything in at all. Even though we were climbing a relatively easy grade, the bad rock and lack of gear I could trust (and being extremely tired and sore) rattled me. I was scared leading 5.6. Of course, I was traversing choss, 15ft from a "not to be tested!" rusty pin driven into a mossy, seeping crack which was another 15ft above my last good piece. Waaaa! Mommy! Route-finding is difficult too. We finished on the last pitch of one of the new, "sprad" routes because I couldn't find the belay on our route. That was fine, 'cause the other route's last pitch was really, really cool 10d roof on good rock. After the choss, it seemed really easy! Lately modern, "sprad" routes (mostly bolts) are being put up which stay on the grey, monolithic faces and avoid the rotten crack systems. Of course this has caused considerable controversy at a mostly traditional crag, but due to the quality of the routes being put up, it seems Yam will have both Adventure and bolted routes side-by-side. After another steep descent, I started driving about 4:15pm that day, and got to the Nat Forest just south of Great Falls Montana before camping. Drove all the rest of way Saturday, 11hrs, and got home about 5:15pm. I slept 11hrs that night.

Nice. Thanks. > The rock is granite, very solid and >clean, with much better friction and edges than many of the >polished classics in Yosemite. Have you sampled the famous Bugaboo black death? -- These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

"Hal Murray" <hal-usenet@ip-64-139-1-69.sjc.megapath.net> wrote in message > Have you sampled the famous Bugaboo black death? If you mean that wet black lichen, then yes, sort of. I took one look at it, and avoided it. Or do you mean something else? - Lord Slime

>> Have you sampled the famous Bugaboo black death? > >If you mean that wet black lichen, then yes, sort of. I took >one look at it, and avoided it. Or do you mean something else? That's the stuff. It's really nasty when wet. (Or was, many years ago when I encountered it.) I assume there is still lots of it around but maybe it's been obliterated on the popular routes. "Black death" seemed like an appropriate term. -- These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

"Hal Murray" <hal-usenet@ip-64-139-1-69.sjc.megapath.net> wrote in message > >If you mean that wet black lichen, then yes, sort of. I took > >one look at it, and avoided it. Or do you mean something else? > > That's the stuff. It's really nasty when wet. (Or was, many years > ago when I encountered it.) I assume there is still lots of it > around but maybe it's been obliterated on the popular routes. I didn't see much of it on the routes but it's still on the low-angle rock, and lots of it on the summit blocks/talus. On both routes we had to walk over snow-on-top-of-black-lichen-covered-loose-blocks to get to the rappel, and it was pretty clear that you couldn't trust your footing. > "Black death" seemed like an appropriate term. "I'm not dead yet!" - Lord Slime

Nice TR! Too bad about the weather. Kellie - saw your name in the summit register on Snowpatch with Mark McKillop! (and also last year on North Early Winter Spire, after you had mentioned seeing my name there with my dad in a 1974 entry - found that, too!) My (long and boring) Bugaboos TR is at: http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/rep/07803bug.txt (Short version: we had slightly better luck with the weather; managed to get up the Beckey-Chouinard and the regular route on Snowpatch). Photo TR at: http://sabegg.googlepages.com/bugaboos2

Nice. Thanks. What did you do for crampons if your big boots are back at the Pigeon-Howser col? Did your crampons also fit your lighter boots and/or Steph's approach shoes? -- These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

"kellie" <kellie_mcbee@urscorp.com> wrote in message > Thanks for the TR. I seem to be in the minority; I think Paddle Flake > Direct is a better route than McTech. I totally agree. So... the topo says to climb the left side of the Paddle Flake itself at 5.10 hands. I took one look at the gaping OW/Chimney and climbed the right side, a finger/hand crack at 10+. Marc had never done the route before, it was Chris' route and he wrote the description. Marc is going to change the route description for the 2nd edition (out soon), to include the higher quality right-side variation, which we both enjoyed. Marc also speculated that the Paddle Flake might be moving and that is why there's now an OW instead of a handcrack!!! Which side did you climb? > Good job getting some climbing in with the weather! Sounds like the > perfect "guided" experience. What were the Snowpatch routes you were > looking at? Cooper-Gran (lots of rockfall on the east face, so nope) Furry Pink Arete (snowcovered) Sunshine (snowcovered) SuperDirect (snowcovered) > Yam sounds great. I've been wanting to get on that for several > years. I'm glad I climbed it and now know what it's all about. Funky route-finding. I took the topo but not the written description, that was a mistake. Now I'm psyched to go back when I'm fresh. - Lord Slime

"lekker" <lekker@intergate.bc.ca> wrote in message > > Thanks. Glad to hear you got on the rock despite the weather and that > you gave a turn to the Hugh Lenny prayer wheel (Sisyphus) You need to explain that. I don't know any background on the route, just know that I enjoyed it. We had perfect weather for climbing in the shade, and looking over the city. > impressed that you survived psychologically on Yam. It's been awhile since I climbed on REALLY shitty rock. It reminded me of some shitty pitches in Eldo, but worse and longer. > > Bugaboos "The Stairmaster" for good reason: there's a gain of > > 3,200 ft in only 3.5 miles. > > > In local currency that's about 1 1/8 Grouse Grinds, elevation-wise. Vancouver is local? > It's funny that StairMasters(tm) seem to make the most sense for people > without handy access to outdoor exercise, but that the name has migrated > back outside. Another reason is that this year's rebuilding of the trail up to Applebee includes something like 400 (or was it 600?) new rock steps. But I guess I gotta go look-up grouse-grinds.... - Lord Slime

>> Photo TR at: >> http://sabegg.googlepages.com/bugaboos2 Nate wrote: >Nice pictures. Pretty sure all of those cracks in the headwall have been >climbed, mostly by people believing they were on route. Yeah, they look so clean and nice, I was surprised they were not in the guidebook. But I think you're probably right - they have probably been done; too attractive to resist! >We clocked about 12 hrs on that route hut-hut in pretty good weather. Nice. >I haven't been up there in many years. It looks like the glaciers >are taking a beating. Yeah, even relative to last year a lot of ice is missing. But last summer was apparently the sunniest in 40 years in the WA/BC area, so some melt out had to be expected. Compared to my photos from 1974 the Bugaboo Glacier is quite far back. Although glaciers have been receding in WA since the late 1800s at least. It was a heavy snow year there for winter 06-07 though, and a relatively cool summer, so at least the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col was not bare ice the whole way like it was in August 06. Clint

Hal Murray <hal-usenet@ip-64-139-1-69.sjc.megapath.net> wrote: >What did you do for crampons if your big boots are back at the >Pigeon-Howser col? Did your crampons also fit your lighter >boots and/or Steph's approach shoes? We used the same crampons - they fit both the big and light boots. Steph's crampons fit her Sportiva approach shoes just fine. A friend of mine did it last summer, camping at the base and did not take any boots or crampons. In the afternoon the snow was a bit soft I guess. And it is not that steep once you have rapped over the bergschrund.

Nate wrote: >There's a route called Lost in the Towers. Yeah, that one is clear in the Atkinson-Piche guide. It exits right of the headwall pretty quickly, so there seems to be more "headwall potential". >The other cracks dead-end, I think. The photo on p.276 of the Atkinson-Piche guide suggests some of them go for a ways. Whether they would leave you stranded out on the arete or whether you could connect back left to the B-C is unclear. The 10 pitch approach to a 3-4 pitch variation will deter many....

"kellie" <kellie_mcbee@urscorp.com> wrote in message > On Sep 5, 9:48 am, "Lord Slime" <jbyrne...@SPAMfriiPLEASE.com> wrote: > > Marc also speculated that the Paddle Flake might be moving and > > that is why there's now an OW instead of a handcrack!!! Which side > > did you climb? > > We climbed the right side as well, and just assumed that the guidebook > said "left" when it should have said "right." Marc is gonna check with Chris about that. > I got the pitch above the flake itself, which was stellar imo. It was as good as any pitch anywhere. Did you find the no-hands knee-bar at the top? ;-) > > Cooper-Gran (lots of rockfall on the east face, so nope) > > Furry Pink Arete (snowcovered) > > Sunshine (snowcovered) > > SuperDirect (snowcovered) > > > > I've hard folks rave about Furry Pink. We meant to climb it (and the > Beckey Chouinard) last summer but we had some bad weather > instead....Mark made fun of me for bringing my puffy pants, but when > we were stuck in camp everyone was jealous of them. And considering > he insisted we bring eight pounds of cheese for a five-day trip, I > don't think he has much room to talk. The big question is whether he ate it all or not. > I've been informed recently that taking anything with you but a quad > map and your memory is "cheating." (!!) Ha! - Lord Slime