The Kain Route on Bugaboo Spire was the Second climb in the Bugaboos that I climbed, and Josee joined me on the great adventure.
Morning came early, we had hiked up the day before and climbed the West Face of Crescent Glacier and now we were going to attack what would be one of the longest climbs that Josee and I have done together. We headed out across the glacier un roped. The col came up quite quickly and we intersected another trail coming in from the Applebee Dome Campground.
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The Snowpatch / Bugaboo Col.
The weather was perfect that day, sunny hot, and no wind. We walked up the footsteps made from climbers on earlier days. We stopped to watch a couple of guys start up Sunshine IV 5.10+, on the North face of Snowpatch Spire. We started to get cold do to the huge shadow Snowpatch cast on the snow / ice slope. |
The steep slopes of the Bug / SP Col. As Josee ascends and gets closer by every step.
The morning sun was so nice and warm before we walked into the shadow of Snowpatch. We wanted to stay and watch these two guys start their wild adventure up the most awesome line on the mountain. Sunshine IV 5.10+ is a long and continuous crack line that is hand jamming to off width. Something everyone has to do. Its on my tic list.
TO VIEW THIS CRACK I AM TALKING ABOUT :
CLICK THE PICTURE TO FIND OUT. |
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Josee below the famous Gendarme on the South ridge of Bugaboo Spire
We scrambled on and on up the open slope. The shadow of Snowpatch was not far away, and we were ascending quite quickly. We found out soon that we would have to do a bit of climbing to reach the summit. We arrived at what seemed to be the first pitch of the Kain Route. Corners, chimneys, cracks and some snow here and there, that gave the whole alpine feel for this route. On top of these pitches was our first view of the great Gendarme. This was going to be very cool getting around that piece of stone, protruding so far from the ridge. |
Josee on the traverse pitches of the Kain Route.
We must traverse this steep and exposed ridge. One side has fifteen hundred feet of air and the other 700 feet of air. We found that part to be very wild and exposed. The views watching your partner as he / she crosses that part of the route, is what a climbing in the bugaboos is all about. Do not forget your camera, or you may be very sorry that you did.
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Kelly winding up to climb the Gendarme pitch, the crux.
We finally made it to the pitch that we have heard about; the stunning cracks loom over my head as I wonder how the cracks are going to feel in the fingertips. I chose to wear Trango plus boots for the route. I was not sure if they were going to work or not. I reach up for what would seem to be my first handhold, only to find a bucket edge for the tips of the fingers. The climbing turned out to be sweet and full value, especially when you have to do the wild traverse across the gendarme face in stiff boots, to the small pass in the notch of the Gendarme. Wiggling up the off width to the notch was the most enjoyable. The boot getting stuck and the rope drag horrendous. |
Kelly on the South Summit of Bugaboo Spire 3176m / Snowpatch seen in the back.
The Gendarme pitch was over and Josee had a good rush with her head and boots. We had one more pitch to go, we topped out on the South Summit, we glanced over to the North Summit and were debating weather or not we should go over their or not. We decided not, we would go to the north summit when we climbed the NE Ridge of the mountain. We had lunch and drank almost the last bit of water we had before we would head down.
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Josee on the summit of Bugaboo Spire / The Howser Towers in the back.
Taking our last pictures of the summit we decided it was going to be the same length going down. Reversing the route and lead climbing the traverse pitches again. Rapping some more to the never-ending scramble down the boulder-strewn slope of the south ridge of bugaboo. We arrived at the bottom of the slope to find that there were some bivy sites located in the pass. Great if you wanted to climb things on the west face of Snowpatch and wanted the big 10 min approach. |
