Alpine Style - Bugaboos

Snowpatch East face photo with route lines of the free climbs

jon walsh — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 04:45:20 +0000

My thursday night art project. The east face of Snowpatch Spire with all the free routes on it. I've been meaning to create something like this for awhile. I think the lines are pretty accurate for the most part. Some of the main climbing features don't stand out perfectly from this angle, but it's a good angle of the entire face. I'm sure some of the gaps will fill in over the next few years!

The summit ridge is 4th class, so the routes from Labyrinth and left have an average of about 100m of scrambling to the north summit.

Two new routes in a weekend!

jon walsh — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 03:52:24 +0000

A lot can be done in with some motivation and a good partner. Colin Moorhead and I rolled out of golden at 6pm on friday August 19th, bound for the Bugaboos. 51 hours later, we were back having completed two new multi-pitch routes routes! The stories and beta for “Minotaur Direct” and “Sick and Twisted” are below.

Minotaur Direct was a multi year project whose first ascent story goes something like this: In 2011 Moorhead and I started on Labyrinth and but ventured into new terrain aka Minotaur, on what’s now it’s 6th pitch. We rejoined Labyrinth for it’s last three pitches but did 7 new ones, of which a couple included free variations of the aid route Les Bruixes Es Pentinen. Although it was a great day out and a memorable adventure, the King line with a direct start and finish awaited to be done.

In 2014, Michelle Kadatz and I started the direct route, cleaning many loose hanging blocks left precariously in place from the great flake that fell off the mountain in the late nineties. We soon had a five pitch direct start established to the ledge system that Colin and I had traversed from Labyrinth on. Over several sessions from the July 2015 to July 2016, we continued to work on Minotaur ground-up, cleaning the cracks, bolting the stations, and pushing the direct finish until only 60m below the summit ridge. In 2015 when Michelle’s schedule was too busy, Alik Berg joined me up the first 5 pitches until we could branch out left and establish Welcome to the Machine over two days. When Michelle’s schedule was busy in 2016, she told me to find another partner to finish the route with. On a whim, I reached out to Colin, fully expecting his busy guiding schedule to get in the way. Luckily he was psyched and cleared his schedule and made the 9 hour drive from Squamish. We stumbled into Applebee camp by moonlight on the night of the 19th. By 7 am, the next morning, we were crossing the moat on the edge of Cresent Glacier and climbing into the sunshine. It took us about 14 hours up and down, which included us bolting a the last two belays and brushing the final 60 meters on rappel.

Our day went well as we settled into a nice rhythm, swapping leads up the 500-meter face. It was fun watching Colin react to the route’s challenges and quality as he climbed it on-sight. Top quality climbing every pitch with lots of variety is perhaps the best way to describe the route, with an emphasis on hand jams in upper pitches. We expect this route will become a classic, as Welcome to the Machine seems to be already.

The next day, despite feeling quite sore and completely full with satisfaction, we decided we might as well attempt climbing a shorter route before hiking out. It so happened that Chris Brazeau and I had an un-sent project on Eastpost Spire, just ten minutes walk from camp. Chris, who was at Applebee at the time, even suggested we go for it without him, as it made sense to get it done before the short Bugaboo season ended. Chris and I had done two-and-a-half laps on it in September 2015 and June 2016, putting the route up ground-up, on gear which was definitey sparse or minimal at times, and then adding a few bolts to it after. Despite having both followed the second / crux pitch clean, we had both fallen off it on lead.

So after multiple coffees and meals and camp, we headed up to give it a go, with no expectations given the fatigued state we were in. This timehowever, as I felt my fingers wanting to slip off the crux holds, I found it in me to double the power and move through it, finally redpointing the pitch properly, as well as the rest of the route. After Colin arrived at the belay at the end of the fourth pitch he said to me “This is sick and twisted”. I agreed, and so the route name was born… I think this route was a good find and it was somewhat surprising to discover something like this right beside the main climbers campground. For me, it sure provided a fun few days of climbing.

Minotaur is in red; Welcome to the Machine is in yellow; green dots are bolted belays, purple dots are gear belays.

Minotaur Direct, 5.11+ 16 pitches, East face of Snowpatch Spire

beta: bring two 60 ropes; a double rack of cams to #3 camelot, one #4; and triples of .3, .4, and .75. One set of stoppers from #3 to #11. 12-14 draws half of which should be extendable. All belays are bolted.

p1 - 30 meters 5.10-: step across the moat which gets harder as the season goes on. Climb double cracks / opposing flakes for about 10 meters until you’re able trend right, and easily up the big scoop. Make a gear anchor before it steepens where you can find some good foot ledges.

p2 - 30 meters 5.10+: continue up the scoop via a thin corner crack, to a belay station at a good stance. (Earlier in the season it’s possible to link pitches 1 and 2 with a 60m rope, but later in the season a 70m rope is needed for the link).

p3 - 30 meters 5.10+: climb the corner above and pull through a small overhang to a stance. Step left and up a shallow left facing corner, until an easy ramp leads back right. Follow this, hand traversing flakes until a belay station below a long left facing corner.

p4 - 45 meters 5.11+: This pitch has 3 cruxes separated by good rests. A thin tips corner gains a section of cool stemming. When you get to a bolt clip it and face climb left to a stance on the arete. Do not move up to the bolted station up and right, or you’ll have to down-climb 3 meters to continue sending! From the stance on the arete, move up and right back into the left facing corner, and follow it up past one more crux to the bolted station on a good ledge. (Rappel note: the station skipped on this pitch is good to use while rappelling, but requires a directional piece to swing into it. From here, rappel directly to the top of the big scoop in 55m)

p5 - 50 meters 5.10: After a couple body lengths of fist crack, pull a small overhang to a stance. Rather than continue up the obvious corner, look up and you’ll see a bolt that can be reached via face holds. Climb up to it, and move left into the next corner system left, which is much better due to the hand crack. It leads to a fourth class ledge, which needs to be traversed up and left. A belay station with ring hangers below a groove is for Minotaur, or, continue past it for five more meters to a belay station bellow a nice looking flake which is Welcome to the Machine. If you miss the first protection bolt, the mountaineers version of this pitch exists and will get you to the same place but less directly, with sandy sections, loose rocks, rope drag, etc.

p6- 30 meters 5.10+: Follow the groove up and right past two knifeblades to belay on a good ledge.

P7- 35 meters 5.11+: Follow the obvious finger crack in left leaning corner, through the roof to a belay station. This pitch could probably be called 5.10+ with one point of aid for those that find free-climbing the roof too difficult.

p8- 30 meters 5.11a: Clip a bolt and traverse right on the slab to a shallow left facing, right leaning corner with a thin crack that takes excellent micro cams. At it’s top, step left past two knifeblades into the main corner which is followed until a belay station is reached.

P9- 5.10 55m: This pitch is mostly 5.7ish with one little 5.10 bit. Follow the corner up and slightly left. After a short 5.10 sequence it will soon be possible to start trending back right to a belay a big ledge, a belay station, and an excellent bivi spot should one be needed.

p10- 25m 5.9: Climb the best looking crack above the belay station towards a steeper wall above split by several cracks. There is a belay station on the left. (The original Minotaur route goes hard right from here)

p11 - 30m 5.11a: Hand jams up the right hand crack give way to a thin finish in alcove, and a belay station. (P10 and P11 can be linked)

p12 35m 5.10+: climb the left crack out of the belay. After about 5 meters, transfer back into the right one, which parallels the arete, and follow it to a belay at a nice perch.

p13 25m 5.9: An easy chimney leads up and right to another nice belay perch on top of a pinnacle.

p14 30m 5.11c: A left leaning crack. Bouldery moves past three bolts soon give way to easier crack climbing that leads to a big ledge and a station.

p15 28m 5.11c: a short corner with a fist crack leads to a ledge. A beautiful thin hand splitter continues up the headwall above to a belay station on a ledge. This pitch is why you need the third .75 camelot on the rack.

p16 35m 5.10+: Keep going up the same crack which has now kicked back slightly in angle and become more positive. A 60m rappel gets you back down to the last two pitches.

The North summit is about 150 meters of 4th class scrambling away. Stay on east side of the ridge if you go for it.
Rappel the route

All grades for both routes are suggested. Any feedback on grades is welcome!

Sick and Twisted, 5.12a, 5 pitches, Eastpost Spire

A good option for a short day, bad weather, or just something to play around on.

Rack: double rack of camelots from #.3 to #2, one #3, one of each size below .3; 6-8 stoppers. If rappelling, a 70m rope is needed although two ropes is nicer, especially if you want to haul a pack. All belays are bolted.

P1 25m 5.11d: Climb up and trend right to a corner. follow it out below a roof until it’s possible to pull the roof, then up the groove to a belay. This pitch has four protection bolts. The in the first half of this pitch is unfortunately a bit crumbly but the rest of the route is a lot better.

P2 30m 5.12a: Climb up a few meters, then traverse below the big roof to the left for about 15m until it’s possible to climb up a left facing corner to a belay on a good ledge. The 12a grade is a combination of the sustained 11+ climbing and the intimidation of the traversing style. (35m to the ground from here)

p3 30m 5.11a: Start up a left facing corner to a ledge, move left to the next left facing corner and climb it past some funky features. Move right to another big ledge but make steep moves upwards at it’s left edge, and belay at a good stance at the right end of the big hanging slab. There may be a bit of suspect rock on this pitch, but much better than the first one.

P4 25m 5.10d: Cross then hanging slab past four bolts, then up and across to belay below some short steep crack lines.

P5 20m 10d: start up the corner then head up the middle of three cracks. (the left one is The Flaming Hack Arete)

You can either walk off (down the trail on the other side of the ridge), or rappel. From the top, a 55m rappel makes it to a bolt station on the slab below, rightness the edge and about 10 meters away from Sheldons Corner. Another 50m rappel hits the ground.

A few action shots of the two route:

Michelle Kadatz on P11 of Minotaur direct, 5.11a

Colin on pitch 15, of Minotaur Direct 5.11c thin hands!

Chris Brazeau on the first pitch of Sick and Twisted. There are now a couple more bolts in this section.

Me on P4 of Sick and Twisted, the hanging slab pitch. Photo: Chris Brazeau

Chris on the last pitch of Sick and Twisted. A fun finish!

The East face of Snowpatch, the gift that keeps on giving

jon walsh — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 01:39:39 +0000

Over the last decade or so, the 500-meter high East face of Snowpatch Spire has been transforming into one of the finest alpine rock faces in North America. What used to be a face known primarily as an aid climbing venue, is now covered in free-climbing lines, although mostly difficult ones, usually reqiuring at least a couple pitches of 5.12. But perhaps the most amazing thing about it is that almost every pitch is good! I don't think there's another mountain in western Canada that can boast that! Like a big crag offering pure rock climbing in the alpine, it offers an easy approach from the nearby campground, belays on most routes are mostly bolted, there are no "approach" pitches, and there's no tedious summit ridge. The climbing is almost entirely traditionally protected, although most routes have a few protection bolts where cracks need to be conected by face moves, and face holds are plentiful. It has been one of my favorite zones for over ten years now.

Last season, Michelle Kadatz and I investigated the sector in the Bugaboo guidebook where the great flake fell off the lower middle section of Snowpatch Spire, taking the first three pitches of several routes including Les Bruines Es Pentinen, Deus Ex Machina, and the original Sunshine Wall with it. The obvious scoop at the bottom went ok, but the next 80 meters required extreme care to remove the left over debris from the major rockfall. Once it was gone, it didn't take much to buff it into a nice free climb and a fairly moderate one by East face of Bugaboo standards. After five pitches, we had established Minotaur Direct, which seemed like a better start than the original version that climbed the lower pitches of Labyrinth and traversed over. We returned this year, adding stations and continuing up the amazing middle section of Minotaur, a route I put up several years ago with Colin Moorhead. We gave this a good clean up too as this section of the wall is becoming a popular option amongst both Bugaboo regulars and visiting climbers. People seem psyched to have good pitches within a close proxitimity to Applebee and often set out to climb only half the face.

Alik Berg and I teamed up in mid July to venture out left from Minotaur into the obvious corner system that splits the big roof in the middle of the face where the Deus Ex Machina goes. We were blown away by the quality of the climbing and the softest pitch gradewise out of all the routes to go through this continuous roof system that runs the width of the face. Above it we ventured into new terrain but a couple of mossy cracks slowed progress about ten pitches up. We cleaned them out and rappeled. Two weeks later we were back with plans to finish the line. On the first day we climbed the first four pitches and fixed our two ropes. This allowed a bit of head start for a bigger day the next day. It was nice to sleep in the evening after hiking up, and fun to have Taran Ortlieb join us for this. The next day, we ascended the two lines, then made the continuous free ascent to the summit, adding four more pitches above our previous high point and sending every pitch first try! A very satisfying day, on a fun route with a lot of varied climmbing.

The East face of Snowpatch Spire with the line of ascent.

Taran Ortlieb joined us as we fixed two ropes on the first four pitches. Here he is crossing the moat between edge of the glacier and the face. Exactly four weeks earlier, it was easy to step across the gap and be standing on the ledge his left hand is at. As the summer goes on, and the snow melts back from the rock, the first pitch can get 5-10 meters longer and a grade or two harder!

Taran a few meters higher on the first pitch, now enjowing perfect hand jams on perfect granite.

Alik leading off on the second pitch of 5.10 tips.

Having Taran join us to climb the first four pitches and fix our ropes, allowed me to lead the fourth pitch, and then take photos of Alik leading it. It's got four 5.11 sections to it over 45 meters and is delightful to climb!

Another from the fourth pitch - Some face moves protected by a bolt connect two corner systems.

Alik hiking last crux of the fourth pitch with a combination of chimneying, steming, and edge pulling.

Alik climbing the splitter flake at the start of the 6th pitch.

JW in the first of four cruxy sections on the 7th pitch - the roof pitch of Deus Ex Machina, previously A3. It's the only one that we think shared any terrain with any of the old aid routes.

Alik nearing the top of the 55-meter 9th pitch.

Alik starting up the 10th pitch.

Some fine heel work high on Snowpach, with magical jugs in the all the right places; Alik getting starting on pitch 12.

Alik on pitch 12

Another from pitch 12

On the North Summit of Snowpatch with the summit ornament, and views of the Howsers.

Welcome to the Machine
5.11+, 13 pitches
First ascent: Pitches 1-5 - Michelle Kadatz and Jon Walsh; Pitches 6-13: Alik Berg and Jon Walsh
August 2nd, 2015

p1 - 30 meters 5.10-; step across the moat which gets harder as the season goes on. Climb double cracks / flake for about 10 meters until you’re able trend right, and easily up the big scoop. Make a gear anchor before it steepens where you can find some good foot ledges.

p2 - 30 meters 5.10+; continue up the scoop via a thin corner crack, to a belay bolted belay a good stance.

p3 - 30 meters 5.10+; climb the corner above and pull through a small overhang to a stance. Step left and head up a shallow left facing corner, until an easy ramp leads back right. Follow this, hand traversing flakes until a bolted station below a long left facing corner.

p4 - 45 meters 5.11+; A thin tips corner gains a section of cool stemming. When you get to a bolt clip it and face climb left to the arete. Don’t move it up to the bolted station up and right or you’ll have to down-climb 3 meters to continue sending! from the stance on the arete, move up and right back into the left facing corner, and follow past one more tips crux to the bolted station on a good ledge.

p5 - 50 meters 5.10 ; After a couple body lengths of fist crack, pull a small overhang. A #5 camelot is useful here for the crux move. Rather than continue up the obvious corner, look up and you’ll see a bolt. Climb up to it, and move left into the next corner system which is much better. It leads to a fourth class ledge, which needs to traversed up and left. A bolt below a groove is the start of Minotaur. Continue past it for five more meters to a two bolt station bellow a nice looking flake.

p6 - 35 meters 5.10; Climb the flake up, then hand traverse it left. It turns into a walkable ledge. At it’s end, move up and left though small overlaps, then face climb left, and then back right to a bolted station.

p7 - 45 meters 5.11+; This is the roof pitch of Deus Ex Machina. Move left off the belay, and then climb up a small right facing corner on face holds. Move left into the main left corner and follow it though a series of small roofs to a bolted anchor.

p8 - 60 meters 5.10; Climb the right hand crack for five meters to a ledge, Move left into a corner which is wide but easy. Follow this to a good ledge. Continue up another short right facing corner with couple of tricky moves and make a gear belay another good ledge, with some very nice looking corners up to the left. This pitch might be better to split into two as rope drag is a factor. Either way, a gear station needs to be made.

p9 - 55 meters 5.11; An amazing pitch! Start by climbing double cracks, with a mix of gear and bolts for protection (3 protection bolts total). At a small stance there’s a fixed wire and a bolt for an optional belay, however the FA team linked the next 30 meters of sustained 5.10 to a great ledge and bolted belay.

p10 - 40m meters 5.11-; climb the nice finger crack up and right. After a section of fist crack, two bolts on your left traverse to a ledge system, and a two bolt anchor at the far left of it.

p11 - 50 meters 5.10-; A clean corner above goes from hands to fists to off-width. After it gets too wide for a # 5 camelot, two body lengths of easy lay-backing passes it and gets you to easier terrain with small gear options. Continue up the groove above to a two bolt station below some black overhangs.

p.12 - 25 meters 5.11+; The last two pitches were nearly linked on the first ascent with 68m rope, but this is not recommended. Start by climbing through some overhangs with some great and unlikely moves. Belay at a good ledge.

p.13 - 45 meters 5.11 ; Follow the crack up and left, until a big ledge is reached. This pitch is a bit dirty but will clean up with a more ascents.

A scramble for a couple of ropelengths up and left gets you to the North Summit. You will pass the top station of Sendero Norte on the way which is probably the cleanest descent option. Of course if you don't know it, it might be more difficult.

The other decent option is as follows:

At the big ledge at the top of the last pitch, a sling around a pinch between boulders was used for the first rappel, to get back to the top of pitch 11. From here, rappel to a nut station about 10 meters climbers right of the station at the top of pitch ten. Careful of the rope eating crack below. Best to just rappel to the top of pitch 9 from here to keep the rope out of the crack. Then rappel to the obvious bivy ledge, on skiers left. On the far side of this ledge, rappel down Minataur on bolted stations. The first one is 55m. The second one is 30 m and it’s best to clip a bolt on the way down as a directional. Another 55m steep rappel gets you back to the big ledge at the top of pitch 5. Continue down the pitches you’ve already climbed. From the top of pitch 4, it's about a 65 meter rappel to the top of pitch 2, so if you have 60 meter ropes, it's best to place a directional or two to get into the optional station on pitch 4, and then rap to the top of pitch 2 from there. One more 50-55 rappel puts you on the glacier.

Recommended rack:
2 x 60m ropes
Double set of cams from tips to #3 camelot.
Triple set from tight fingers to loose fingers (#.3, #.4, #.5 camelots)
1 #4 camelot, 1 #5 camelot
One set of nuts
12-15 quick draws (half of them should be extendable)

East Creek

jon walsh — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 04:55:10 +0000

Michelle Kadatz, Paul Bride and I flew in a heli into East Creek (the West side of the Bugaboos) for a few days last week. Paul was psyched to shoot landscape photos while Michelle and I checked out some of the incredible rock in the Pigeon feathers. Although there are quite a few routes here described in the guidebook, the Pigeon Feathers remain a slightly more obscure corner of the Bugs, despite their amazing quality, and proximity to a great camp. Upon landing, we hiked around until we found something that was really inspiring - some unclimbed splitters on Wide Awake Tower, slightly right of the original Wide Awake route.

Wide Awake Tower. Our route starts part way up the snow gully. photo: Paul Bride

On our first climbing day under stormy skies, we made it nearly three quarters of the way up before the skies started unleashing thunder and lightning. Going down was the only option. While pulling the ropes after the first rappel, a toaster sized block popped off and landed right in the pile of rope that was stacking itself in front of us as it fell. The result was both lead and tag lines were chopped in the middle! The storm intensified and we had no choice but to hunker down in a chimney, while rain, hail, and a lot of very close thunder and lightning came down all around us. Backs against the wall and all the metal off the harnesses, we slowly got colder and wetter. Multiple rounds of this continued until finally it passed and we made it down to the glacier safely. By the time we were walking back to camp, it was nice and sunny so we lapped the first three pitches of the classic Solitary Confinement. It was great to get back on this one again as it had been 8 or 9 years since I had climbed it, and it was one Michelle wanted to do too. Our thirty-five meter rope was exactly what it took to get to the first anchor of this amazing 5.11 continuous crack that gradually expanded from tips to off-width over three pitches. With only two #4 camelots, the even wider 4th pitch wasn’t really an option, which was fine by me. Three 4's, and three 5's would be considerated adequate for it...

Michelle on Pitch 3 of Solitary Confinement.

The following day we hiked to Applebee where it was possible to get two more ropes, which took the better part of the day via the Bugaboo Glacier. On day 3 we got back to work on what we were now calling Electric Funeral, obviously a reference to a Black Sabbath song, and our experience on it the first day. Paul and I are both huge Black Sabbath fans and when we get together, Sabbath becomes our theme. Michelle didn’t know the song, but liked the name! The climbing went well, although seventh pitch took getting dead-ended on two other option before I finally figured out what to do. Not comfortable with the run-out traverse to a grassy crack, I pendulummed across the face to the seam, then went into aid / cleaning mode with a nut tool and wire brush. By the time I got to the next ledge, I was so psyched to come back to send the pitch, as well as the amazing looking splitter above that bee-lined for the summit. It was cold, windy and getting late so we decided to save it for the next day.

Playing with fire at camp. Wide awake is the rightmost tower in the background photo: Paul Bride

On Day 4 the weather was looking pretty bad, and confidence of being able to complete the project was low. However, we were back, and for the first time we brought the power drill and enough bolts to set up some stations. We were psyched to have gone through the process a couple of times without bolts, and felt like the route was worthy of setting up to attract more climber to enjoy its quality. Fortunately the weather held and even got pretty nice, although quite windy in the afternoon. On pitch 7, I led out to a small foot ledge and placed the only protection bolt as high above my head as I could, then lowered the drill back to the belay and continured sending the pitch, which was delightfully sustained and interesting to climb. It was more like face climbing with a thin crack for protection, than the typical crack climbing that’s far more common in the area. The crux came right off the belay on the pitch 8 while laybacking off amazing chicken heads to pull a small roof! Trending right, beautiful cracks and transfer moves continued, and the rope was nearly used up before finally reaching a good stance.

Michelle following the 7th pitch photo Paul Bride

JW on pich 8, gunning for the top photo Paul Bride

Sweet views from the summit and a smooth rappel had us celebrating back in camp before long. Our time was up and we had the heavy, half-day slog / half-day drive home to look forward to the next day. It had been a fun process exploring this obscure conner of the Bugs and I know I’ll be back again. The crack system immediately left - aka Wide Awake, looked amazing!

Almost at the belay at the top of pitch 5. It's the triangular ledge a body length to my right. Photo Paul Bride

Michelle bringing me accross the traverse of Pitch 4. Photo Paul Bride

Michelle on pitch 6.

Michelle leading pitch 3

Michelle following pitch 7

JW starting up pitch 8, photo Michelle Kadatz

JW passing some perched flakes and the chimney on the way to the summit. Photo Michelle Kadatz

Electric Funeral, 300m, 5.11+, FA: Michelle Kadatz and Jon Walsh, August 7th 2014

A fun route on great rock, highly recommended, and it’s easily scoped from nearby snow slopes. Pitches 7 and 8 are nothing short of spectacular! The route is straightforward to rappel, or to walk off.

Rack: 1 full set of stoppers. 10 - 12 draws. Double set of cams from purple C3 or red X4 to #3 camelot. One #4 camelot and one #5 camelot are nice for the short wide sections of pitches 2 and 3. If the plan is to rappel, the #4 and 5 came lots can be left at the top of pitch 3.

Approach: Start up a the snowgully to the right of the tower's "nose" and ascend snow for about 80 meters. Look for a distint left facing corner that leads to a righ faceing corner that make up pitches 2 nd 3. We climbed a body length of 5.7 and then a 5 meter traverse left of easy 5th class to get a good belay ledge where you can dump your packs and get organised. This is directly below the changing corners of pitches 2 and 3. We left a cairn here...

P1: 5.10-, 30 meters; climb through bulge from belay and trend left to a left facing corner. A couple of balance moves to gets you to a crack that leads back right to a left facing corner with two wide cracks in it, and a two bolt belay station.

P2: 5.10, 20 meters; Climb the obvious wide cracks above up the left facing corner to a good ledge, and a gear belay (takes camelots .5, .75, 1)

P3: 5.10, 20 meters; A few off-width moves give way to nice hand-jamming. Belay at a good ledge with a huge, easily slung horn for the belay.

P4: 5.9, 50 meters; climb a short bulge above the belay and make a rising traverse to the right, until a short down climb becomes necessary. Climb down a few meters, then back up to a good belay ledge.

P5: 5.10+, 50 meters; Great hand and finger cracks head up and slightly left. Belay at a small but comfortable ledge below an overlap. A very nice pitch.

P6: 5.10+, 15 meters. Pull through the overlap and up a short groove. Rather than continue up the dirt right facing corner, make face moves out left onto the exposed / featured / golden face and up to a two bolt belay at a small ledge.

P7: 5.11-, 30 meters; Face climb up and left past a bolt, to gain a thin crack that leads straight up towards a roof. Two bolt belay below roof at small ledge.

P8: 5.11+ 50 meters; A crux roof sequence leads to spectacular crack climbing that trends rightwards towards the summit, sometimes transferring from crack-to-crack, one of such transfers providing a second, slightly easier crux! A two bolt belay at a good stance comes after 50 meters

P9: 5.9, 20 meters; A short straightforward pitch passes a chimney, and gets you to the summit.

Rappel notes: easy down-climbing about 5-meters off the summit to a slung block is required to get back to the last belay. A 25-meter rappel straight down from there (the last bolted station) gets you to another bolted station on a ledge that wasn’t part of the route. It would be possible to climb over to this on pitch 8, although this wasn’t done on the first ascent. A 50-meter rappel from here gets you to the bolted belay between pitch 6 and 7. Then 50-meters to a slung horn you passed near the start of P5. Two single rope rappels on slung horns throughout the owed angle traverse section, get you to the top of pitch 3. Then a double rope rappel easily makes the top of P1…

Recent favorites

jon walsh — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:55:30 +0000

The last couple months have been one of the best high pressures I can remember in years. On stat I heard was it's been the warmest summer in Calgary since 1881! It was so nice in fact that it was impossibe for me to sit at a desk and share the photos, stories, or get much else done, as the mountains were calling....

I'm lucky and grateful to live in such an amazing part of the world. The Canadian Rockies are at my doorstep and the Bugaboos and Selkirks are a short drive away. These three ranges never cease to blow my mind! A few more reasons why I love being a canadian alpinist are (in no specific order):

-I can always find talented and inspiring people to climb with on world class objectives

-There is so much variety in the mountain sports I'm most interested in: sport, trad, ice and alpine climbing + unbelievable deep powder skiing on piste, off piste, ski mountaineering... All in a relatively small area
-The development of the sport climbing scene in the Bow Valley is going off and provides the perfect training grounds to get strong, have fun, and prepare for harder objectives in mountains
-There is an abundance of multi-pitch adventure routes of all levels, in all disciplines of climbing
-The Rockies provide the world's most consistent, extensive, easily accessible ice and mixed scene - bar none!
- First ascents -- Although the most obvious lines have mostly been done, some only once, there are still a lifetime's worth of first ascents to do, very much the opposite of Europe or the U.S.A.. I can share that because oddly enough, a little friendly international competition to get to them first would make them even more exciting!

-Getting to the incredible stone and scenery of Baffin Island only requires a handful of airports, no passport, and one day of travel

Here's a few pics from some of the climbing highlights from the last two months, starting with the Bugaboos:

Josh on the crux splitter of Hell or Highwater, Snowpatch Spire

Chris and Simon working on yet another sick new project

Josh leading the first pitch of Chris' other freshly completed new line: The East Columbia Indirect (mid 5.12), located just right of Hobo's Haven on the east end of the East face of Snowpatch. Easily the highest quality route I've done in a long time!

Me leading the overhanging thin hands to fingers second pitch - photo: Joshua Lavigne

Josh leading the third pitch

Looking down at Simon and Chris climbing the route behind us. Simon is seen here leading the second pitch.

And looking down at Chris on the third pitch.

Here's a line of the East Columbia Indirect as seen from the Crecent Glacier. The fourth pitch finishes up the last pitch of the Power of Lard. Although 4 pitches is a short route by Bugaboo standards, I'm not sure of another route that has four pitches of this quality, sustained at 5.11+ with a few 5.12 cruxes. Soooo good! Start directly or scramble around via the the start of Sunshine Crack.

The Applebee gang

Lydia leading Sheldon's Corner, Easpost Spire

Josh on a new route .12b on Eastpost Spire

And then there's the Rockies.

Magda enjoying a really fun and new 12-pitch, 5.12- route on Ha Ling Peak above Canmore, called a Particular Manner of Expression. Cudos to Jeph Relph and a variety of partners for putting this one up.

Colin Haley on the Greenwood / Jones route on the North Face of Mt. Temple.

This classic really exceded my expectations and I'd highly recomend it. Better than the other routes I've climbed on Temples nordwand. Colin pulling a small overhang near the top of the rock.

Colin on the walking the line to the summit

A raven joined us on top. Here he's sitting right at the very peak, just a little bit higher than we made it!

On thanksgiving weekend, October 6-8, Raphael Slawinski and I climbed this line on Howse Peak - a combo of the NE buttress and some mixed variations It wasn't the line we set out to do but as the Stones said "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find, you get what you need". We got what we needed, a great adventure up an iconic peak!

Raphael looking for the way about a third of the way up

Our first bivi about halfway up

The first pitch of day two was more sideways than up, as we deked out of the mixed gully system and back onto the ridge.

Good rock climbing on the buttress

Raph following a little traverse between gully systems

Back into more mixed gully action, Chephren Lake below

Raphael sorting out the rope cluster in the sun

Fun couloir climbing in the M-16 gully

Still a bit of a cornice left from the revious winter. Fortunately it was easily passed

Raph taking in the view from the summit!

Our second bivi sight. After descending 1000m of the summit of Howse on our second day, it got dark as we arrived here. The following morning, we ascended 600m to the misty Epaulette / White Pyramid col above the tent, and then descended down to the river Icefield Parkway beyond. About 5.5 hours from the bivi to the road. All said and done, it was a very satisfying and rewarding adventure!

The following weekend, I couldn't help myself but go back to sport climbing.

Alpine climbing means a lot ot me, but it's pretty hard to beat the overhanging streaky rock at our local crags such as Bataan seen here. It's just so much fun I don't think I'll ever be full. Jen onsighting a .12a in the upper photo and Jonny cranking below on a chilly mid october day.

Minataur

jon walsh — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:18:41 +0000

Well it's been a busy fall trying to make some money for the winter and moving, but everything is falling into place as the temps drop and the snow and ice begin to appear I can hardly wait to finish up some old projects and start some new ones. My foot has nicely healed from the Twin and is ready to charge agian.

But as the seasons change, I wanted to finish up with some summer stuff like the photos from the "Minataur" that some friends have asked about. Once again, Minataur was a route on the East foace of Snowpatch Spire that Colin Moorhead and I climbed together. It starts up the first four pitches of Labyrinth, then weaves in and out of "Les Bruixes es Pentinen" for the next eight pitches (three on Bruixes and five new), and we finally finished up the last three pitches of Labyrinth. The direct finish awaits! The climbing was superb the whole way and we'd highly recommend this adventure as another fine, fifteen pitch free route up the best wall in the Bugs!

The grades are as follows: 5.10; 5.11+; 5.12-; 5.11-;5.11-;5.12-;5.11-;5.10-;5.11;5.12-;5.11;5.11-;5.11-;5.10

The first day we fixed three ropes, and climbed a new pitch. We then ascended the ropes the second day and continued to the top. A more detailed topo will appear in next years alpine journal. I'll eventually post the detailed beta, whenever it gets written but that is something on the back burner right now.

Colin on the first pitch of Labyrinth

Me on the freehanging jug on the second pitch of Labyrinth

Me leading a new pitch, the first of our Minataur variation

Colin freeing making the 12a ffa of the roof pitch of Les Bruixes Es Pentinen

Me finding an a 5.11 thin crack / face variation which detours around the second roof of Bruixes. One bolt was placed to protect the run-out slab right off the belay.

Colin Folowing the pitch which re-joined Bruixes

Colin following a nice pitch of splitter crack climbing

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the next two sensational pitches. Guess you'll just have to go there if ya want to see them!

Bugaboos 2011 - fisrt ascents, first free ascents, obscure repeats, good times...

jon walsh — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 03:43:03 +0000

As usual, the Bugaboos feed my stoke. I've been in there four times this year, and so far there have been four highlights. All have been ascents of rarely climbed, somewhat obscure routes, and all have been shared with a different, extremely talented partners whom I feel fortunate to be friends with. And of course it's always good to see all the usual suspects that make annual pilgrimages to Applebee Camp, and share some fine single malts and stories of their adventures too. It's part of what I look forward to when I go to the Bugs. It's funny how some folk you don't see for a year but then see on a regular basis between climibng sessions. Both the comraderie and epic adventures are the key ingredients that make the Bugs my favorite venue. Anyways... THe highlights:

The Midnight Route, East face of Bugaboo Spire:
Jon Simms convinced me to take on lap on this gem of route with him. A couple years earlier, Jon and Chris Brazeau had managed the first free ascent, although they had traversed right to the ridge in a storm, two pitches below the top. A two pitch direct finish awaited, and this was what we set our sight on. Unfortunately, the .12b crux was wet and we had to french free a few moves, but lots of sustained and heady 5.11+ kept us entertained and digging deep pitch after pitch. I was sandbagged into not bringing some pitons, but what are friends for? The intensity was high as I built nests of RP's in sustained 5.11+ sections and ran it out above them, but I was always amazed by the quality of the climbing. We managed one of the direct finish pitches but again, an electrical storm thwarted us with one pitch to the ridge, and we rappelled. This is a route that with a little bit of love in the form of a wee bit of traffic, maybe a bolted station or two to make the a couple of semi hanging belays less rugged, would be world class for those seeking a steep sustained adventure up one of the most looked at yet most ignored faces in the Bugs!

Spicy Red Beans and Rice FFA / Shooting galery / a few new pitches
A couple weeks later, I was back with Josh Lavigne with the remote 900 meter West Face of THe North Howser Tower on our radar. It's the biggest face in the Bugs and Josh is obsessed with it, having previously climbed it six times, four more than me, and likely twice as many as anyone else! Pretty impressive considering it's a five hour approach from Applebee to the base, and requires 4 very committing rappels even to get to it. If you have to bail from the face, it's a very long walk of shame to get out of the remote valley. This time, we were back there looking for first ascents and first free ascents, but got off to a dead end start right off the bat on the route Young Men on Fire which proved to difficult to free, without a ton of preparations we weren't prepared to make! But a quick rappel, then two and a half pitches of the Shooting Gallery went smoothly. A short traverse left around the corner and we were into a virgin ground. A couple pitches of some very nice finger cracks up to 5.11-, gave way to the easier terrain near the halfway ledge. As the upper headwall came into view, we couldn't help but be drawn in by the clean white right facing corner system of the Warrior, a 1974 Hugh Burton and Steve Sutton A3. Hopefully it would go free we though as we gravitated towards it. We easily traversed across the Seventh Rifle gully, dropped off a bit of stuff on some comfy bivi ledges below the line where we'd hunker down for the night as planned. Suddenly a continuous splitter crack system about 15 meters right of the Warrior corner now grabbed out attention and we immediately set out for it, with intents of fixing our two ropes, then returning to the ledge for the night. The first pitch was on the Warrior, but a ten meter traverse right into the crack system on the second pitch brought us into the first pitch of sustained 5.11+ finger cracks that would continue for many pitches to come.

Despite just one tarp and one Thermarest between us, the bivouac wasn't too bad, as the it was calm and mild night. Ascending the two ropes in the morning warmed us right up, and we were treated to an amazing splitter and the best pitch of the route for the first pitch of the day. About four pitches later, we found ourselves back in the Warrior, and followed it to the summit ridge. The rest of the day went smoothly with us swapping leads, and on-sighting every pitch. Ocassionally the seconder would jumar with the not so light pack. We had hauled a few times but the pack was falling apart and on the verge of spilling it's contents. Given the sustained difficulty and the fact we both had work commitments the next day, it seemed prudent to conserve energy this way. Upon returning to civilization and doing our homework, it appeared we had climbed Spicy Red Beans and Rice (Cameron Tague / Eric Greene,1997, 5.12- A1), with a one or two pitch variation to the right. We though it was one of the best climbs we've done, and much better quality than it's popular neigbour - All Along the Watchtower. Definitely a bit more sustained and harder overall, but not such a difficult crux! The A1 grade can now be removed, and the original topo can be found here. The actual line of this route is slightly left of what is shown in the picture in the Bugaboo guidebook...

Photo: John Schurlock

Sweet Sylvia, East Face of Snowpatch
A sweet route indeed. Chris Brazeau and I had climbed this before but we were now back to try and free our variations we had done a few years back. At about mid height, there are two parallel splitters. You'd be blind not to notice them (they stand out from very far away), and they both start off a huge semi detatched flake. The original route heads up the left crack and it gets wide as in off-width. The right one (which we assume we may have been the first climbers up it a few years back), starts out with 30 meters of slightly overhanging hands, before tapering down through the sizes. A short section of purple camelots provides the .12b crux which Chris managed to send this time. A short rest is reached as the two cracks merge, but a mandatory short o.w. guards the anchor so don't forget to bring your #4 camelot (or maybe two of them). Laybacking these last two bodylengths is definitely the easy way, to one of the sweetest belay ledges in Bugs. The next pitch is a real blockbuster, meat and potatoes, wide corner crack. I think I'd want three #4 camelots next time I lead it. Only rated .11a, but very sustained and about as burly as just about any 5.11 pitch in the bugs! Absolutely incredible though!! Another pitch and we ventured off on a variation finish. After a little prep work, our light start disappearing so we gunned it for the chains at the top of Sunshine Crack - our descent route. I led the last pitch as the moon rose in the alpenglow south eastern sky. To make a long story short, we were both stoked and completely destroyed, and will definitely be back for more.

Minataur, East face of Snowpatch - First ascent

Colin Moorhead was back in hood after an absence of several years, and we were stoked to team up again. Not only as old friends, but also because we're both very passionate about putting up our own lines rather than climbing someone else's, and we both have a very creative eye when it comes to seeing passage up big granite walls. Naturally, we started making plans. I'll post more on this later, but the short version goes like this: Minotaur climbs the first four pitches of Labyrinth, a route I authored with Jon Simms a couple of years ago. It then branches off left for eight pitches, three of them part of an aid route call Les Bruines Es Pentinen, and then re-joins Labyrinth for it's final three pitches. The belays we used are marked in yellow on the photo. Over two days, we managed to free it all at 5.12- which there are three pitches of, and much 5.11 as well. All and all, we though it was a great route, we had a great time climbing it, and we'd definitely recommend it to others. It's prepped with 7 fixed pitons, 1 bolt, a couple of fixed nuts in key places, and the cracks have been excavated enough for the onsight now. A few times, we had to clean some crux sections, and then lower down to the no hands rest before sending them from there. Like I said, I'll post more on this route in the near future. I suspect most people should be able to figure out the meaning of the name(s). Especially if you venture into it!

Bugaboos - Sendero Norte and Labyrinth

jon walsh — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:47:38 +0000

Ahh the Bugaboos. My all time favorite place to crank!! It's been yet another fine summer cranking in there and I'll share some photos and stories soon of a few big wall free climbing highlights. But first of all, a lot of people have been asking for information on Sendero Norte, a route that Chris Brazeau and I put up a few years ago. So here it is, along with Labyrinth, another route I authored with Jon Simms and also a superb climb up fourteen pitches of splitter granite.

Click here to download topos for these amazing routes...

Click here to download the hi-res photo of the east face of Snowpatch with belays for these two routes marked...

Click here to download the Sendero Norte written description...

Click https://alpinestyle.ca/sites/default/files/Labyrinth beta_0.pdf">here to download the Labyrinth written description...

Some photos of Sendero exist under an old post called Bugaboos project or in an album on my facebook page

Rogers Pass to the Bugaboos - light and fast

jon walsh — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:47:51 +0000

In april 2005, Troy Jungen, Doug Sproul and I skied the most famost famous of the "grand-traverses" in western Canada, in an unprecedented style for such an objective. The 135 km and 30 something thousand feet of vertical took us 80 hours to complete. Story and photos to come soon...

Bugaboo project...

jon walsh — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:00:42 +0000

Star Streaks

jon walsh — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:52:54 +0000

This image was taken from a camp in East Creek (Bugaboos). The shutter was left open for one hour, creating the stars streaks above the Minaret Tower and South Howser Tower.

The Power of Lard

jon walsh — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:46:10 +0000

Colin Moorhead (leading) and Tom Gruber attempting "The Power of Lard", a 7 pitch 5.12 route on the east face of Snowpatch Spire, in the Bugaboos.

"The Endless Struggle"

admin — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:47:11 +0000

The "Endless Struggle" is the last pitch of the "Power of Lard", and is the splitter crack running the length of the photo. (East face of Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboos B.C.)