We found ourselves passing through on a road trip yet again, but gave ourselves four days to explore. We heard the weather there is tempermental, and getting a weather window can be hard. Our schedule was pretty tight, but I hoped that because it was late July that we might get some luck.
On the day we set off from the parking lot the weather was cloudy with thunder, lightening, and rain blanketing the forecast. We were loaded to the hilt when we set off from the truck in the late morning. I had never carried mountaineering gear before, and what we have for gear isn’t particularly light. Although the hike wasn’t technical or far (only 6k), it was very slow and challenging with the weight and the uphill grade. It wasn’t long into our hike that the first few drops of rain started to fall on us.
We passed a number of people heading in and out: day hikers, sightseers, and mountaineers. As the rain increased in intensity people started to thin out. We found shelter briefly at around the half way point huddled under a tree with a couple other day-trippers. At this point I was quite wet.
We eventually slogged up to the Kain Hut, which is about 5kms in. The rain eased up and we decided to take another break and check out the cabin. It was a busy place with many visitors. We didn’t linger long and carried on up to Applebee.
The rest of the day was spent hiding in the tent from wind, rain, and lightening. We planned to get up at 0300 and summit Pigeon Spire the next day, but now this plan seemed daunting with the inclement weather. We reset the alarm for 0500 and went to sleep.
We awoke to calm weather and clearish skies. As we emerged from the tent we could see a number of groups already climbing the Snowpatch-Bugaboo col with headlamps. This seemed alarming to me since I had not climbed such a steep snow slope before, let alone in the dark.
We set off from camp at 0600 and headed for the col. We through on our crampons and pulled out our ice axes for the climb. I was nervous about this area. I had read of many accident reports from falls and falling rocks. The climb started out quite mellow and steepened near the end. The snow was very firm and icy from the previous day’s rain so I had good purchase in the many pre-kicked steps. I focused on the snow in front of me and less on what was below me. In no time we gained the top of the col and the views were amazing. Very careful footing was required to exit and not kick rocks below. I was very happy to be back on rock.
The glacier was a mellow grade to climb with no visible open cravasses on our route. I spent time just soaking in the views. The Howser Spire was a sight to behold. Eventually we made it to the base of Pigeon Spire and took off our crampons and stored them along with our ice axes here. We talked about whether we would solo or simul-climb/short rope. I pushed for the latter since I was far out of my comfort zone in this terrain. We had never actually simul-climbed before, but we knew the concept. We tied into the rope with a few meters in between us. The person leading (Darryl obviously) set pro in between us and I cleaned it up as I reached them. This way if we were to take a fall it would not be pretty, but at least would not be a death fall.
We walked down some mellow slabs and up to the left off the ridge crest to a corner that avoided some more steep terrain. We followed the path with minimal lichen on the rock, obviously well travelled. Up we climbed and popped out on the second sub-summit. From here there was a steep down climb to a saddle. There was again some tricky climbing that made me nervous, but I focused on finding good hand and footholds and took my time. From here things got a bit spicy. There was quite a bit of snow and ice on the ramp that we were to follow to the north. We moved very slowly and picked our way along. Eventually we ended up at a chimney that was easily scrambling up to the crux move. Here we hesitated, not quite sure which way was right. At this point three confident boys caught us and offered to go first to scope it out. We gladly obliged and followed once they gave a reassuring holler. The crux move was quite exposed and required some reaching and jamming into a large crack. Then there was an exposed flake with a handrail that led up to safer ground. After that the rest of the summit was a pretty easy walk/scramble up. We sat on the true summit and watched the boys rappel down. We basked in the sunlight and soaked in the views. I was quite focused on Bugaboo Spire, since that was our summit goal for the next day.
Eventually we made it back to camp satisfied and exhausted. It took us 9 hours round trip to bag this summit and return to Applebee. We spent the evening eating and planning for our next objective- Bugaboo Spire, Kain route.
0400 and the alarm went off. We emerged from the tent to another calm and beautiful day. It was dark still and the stars were out. We wolfed down breakfast and grabbed our packs, heading for the col at 0500. The snow was soft and mushy still from the day before and I found that I was sliding out occasionally. I made sure to always have a few good points of contact and my ice axe handle buried deep into the snow. We crested the col and had a bathroom break and took in the sunrise.
After having some food and relaxing in the sun I was able to feel more confident in my decision. Also, now I have a perfects excuse to return. Multiple hours later the three boys returned to camp from a successful summit of Bugaboo Spire. We congratulated them and they regaled us with stories of their summit success. I was happy that we did not carry on in the end being that we would still have been behind them and still out there. It would have been far too long of a day to climb such a risky route.
On the fourth day we packed up camp and headed home. I was sad to leave such a beautiful place, but the weather was turning and we had more to explore on our road trip. We set off down the trail and arrived back at the truck in just over 2.5h. Much quicker than the hike in. We arrived back at the truck to find that no snafflehounds had pilfered it and it started up like a dream. Until next time!