August 2003 trip with Robert Meshew and Michael Stanton to British Columbia
Highlights
| Snowpatch Spire SE Ridge (5.8 IV) |
| Bugaboo NE Ridge (5.7 III) |
| Pigeon Spire W. Ridge (5.4 II) |
| McTech Arête (5.10 III) |
| Sir Donald NW Ridge (5.4 III) |
Day 1 - Approach
Strangely, the imposing nunatak seen on the approach is a relatively unimportant choss pile.
None shall pass
..
Day 2 - Snowpatch
After a leisurely 3am roll out, and moderate approach, we tagged the
Snowpatch summit in about 3 hours climbing. We accomplished this in about
5 simulclimbing blocks. Here Mike and Rob enjoy the early summit 
.
After rapping the west side Krauss-McCarthy route, we descended the
Snowpatch-Bugaboo col 
and then witnessed a couple of brief thunderstorms 
.
.
We bagged it for the day but the weather continued to improve for the rest of
the afternoon and we kicked ourselves for not tagging Bugaboo when we were so
close.
Day 3 - Aborted Bugaboo attempt, East Post Spire
Another 3am roll out saw us at the base of the NE ridge before dawn. Ominous clouds blowing in from the west and a few rain drops turned us back. The crazy colors are all natural!
After watching the weather continuously improve from the Crescent glacier, we
decided to tag East Post spire via a 4th class route. It was enjoyable and
proved nice views of Applebee and the Crescent Glacier cirque. Here
Mike stands on a boat launch in a lake below East Post 
.
Day 4 - Bugaboo & Pigeon
The following day, not to be turned back by weather we proceeded to climb at sunrise, topping out early.
We descended the Kain route a
and took advantage of our position to hike over and climb the west ridge of
Pigeon as well. This was probably the cleanest and most fun alpine
route I've ever been on 
.
I was ready to skip it but for the encouragement of Robert. Here is
Bugaboo from the summit of Pigeon 
.
From the top we scoped out the new rap descent on the Snowpatch side of the Snowpatch-Pigeon icefall taken from the Pigeon summit. The rap consists of 6x25m raps, starting from a bench on the buttress.
Pigeon descent - super rad hike(!?)
Here is the icefall from beginning of the rap descent.
The swank Bugaboo hut featuring hydro-electric generated only a few hundred feet away.
Day 5 - McTech Arete
Our rest day proved too dull so we decided around noon to tag one of the primo cragging routes, McTech Arete on Crescent Spire. Here are pictures from near the base of the route. We topped out on a loose 5.4 pitch leftwards at the top. Skip it unless you really need the summit.
Day 6 - Exit
Day 7 - Sir Donald
We slept in the Sir Donald campground and rallied at 3am again. From the trailhead it took us 2-3 hours and a liter of sweat (each) to reach the Sir Donald-Uto col. From there 3rd class climbing got us to the summit in 2-3 hours. The climbing was moderate to steep but super positive for the most part. Occasional loose blocks spiced up the exposed 3rd class.
The descent was down the climbing route making that the challenge of the day.