I am awoken by the sound of snow sloughing off the tent. I checked my watch - 1:18 a.m. I've been asleep for over 3 hours, and that feels like a good rest on the hard, sloping granite that is the Applebee Dome Camping Area. The fact that it's still snowing only a few hours before we planned to set out means that our objective, the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire, will be in poor climbing condition again, and we'll end up scrapping that plan again, opting not to climb the ridge whose cracks will be filled with ice and snow for at least a day or two to come. This is our third night camped up here, and also our third night of snow. It's also snowed every day except the first.
It was obviously warm here within the last month or so - the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col, a steep snow ramp up to the saddle between the two named spires, is impassable. The bergshrund (the crevasse where the glacier pulls away from the mountains) is huge and scary, and above it looms steep solid ice. The snow has melted out at the sides and above the glacier on the col creating a large amount of dangerous loose rock. There was a big rockfall event two days ago - likely thousands of tons of stone - covering the established path up the col. There was another slide the day before in the same area. One rope team did head up that way early yesterday morning while everything was still quite frozen, but even they admitted it had been a bad idea and they were lucky to have escaped without injury.
This is the Bugaboos. A high alpine area of the Purcell Mountains in eastern British Columbia, it's also a coveted rock climbing destination. I'm here with my climbing partner Jon, a great guy Meghan and I met while camping and climbing in Squamish, BC. Meghan is staying down in the Banff area, hiking and camping with Randy, another friend from Ontario. I've been up here once before, when Meghan and I were engaged. On that trip, we had relatively good weather, with snow only at the end of our trip, and mostly warm clear days, but we found that our glacier and alpine experience weren't quite where they needed to be, and chose the safer path by not doing any of the technical climbs. On this trip, I'm more experienced, stronger, and with a partner who is even more experienced than me. We had high hopes of climbing some of the spectacular routes here, but have settled for scrambling up a couple of the lower spires instead.
Sunrise in the Bugaboos
On day 1, we got an early start, made the drive up to the trailhead without incident, and proceeded to wrap Jon's van in chicken wire - a necessary precaution to prevent the area's porcupines from chewing on the vehicle's tires and brake lines. We then hiked in - a grueling 3100 feet of elevation gain in only 5.6 km. It's a steep hike, which feels even worse when you're carrying your food, stove, clothing, and tent; not to mention ropes and technical climbing gear. It is a beautiful hike though, out of the forest and up through alpine meadows lush with summer wildflowers, up to the talus fields and glaciers of "The Bugs". We set up our camp, and feeling energized and excited about being there, hiked up the 4th class southwest ridge of Eastpost Spire, the tower adjacent to camp. It was a fun hike, not too tough, with great views of the area. After hiking back down we made an easy dinner, and headed off to bed at about 8 p.m., before the sun had even set below the horizon. We had high hopes the meteorologist would be wrong, and the great weather would continue through the next day.
Jon on the hike
Wildflowers along the trail
Our campsite at Applebee Dome
The Applebee Dome Camping Area
At the summit of Eastpost Spire
I woke up in the night to hear the sounds of snow hitting the tent, but wrapped up in my down sleeping bag, secure in my 4-season tent, it didn't really concern me and I tried to go back to sleep. My morning, the snow had stopped, and after sleeping in an hour or two past sunrise, little of the snow remained at our elevation for long. Walking up to the food storage box, I ran into an old friend Sally, an adventurous Australian whom I'd met on a climbing trip to Yosemite 5 years ago. I knew she might be heading to the Bugaboos around the same time, and it was great to see her. She introduced me to her partner John, and explained how they'd been benighted on the trail after taking a wrong turn in the dark after heaving the Alpine Club's hut on the way up. Meghan and I had done the same on our way up three years earlier. Sally and John set up camp quickly, while Jon and I ate breakfast and mulled our options for the day. We decided that with the not-so-spectacular forecast we would do something not too committing - a traverse of Crescent Spire up the west ridge and down the southeast gully. Sally and John joined us as well, and we set off. The approach involved crossing the edge of the Crescent Glacier, but in that area there was little risk of falling into a crevasse and we didn't bother strapping on our crampons or roping up. Gaining the col between Crescent Spire and Bugaboo Spire required some low-fifth class climbing, and Jon and I opted to climb it unroped to save time and minimize the potential for rockfall. Sally and John followed us up, simul-climbing the slab with a shortened rope. Upon gaining the col, we climbed the ridge on 4th class terrain to the spire's summit. With the temperature dropping and the clouds rolling in, we didn't stick around there for long, and started making our way down before Sally and John had even made it all the way up. Soon after starting our descent, the snow started. The snow soon changed into sleet, but we were on our way down the 3rd class gully. It was very loose, and we waited for Sally and John to catch up, moving as a group of 4 for greater safety. The precipitation continued, varying in intensity and type, as we made our way back to camp and made some dinner under a seeping rock overhang. We headed to bed early this night as well, mostly for lack of anything better to do, with the storm raging outside and no other shelter than our tent.
Snowpatch Spire reflected in a tarn
Hiking across the Crescent Glacier towards the Bugaboo-Crescent Col
Traversing Crescent Spire with the clouds rolling in
Sally on the summit of Crescent Spire as Jon and I descended
Sally and Jon on the descent with sleet raining down hard
The morning of day three was clear, but the weather report received by satellite phone and disseminated to the rest of camp, including us, was for more poor weather today but clearing by the following day. Sally and John had set up a tarp shelter, with room for 4 to cook and socialize. We decided to take a rest day, hide from the rain and snow and save our energy for a big day tomorrow. We played euchre, relayed stories, and sat around eating for most of the day. In the late afternoon the skies cleared, and we packed our bags for the next day's attempt on Pigeon Spire, which we would have a go at as a team of 4.
Playing euchre under Sally and John's tarp shelter
That night, as you know from reading above, it snowed again. Waking up to our alarms, we decided that even with good weather today, the route would be too snow-packed for us to make a quick and safe ascent. Today would not be the day, and Jon and I would instead pack up and head out a day early, while Sally and John would maybe have a chance later in the week, as the weather was only set to improve, and they had a few more days to stay up there. After a few more hours of sleep, we got up, dried everything out, packed up, and headed down the trail. We made good time, met Meghan in Radium, and Jon headed on his way, hoping to cross the border before it closed for the night and to make it to Seattle in time to see his fiancé at the finish line of her triathalon. Meghan and I headed back into Kootenay National Park and up to the Radium Hot Springs to melt away the sore muscles.
Despite the poor weather and the fact that we didn't get up any of our main objectives, I had a great time, and look forward to another trip there some time in the future. The spires aren't going anywhere, so we can come back another time and try again when conditions are more favourable.
No comments:
Post a Comment