Bugaboo Spire NE Ridge 5.8 - August 2024
The culmination of our years in the Bugaboos, and our ascent of the main spires in the Bugaboo valley.
The NE Ridge is described by Mountain Project as “A classic moderate alpine rock route of the highest caliber. Excellent rock on one of North America’s great peaks.”
The Climbing is fantastic; however, be aware that the descent is both longer and more tiring than the ascent …
We stayed in the Kain Hut, woke at 4:00am, and hiked up to the Bugaboo Crescent Col. The scramble to the saddle starts just to the right of the snow tongue, then follows a blocky 4th-5th class route, passing by anchors and chains before you reach the saddle. The saddle is gorgeous and Bugaboo towers in the distance. My favourite shots are looking up from the saddle and the sunrise that we saw while scrambling up to Pitch 1. The climbing was fantastic. Good protection, and after a couple of early traverses, it heads predominantly up a major crack system. Beta follows:
https://www.mountainproject.com/route...
https://sites.google.com/stephabegg.c...
https://www.lemkeclimbs.com/bugaboo-s...
The most harrowing tale that I’ve ever heard of the Bugaboos is here: https://www.bcmag.ca/life-death-on-th...
It is a must read …