At the end of the Calgary Stampede week in July, I left the crowded heat of Cow Town to drive to BC to explore the famed Bugaboo ranges. Gifted with a perfect weather window, I managed to climb the Bugaboo Spire via the original Kain Route with climbing partner Niels. A superb climb on amazing granite, involving moderate scrambling and 5.8 rock climbing in one of the most exposed positions I’ve experienced yet.
Day 1 – Approach.
5km, 1000m elevation gain, 5 hours.
On Thursday, July 10, we left Calgary at 6am and drove to the Conrad Kain Hut Trail Head via Radium. We travelled with friends Bonnie and Matt who had their own objectives for the weekend.
After parking the car, we put barriers up to prevent the porcupines eating our tires. We had pre-packed our backpacks with food, fuel, camping and climbing gear, with the weight coming in at a hefty 26kg. We began walking from the trailhead towards the Applebee campground around midday, and were greeted with ever improving views of the granite and glaciers as we emerged from the lush valley forest.
The weather was variable sun, cloud and rain as we passed the Conrad Kain Hut.
Arriving at the Applebee campground (which sits on top of a granite dome above the glaciated terrain), we were amazed by the exposure of the site, the number of other visitors, and the incredible granite spires of Snowpatch Spire and Bugaboo Spire.
The weather began to clear once we reached the Applebee campground, and with a two-day spell of clear sunny weather in the forecast, Niels and I agreed that the next day would be the day to attempt the classic Kain Route.
We were pretty exhausted from hauling all the gear up the epic approach route, so went to bed early around 8pm. The sun took another few hours to set so I used an eye mask to help black out the bright light.
Day 2 – Kain Route of Bugaboo Spire
6.3km, 1130m elevation gain, crux 5.8 rock, 12 hours camp to camp.
We set our alarms for 5am, and after a quick breakfast we were off marching towards the Snowpatch-Bugaboo col at 5:45am. The sky was clear, there was no wind and the snow was firm, which made for pleasant cramponing up the snow slope of the col.
We reached the col after 1.5 hours, and were greeted with spectacular views of Pigeon Spire and the South Howser Towers across the Vowell Glacier.
Looking up at our route, we could see a large amount of moderate scrambling. We proceeded and were delighted to find that the way had been well marked with plenty of cairns. The route finding was straightforward and the granite was strong and grippy.
Most of the scrambling followed a broad ridgeline that wasn’t too exposed. Eventually, we reached the start of the technical climbing – a 5.4 ‘chimney’ which I lead in my mountain boots. It felt more strenuous than 5.4 with some jamming required.
After completing the ‘chimney’ pitch, there was a ~60m ridge traverse. Whilst not difficult, it was quite exposed and we opted to simul-climb this up to the last problem: the Gendarme beneath the summit.
We reached a bottleneck at the Gendarme where another party of 3 were completing the crux pitch. After they had finished, I switched my mountain boots for rock shoes and proceeded to lead this pitch.
The protection was generally good, and the climbing wasn’t too difficult. However, the exposure was absolutely wild. There is a section of slab climbing with no hands, below which 500m of air drops away to the glacier below. Getting to the anchor point was a relief.
After the Gendarme, there was just one more pitch of 4th grade scrambling before the summit. From this point, it was slow going queuing for the rappel stations before getting back to the base of the ‘chimney’ pitch, from which point it was easy scrambling to get back to the col and then a couple more rappels to get back to the base of the mountain.
Day 3 – East Post and Walk Out
We slept a good 9 hours after climbing the Bugaboo Spire. Taking an easy morning to relax and replenish our calories, we were greeted with overcast weather and intermittent rain. We realized how lucky we were to get perfect weather the day before.
We took the chance to scramble up the standard route of East Post, the small mountain directly above the campground. This was easy and only took 1 hour. Following this, we broke camp and walked back the car which took an additional 2 hours. Satisfied with the successful climb, we drove home via Radium and enjoyed our first non-climbing food: schnitzels at the Old Salzburg Restaurant.
