Mt Waddington - South Face area

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bmacd

Trad climber

British Columbia

Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 20, 2010 - 01:24am PT

What is the history of ascents and attempts of this spectacular face ?

pic 1

pic 2

pic 3

pic 4

pic 5

Summit elevation 13,186 FT

hoipolloi

climber

A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi

Jan 20, 2010 - 02:14am PT

whats that formation in the background of pic 5, over on the right side. Damn amazing looking stuff there.

bmacd

Trad climber

British Columbia

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2010 - 02:22am PT

hoipolloi - that's Combatant - the buttress is "Skywalker", a Scott Flavelle route on a subsidiary peak.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Jan 20, 2010 - 10:17am PT

I heard that the topo maps aren't that good for the area... more Canuck sandbagging...

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Jan 20, 2010 - 12:21pm PT

But if you walk in .............oh dear.........

The folks that first climbed the Kiwi Route did that. And then there's Kobus Barnard and partner, who paddled from Vancouver Island, hiked in from tidewater, reached the summit, and reversed everything.

apogee

climber

Jan 20, 2010 - 12:35pm PT

Bump for more Waddington tales....

It's always been on my 'someday' list.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Jan 21, 2010 - 01:26am PT

on top of the normal heinousness of the place...

...i've heard from my friend Lawrence that when he hiked into the area (not to climb!) they found a slight rearrangement of the terrain on the topo maps, somehow ground truth hadn't crept into them yet...

he kept mumbling about devil's claw, we Americans expect the rain... he'd also chant "bear, bear..." a lot after that trip, whenever we were in the back county.

only hearsay, I wasn't there.

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

Jan 21, 2010 - 01:32am PT

Tami and Ghost, I am disappointed: not one plug for the Mundays?
I know they didn't try the S Face but they were pretty much
hardness distilled. They should be required reading.
Them and Crusoe of Lonesome Lk.

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

Jan 21, 2010 - 02:21am PT

Tami,
You're too easy, well, so to speak. I just pretend to ignore
your posts so I can provoke you to further enlighten the great
unwashed. Now my cover is blown. Who cares what anybody did
after the Mundays? It is hard to see how a biographer could
top their book but I'll gladly give it a go. Thanks! Oh, and
thanks for 'spazing' me; it is a singular honour (note the quaint spelling).
Now I can rest my cretinous head in peace.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful British Columbia

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 21, 2010 - 02:47am PT

so has anybody got on this face ever or what ?

rockermike

Trad climber

Berkeley

Feb 20, 2010 - 03:46am PT

bump for Waddington. Any more stories?

What's the standard route? SE I think. Anyone done it?

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

Feb 20, 2010 - 01:39pm PT

^^^^^ Kanadian stock brokers? Are we talking Angus or Herefords?

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 20, 2010 - 01:50pm PT

Looks like a good summit to chopper in a bunch of snowboarders I used to know. Plenty of opportunity for them to demonstrate their athleticism snowboarding those black sections down to the glacier col ....

maldaly

Trad climber

Boulder, CO

Feb 20, 2010 - 03:29pm PT

I guided 3 people up the Bravo Col route in 1984. We totally cheated by lucking out on the weather. !! days in and never had a cloudy day. Bravo ice fall was chaos, headwall above was epic, rock tower was frozen choss and we ended up rapping down at night off of piles of rocks we made.

Unforgettable.

Mal

Max

Social climber

outer space

Feb 23, 2010 - 01:53am PT

I'm pretty sure that most of those photos were taken by John Scurlock, acclaimed aerial photographer de alpine sickness.

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/72737090

Chief

climber

Feb 23, 2010 - 03:49am PT

I would encourage anyone interested in the Waddington area to check out my recent post, California is not buying Green Energy from BC

I was just up at the Homathko camp on Saturday, porpoises in the estuary, river full of cutthroat and bulltrout, all in plain view of Bute Mountain and Mount Waddington. Contemplating the plans they have for the area is depressing.

If we don't try to do something about it, we deserve to lose it.
Why the hell isn't the Waddington Range a National Park or World Heritage Site anyways? We're to busy focused on 'Owning the F#%$^%ing Podium!

Chief

climber

Feb 23, 2010 - 10:47am PT

Bumping this thread.

Chief

climber

Feb 23, 2010 - 12:08pm PT

I'm challenging all fellow Canucks and Yank mountaineers to pay attention to what's about to happen under the south face of Waddington if the Schwarzenegger/Campbell/Plutonic/General Electric Cabal isn't stopped dead in their tracks this year. The sixteen largest tributaries of the Homathko, Southgate and Orford rivers will be completely diverted into multiple KILOMETERS of steel pipe, upstream of critical salmon bearing habitat, so that private power can be sold to California as "Green Energy".

While we're distracted by the razzle dazzle of the Olympics, agreements, accords, compacts and MOUs are being signed and legislated.

PAY ATTENTIOn! WE'RE LOSING BCs COAST RANGE TO PRIVATE POWER PRODUCERS.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2010 - 01:35pm PT

There would have to be some sort of court action launched to stop work at this point. Whats the Sierra Club in Victoria doing at this point ? Timmc's Dad used to be at the helm there. Ask Tim or get on their case directly in Victoria.

I agree it's a mess up there. The green movement ain't so green.

What were the circumstances that got you up there last week ?

Chief

climber

Feb 23, 2010 - 01:53pm PT

Hi Bruce,

I hadn't been up to Bute since 84-85 when I logged out of Scar Creek and wanted to refresh my memory.
I chartered a Cessna 172 out of Campbell River and flew in with Rob and Laurie Wood, two of the founding members of Friends of Bute.
(Rob is a good friend of British mountaineering legend Doug Scott and he climbed both Mt Waddington and the Directissima on Colonel Foster with Doug. Rob and Laurie have been quietly guiding tours into Bute for a couple decades.)

I have been suggesting we need to raise public awareness of what's at stake in Bute and on the coast of BC.
As Rob says, nothing explains it better than Bute does when you're there in person.

We flew into the Homathko camp and visited with Chuck and Sharon the owners of the camp. Chuck's an old logger who's very interested in having people come to stay in his camp and enjoy Bute for the fishing, hiking and mountaineering. They have furnished rooms for up to thirty guests and have a beautiful kitchen and camp style dining room, all right on the east bank of the Homathko.

I'm suggesting we need to get as many people as possible into Bute this year to raise awareness of what's at stake.
Climb some peaks, walk a river, hire a guide, kayak on the estuary, paddle some steep drops, explore new mountain biking.
Have a big festival, make a documentary, protest, tell the world, stop this f^%^&^*&ing madness!

Water taxi from Campbell River approx $900 per trip, seats 12 less than $200 return.
Cessna 172 from Campbell River approx $400 each way, seats 3
Float or wheel plane from Vancouver
Helicopter from Campbell River or Vancouver for the wealthy.

Accomodation at Chuck and Sharon's approx $125-50 per day meals included.

I'm going to try to get back one more time before my March 11 shoulder surgery which will take me out of action on this for a little while.

ps. Clients are currently having forty plus fish days with Cutthroat over six pounds and Bull trout up to twelve pounds coming up for waked dry flies. Single barbless, catch and release, zero retention. Gotta get back quick.

Butefest, August 2010?

Let's get on it!
Help!

Bschmitz

Ice climber

mountain view

Feb 23, 2010 - 02:18pm PT

isn't that where Walsh's "uber groove" route goes up? or was that on the north west face.
Heli ride: 4 people about $1200 each.

So want to do the traverse!!!

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Feb 23, 2010 - 03:18pm PT

I'm suggesting we need to get as many people as possible into Bute this year to raise awareness of what's at stake.

Hi Perry

The problem with this is that the people who would visit the area to view the current and potential devastation are already convinced. As a percentage of the total population they are pretty much statistically insignificant, and the politicians and corporations involved will have already factored in their opposition and decided it can be ignored.

Unless and until stopping the Homathko/Bute hydro development becomes a popular cause, it is probably a lost cause. I wish I had a useful suggestion about how to make it something that the general population cared about, but I don't. Most people care only about what is on TV and how their favorite sports team is doing. What happens to a few fish in some river they've never heard of is irrelevant to them.

Maybe, if a few celebrities (TV/sports stars) could be brought on board, then people would listen. Is there any way of putting up a legal challenge that will halt the process, at least temporarily?

I can never forget sitting on the summit of Mt. Sir Frances Drake, looking 9,000 feet straight down to Bute Inlet, with a clear view of Waddington rising 13,000 feet up out of the valley of the Homathko to the north. It's a spectacular place, for sure.

D

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2010 - 03:33pm PT

Perry have you tried contacting an established environmental organization with money and legal firepower ?

Greenpeace maybe ... do they still operate out of Vancouver ?

Chief

climber

Feb 23, 2010 - 04:04pm PT

Ghost, Bruce and others, thanks for the input.

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee has been taking a big part of the lead on this and many other environmental issues. I first became aware of the Bute situation at one of their open houses in Vancouver over a year ago. They helped organize the successful resistance that stopped the Pitt River proposals from being approved. They are planning a series of information meetings specific to Bute for late March and April. We need attendance at these meetings. While the IPPs and Bute are high on WCWC's priority list, they do have a broader mandate and a full plate of other issues.
I'm scheduled to meet Joe Foy at the WCWC office this week to discuss the Bute issue.

The Suzuki Foundation has been suggested as well as Eco Justice/Sierra Legal Defense Fund.

As best as I can tell, there is a broad base of awareness, concern and support on the issue, it just hasn't galvanized around a focused legal entity or leadership structure.

I appreciate that putting a few hundred souls into Bute this year won't contribute to better representation or profile UNLESS,....
We bring some high powered personalities that will attract global media attention.

I do think it will help a lot if people on this forum simply send an email and become "A Friend of Bute". The link is on at least one of these threads.

Thanks for listening, I'll try to keep the information coming.

PB

Beazley

Trad climber

Feb 23, 2010 - 05:44pm PT

Toba can not be stopped but Bute is still not a done deal. Plutonic Power are still only at the research stage. They have delayed their Environmental Impact Study for another year because they found fish last fall in proposed turbine sites where they hadn't seen them in previous studies so need to do more studies.

They also are very much aware of the degree of spiderweb effect of the transmission lines coming out of The Bear Valley, Teaquahan Valley, Homathko Valley, Southgate Valley and on down to the Orford Valley before heading up over The Tahumming to the Toba project. If Knight Inlet also proceeds there will be a connection going over the Whitemantle Range and and down the Brew to the Homathko as well as down Knight Inlet itself to Vancouver Island.

They managed to slide the Toba project under the door without the public realizing the true scale of these 'green' power projects. They thought Bute would be just as easy but are finding out that the public are now aware of what is going on. The EA office had only a handful of public comments in the early application stage for Toba but Bute had over 3,000 comments.They will also have to go through a Federal Panel Review and not just a Provincial Review.

This is the time to say 'I believe'. The Olympics is one month. Our heritage is forever.

guido

Trad climber

Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific

Feb 23, 2010 - 07:09pm PT

"This is the time to say 'I believe'. The Olympics is one month. Our heritage is forever."

Bute Inlet and the Homathko River drainage comprise one of the most scenic and wild areas we have ever visited. In 1985 my wife Nancy and I ventured into this beautiful area with our friends Rob and Laurie Wood. Part kayaking and part sailing on the mother ship Quintano, a catamaran that Rob had built on their property on Maurelle Island. This is their backyard and a most precious sanctuary it is. Chief, Ghost and Beazley all have ideas on how we can help preserve this wonderful area that is so threatened today. Isn't this what ST is all about?

Chief

climber

Feb 23, 2010 - 07:41pm PT

Guido,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and posting the great photos.

Perry

mastadon

Trad climber

quaking has-been

Feb 23, 2010 - 08:00pm PT

My girlfriend and I visited Rob and Laurie Wood at their little island commune in 1976 or somewhere thereabouts. It was quite an adventure getting there. I remember that they had a pretty cool little cabin and their daughter must have been six or so years old. People were hiding from Armageddon at that time.....

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2010 - 08:25pm PT

Ghost or Foweraker have you guys any pictures to complement the images Guido has posted of Bute Inlet ?

Perhaps a tale or two of your exploits in the area ? It's for a good cause.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2010 - 10:04pm PT

Beautiful images Jim and Guido ....

The transmission line impact alone, is going to be very nasty in the BC inlets, any alternative project linking to the grid shares this problem, be it in hydro in BC or solar in the southern states. This aspect of the issue is universal.

An Einstein category, Environmental lawyer, is what's needed as the best hope to challenge this "progress"

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Feb 26, 2010 - 02:29am PT

Ghost or Foweraker have you guys any pictures to complement the images Guido has posted of Bute Inlet ?
Perhaps a tale or two of your exploits in the area ? It's for a good cause.

I've posted pictures and stories of Foweraker above Bute Inlet in "The Definitive Canadian Underwear Thread (it's at http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/759442/The_definitive_Canadian_climbing_underwear_thread);. But since that story is mostly about perversion and disease, I'll repost a couple of the pictures (the ones of mountains, not of underwear) here.

It's hard to explain the feel of this place to folks who live and climb in the contiguous US. There are many fine mountain areas in the lower 48, but this is something different. This is truly wild country. Savage in a way that doesn't exist in Colorado or California. Or even Montana or Washington. It is remote, wild, empty, glaciated, steep... Home to wolverines, ravens, grizzly bears, and salmon.

Aaarrrghhhhh! Photo uploader isn't working. I'll try again in the morning.

Jay Hack

Trad climber

bellingham, Washington

Feb 26, 2010 - 09:36am PT

Jim and Guido, your pictures are magical, really cool stuff. They definately make me long for the pacific northwest/coast range.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2010 - 11:54am PT

Bruce Kay - Hey congratulations on your picking of the plum on Mt Bute last year !

2009 Mugs Stump Award Winners: Martinello/Kay/Sinnes—Mount Bute, BC, Canada

TR @ http://www.mugsstumpaward.com/2009_mks.html

We named The route, "School of Rock", it went at 5.11 A1 (50 pitches).

How many thousand feet is 50 pitches Bruce ?

Chief

climber

Feb 26, 2010 - 12:26pm PT

Way to go Bruce!

Rob and Laurie Wood pointed out the line during our visit last Sunday but didn't know who had done it. Over 5000' of relief!

Bute Mountain is a fitting sentinel for the gateway to the Waddington Range. "A Mont Blanc Range with no people around".

If Plutonic GE has it's way, there will be a massive hydro substation at the base of Bute Mountain right on the Southgate Estuary. You won't be able to miss it because it's going to be at the center of a web of transmission lines radiating from Scar Creek to Sechelt. If you're approaching Waddington from Bute, you'll follow transmission lines and powerhouses all the way to the Coola Creek shoulder. Then again, that's only if GE will let you in the valley at all.

I had a productive meeting yesterday with Joe Foy and Gwen Barlee at the Wilderness Committee office in Vancouver. Bute is the focal point and battle ground to challenge our government's unscrupulous policies. I learned that the Sierra Club, Eco Justice and other credible organizations are very much on board. A "Summit" meeting of these various interest groups is being considered for this spring, probably on the Homathko.

I will do my best to keep everyone informed.

Perry

Chief

climber

Feb 26, 2010 - 02:08pm PT

Bruce,

Kudos dude!
I'm going back into Bute for one more recce before my March 11 shoulder rerig. I'm calling on any fellow Canuck ST members to help me form a posse big enough to share a water taxi or plane ride from Campbell River to Homathko next week.

Chuck and Sharon would love to have some guests at their camp.
Catch and release, single barbless, Dollies and Bulls to 10 lb plus, sea run cutties the size of footballs. They rise for waked dries!

Perry

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Feb 26, 2010 - 02:17pm PT

We did the first top to bottem (as far as we could tell anyway)

Well, it is a bit more usual to go from bottom to top, but all styles are fine, as long as the mountain is left the way it was. :-)

Anyway, you guys keep up the good work - both the climbing and the conservation.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2010 - 03:02pm PT

Bruce that is 6000 ft of relief, comparable to stuff on Baffin Island ! You are one hell of an over 50, radical dadical. The left skyline is the Down/Foweraker/Clarke route ?

I have been wondering what the cents/kilowatt hour capital cost will be on this project. The Bloom Energy server weighs in at 11 cents I believe. A sure project killer is always economics.

Perry, I would like to get into Bute with my cameras sometime (DSLR, pro grade video and night vision video), but need good weather for nice images, though bad weather can be artsified on the computer. I was thinking I was going to make a speed boat adventure of it in the summer.

Any quality images or footage I would gladly donate to the WWC

How much would the all in cost be for this upcomming trip with you ?

Chief

climber

Feb 26, 2010 - 03:09pm PT

Bruce,

Water taxi from Campbell River $900 per trip, seats 12.
Ten people, $180 return each.
Accommodation and three squares at the Chateau Homathko approx $125 per day.
The views of Bute and the fishing, priceless!

Let's git er done!

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2010 - 03:14pm PT

I'd almost rather put the fuel into my own 18' Grady White and go for it with 1 other person. It would be cheaper. Who owns the dock up at Bute ?

Chief

climber

Feb 26, 2010 - 03:20pm PT

Bruce,

Yer on yer own in the Grady.
Bute's notorious for sudden 80k outflows and devouring small open watercraft.
Besides, two ain't much of a posse and I've got four already.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2010 - 03:41pm PT

Okay sent you a PM Perry, I've already used up my luck in the inlets south of Bute in "Sudden outflows".

Chief

climber

Feb 26, 2010 - 04:05pm PT

Hey bk, 52 yesterday, who you calling dead?

Hardly Visible

Social climber

Llatikcuf WA

Feb 26, 2010 - 04:17pm PT

Bmacd this is close to a Bute inlet area trip report with photos and stuff
so here goes:

Back in the day I never felt quite grown up enough for stuff like Waddington so instead had to settle for less renowned and seemingly less formidable terrain. Once I chartered a float plane and flew into Silt Lake below the snout of the Lillooet glacier.

My objective was to climb Mt. Lillooet which buried in glaciers up to its neck in the center of the Lillooet icecap forms a three way drainage divide between Bute and Toba inlets along with the Frasier River as well. Due to laziness, a lack of bravado and a complete underestimation of the time needed for such an objective I fell short of that goal.

I spent the first day trying to travel up the glacier itself, but being late August the lower part of the Lillooet glacier seemed far to melted out and broken up for up valley advance.
Since I didn’t feel like dying an icy death in some crevasse I returned to Silt Lake to rethink things.

With going up the glacier ruled out I took to a bushwhack up the south side of the lateral moraine from the lake to gain some hanging tributary glaciers to the south.

After an all day climb gaining about 5000 ft. through the bushes, boulders then the hanging glacier itself I set up camp on a ridge top with a panorama of much of the upper Lillooet.

I hoped that I was close enough that I could make a dash out to Lillooet Mtn. but by the time I got to the top of this peak marked 9490 on my map

Lillooet Mtn still seemed still a long ways off from here especially with me needing to be down at Silt Lake early afternoon the next day for my ride out. I took some photos from the summit of 9490 looking onto the icecap and the rugged peaks south of the fork of Toba River below me enjoying the superb weather and scenery wishing I had another day to spend.

During four days the only evidence of other visitors I saw were some old wooden cross country skis abandoned at Silt Lake and some old metal enameled plates and bowls found here:

Hopefully by sharing this and others sharing their stories the masses can be made aware that something special is about to be lost presumably in the name of cheap electricity.

Chief

climber

Feb 26, 2010 - 04:22pm PT

bk

ditto for the big rigs off the Tiedemann, The Grand Capuccino for one.
The film K2 was shot there because it really does resemble the view from K2 base camp with the Wadd towering some 8000' plus? over the glacier.

Yes, MD could wax downright floral and maudlin. I swear there was a "bro mance" going on in his CAJ write up about climbing with Flavelle in the Adamants.

bmacd

Trad climber

Washedup, Hasbeen, British Columbia

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2010 - 04:48pm PT

Hardly Visible - that looked like a cool adventure. Sweet photos ...

BK - Heli-Sledding country for sure up there ! What is the purpose of your upcoming Toba trip ?

I would bet Mike Down has an extensive image library of the area.

I remember the Spat brothers telling me about their role in the opening scene of K2 under the south face of Waddington.

Beazley

Trad climber

Feb 26, 2010 - 05:25pm PT

Many congratulations to Bruce Kay and his climbing mates on completing Mt. Bute from bottom to top. Hiking underneath it and looking up is pretty intimidating to say the least.

The problem with producing more electricity is like building bigger hwy's... more vehicles. In 1900 there were a few hundred rivers dammed world wide for power, in 1950- 4,000 dams, 1970- 12,000 dams and as of today 27,000 dams. We must be pretty desperate if we need to scrape the bottom of the barrel for 'unfirm' power in places like Bute Inlet. It is as bad as the Tarsands.

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Feb 26, 2010 - 09:40pm PT

ok i better shut up now

Depends on who's reading... I've tried to get Scott and Mike and others interested, using the "Climbing at Squamish in the 1970s" thread as bait. They may lurk, but don't post that I know of.

Anyway, hopefully kinnikinnik (Colin) will chip in regarding impacts on the Eldred, and the Bute project generally. He's in Powell River, which is a bit closer to the action, but is on a climbing trip right now.

Who is beazley?

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful, BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2010 - 10:38pm PT

ok i better shut up now

Bruce Kay you may as well keep spewing the filthy dirt, it's only the internet, no-one knows who you really are. You are using a fake name right ?

Beazley

Trad climber

Feb 27, 2010 - 12:38am PT

We helped scope out a route up Galleon Creek around 12-15yrs years ago. A logger friend with some crew did a run through and then we came through couple of times afterwards. Since then it has been kept open and used by the bears and NOLS. Could probably use some work on it. Bit of a boulder maze at the bottom of Bute Glacier but quite doable. A lot easier I am sure than climbing Bute Mt.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful, BC

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2010 - 04:45am PT

post deleted

Beazley

Trad climber

Feb 27, 2010 - 10:18am PT

No I am not opposed to electric cars or electric power or consumption of goods, but everything in moderation.
I don't believe the majority of the population are going to rush out and buy an electric car until it is tried and true and affordable.
If more electricity is needed it should be produced close to the cente of need whether hydro,tidal,wind or sun.

Beazley

Trad climber

Mar 3, 2010 - 09:06pm PT

Haven't been on the Galleon Creek trail for quite a few years so do not know what shape it is in. NOLS use it yearly, so will have to ask them what it is like. The bears won't say. The route stays high, well away from the creek.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful, BC

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2010 - 12:32pm PT

For the Bute Inlet / Homathko / Waddignton watersheds to achieve exemption status, disqualifying the electric power produced there from being exported to the states, one of the exemption categories is recreational use.

Any ethically inclined climber, whom has had an adventure there, successful or not, should feel morally compelled to relate, in detail, their adventures. A literary contribution to the history of, and as a testament to future recreational potential of Bute Inlet.

Well written accounts, relating the efforts of climbers on adventures in the region, would be nothing but another very positive addition to the serious efforts being undertaken by people like Chief, sac, and Beazley to save Bute Inlet.

In other words, HEY Don Serl, Micheal Down, Greg Foweraker, Fred Becky, Bruce Kay and all others, post up n00b readable versions of all yer trip reports with photos. Don't be modest it's for a good cause !!!!

Supertopo often seems to be one of Googles top search results for anything climbing related. If you guys plug it up with a lot of references to Bute Inlet, that helps raise the profile of the area and demonstrate it's recreational value. If you dodn't write up your trip, in todays context your effort was in vain, no matter what the outcome.

Use the term Bute Inlet as frequently as possible in your account. supertopo threads do seem to have a higher google link rating than TR's so post a copy here and of course where ever other place you choose.

Chief

climber

Mar 4, 2010 - 04:12pm PT

Way to go Bruce!
Couldn't have said it better.
Looking forward to this weekend's trip to BUTE where you can see the SOUTH SIDE OF MOUNT WADDINGTON and BUTE MOUNTAIN and stay at the Homathko camp at the head of BUTE INLET.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful, BC

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2010 - 04:25pm PT

Lol ... Perry I don't think using caps for the phrase "Bute Inlet" has any additional effect.

Link to Bute Inlet webcam - click here -

Thanks for inviting me along on this trip, I am excited, and leaving for the ferry soon ....

Chief

climber

Mar 5, 2010 - 02:45am PT

Jimbo - nice work on the google landscape images ! Chief and I are in Campbell River and rendezvous with beazely in the AM to depart for Homathko International Airport.

The best fishing Chief says is to be had where these creeks join the Homathko. Right where the IPP generating stations will be built. Destroying the best fish habitat in the entire watershed.

Customs officers in Homathko are loaning us a shotgun for the weekend of hiking amongst the hungry grizzlies fresh from hibernation ...

bmacd

Jimbus,

bmacd assures me there's Bigfoot in Bute and he's going to prove it.
I will report.

PB

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful, BC

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2010 - 05:42pm PT

Update from Bute/Homathko - presently weathered in

The Plutonics plans for Bute/Homathko watershed represent the greatest environmental threat and white elephant BC has ever faced before. 1000 times greater than logging concerns ever were. Even the loggers up here are against this project.

Being o nsite and seeing the scope of this in person is a sobering experience.

No sign of bigfoot though ... Having a great adventure and getting a superb education here too.

bmacd

Trad climber

Beautiful, BC

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2010 - 03:29am PT

Epic ... but the Yanks pull it off in style

Mt. Waddington: First ascent

On July 4, 1936, Fritz Wiessner, Bill House, Elizabeth Woolsey and Alan Willcox reached the head of the Knight Inlet. For the next twelve days they ferried loads to their base camp at Icefall Point on the Dais Glacier.

While on the glacier, they were joined by another expedition led by members of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club and the Sierra Club. Wiessner and House agreed to allow the others a first chance at the summit but this group failed to find a route up the south face.[8]

On July 20, Wiessner and House first attempted the line of a great couloir that comes directly down between the main summit tower and the northwest peak. It was an excellent line for quickly ascending but they were unable to traverse onto the south face proper due to poor rock conditions and were forced to retreat to base camp.

By 3 am the next morning they were already climbing up a couloir to the right of the face. Good weather the past few days had cleared most of the snow away from the ledges making for good climbing conditions. Following the left branch of the couloir, they reached a snow patch in the middle of the face.

The final 1,000 ft (300 m) of the south face then presented a fierce hurdle of "sheer forbidding-looking rocks" as noted by Wiessner. While Wiessner initially started in boots, he quickly changed to rope-soled shoes and gave his ice axe and extra rope to House. Wiessner led several pitches up technically difficult rock including several overhangs. After traversing east across the face they rested on a ledge just below the southeastern ridge, a full 9 hours since leaving the snow patch on the south face.

After climbing a short chimney they finally reached the small snowy mass at the top, 13 hours after their start in base camp. They aborted their earlier plan of descending the shorter north face and retraced their ascent line, reaching their tent on the Dais Glacier at 2 am.

The ascent to the summit and back to base camp had taken over 23 hours.

2010; an American rematch, Donini climbs one for the environment .... Waddinton South face.

Wayno

Big Wall climber

Seattle, WA

Apr 18, 2010 - 03:51am PT

I haven't checked this thread in a while. Who do I call to say great fooking thread. I guess , a whole bunch of you frosty fekkers.

No, seriously, this is good stuff; nice pics, friendly and witty banter, no meltdowns of any sort, or viscious threats. There is something to be learned here. OOps, sorry, I'll go to bed now.

bmacd

Boulder climber

100% Canadian

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 13, 2011 - 05:32pm PT

A 2011 Mugs Stump Award goes to party attempting winter ascent of the South Face. That's really cool …..

Damien Kelly, Mt. Waddington, British Columbia, Canada; with Jim Martinello. A winter ascent on the south face of this 4019-meter peak.

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web10w/newswire-2011-mugs-stump-award

bmacd

Boulder climber

100% Canadian

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 13, 2011 - 10:56pm PT

Brad White from the Rockies ? I did a route near Jasper with him and 2 of his friends once a long time ago.

Have there been many successful non winter ascents of this face Bruce ? It wasn't on your list I guess or you would have done it I'm sure.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

May 31, 2012 - 11:07pm PT

Just noticed this thread. To answer the OP, the south face has had zero winter ascents, and the highest peak of Waddington itself has only had one winter ascent. Those John Scurlock photos are amazing.

laughingman

Mountain climber

Seattle WA

Jun 5, 2012 - 12:07am PT

When I first started climbing years ago, I did the annual NOLS traverse of the Waddington Range.

Lots of type 2 and 3 fun.....

Word of advice anyone who attempts to walk into the Waddington Range via the Knights inlet.... You will be in for a world of hurt. The logging roads are literally gone in many places replaced be "evil" alders. Literally the most horrible bushwack in my life....

My first TR about the trip can be found here:

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1030812/TR_Waddington_Range_traverse_w#Post1030812

The route