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Pcutler
climber
Iowa
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 1, 2011 - 09:15am PT
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In the spirit of climbing related threads...
It seems like a pretty sweet area that I might try to visit this summer. Who's been there? Any cool stories, routes, pictures or experiences?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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mostly recycled from various other threads... sorry to those who must be bored to tears by now of these old images, that being said...
...more later... from the 1993 trip:
you do know it rains there a lot... usual cooking in the vestibule
arrival at Boulder Camp
next morning, seems like sun...
but unsettled weather unsettles our plans...
next morning, beautiful enough to set us on our way, to the classic west ridge
the views are stunning
I recreate the 2nd edition Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills image that first attracted me to the Bugs, summit shot...
The Snowpatch-Bugaboo col, a place of great familiarity...
Rained out after a solid week of good weather... the last multiday good-weather period of the season that year... the chicken-wire protection was new from 1984
we bailed to the Tetons...
...I'll put up some 1984 pictures later...
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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What are the chicken wire things for??
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corduroy
Trad climber
Lexington, Ky
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hey Ed Hartouni
im from indiana/kentucky
whats the chicken wire fencing for?
first guess is to keep rodents from chewing up engine parts
am i way off?
ive never seen such a thing.
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xtrmecat
Big Wall climber
Kalispell, Montanagonia
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One of the best outings I've ever had. Rock is superb, locale second only to a few, weather can be finiky though. Everyone should go at least once.
The Howser Towers from half way up Snowpatch Spire.
And the same view looking just a touch further NW.
Any more will spoil the mystery and anxiety for you. GO!
Burly Bob
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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The chicken wire keeps the porcupines from chewing brake lines and rubber hoses. Seriously.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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porcupines are interesting animals with interesting digestive systems, they switch systems in the winter time and require increased salt intake to cope with the increased tannin content of their winter diet (barks)... being smart, they learned they could get the salts off of cars, which often have the splash of road salt... somewhere along the way they got a taste for glycol anti-freeze... but in any case, the chew (not lick) the salty parts of the cars.
thus the chicken wire
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Horvath
Trad climber
CA
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[photoid=193063]
all I have to say it is an alpine heaven!
GO!
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Good stuff!
Ed, new pics to me, so tfpu!
Cheers!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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is that a clothesline?
yowza, how civilized?!
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Brandon-
climber
Done With Tobacco
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Bump.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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in 1985 the road looked like this:
no porcupine chicken-wire rigs because the porcupines didn't come around.
Also, no helicopters back then.
we stayed at the Kain Hut on this first occasion, shared it with some interesting Canadians who were mostly hikers... they kept us up at night and we woke them up early AM.
Of course it was snowing the day we arrived...
but the next day we set off for the Bugaboo Spire classic Kain Route
I got the lead on the Gendarme, here is Mike poking out around it... no bolts then, and no tat wad either...
the view from the shitter was pretty good, too
Alpine scrambling
it was loose, but nothing big fell on us...
Love those Alpine starts...
but not the retreats from high up on Snow Patch Spire... in the rain, off of single pin rap anchors
how come it never looks like it's raining in the pictures?
A wonderful place... do go! and enjoy the labor of getting into the various places... I think Kain et al. took weeks, shot their food on the way in, and had a glorious time of it... must have been absolutely wonderful back then. 1985 was nice, seemed like we had the place to ourselves, probably 4 other climbing teams in that year when we were there. 1994 was different, lots of people there, popular routes were crowded... helicopters were ferrying people into the backcountry continuously...
still magical...
in 1969 the image that fired my 15 year old imagination came from plate IV on page 41 of Mountaineering; The Freedom of the Hills
how wonderful to look back and recall the times I got to go and realize that dream.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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How come nobody has posted any lightning pictures?
Or at least the dry cleaning bill.
Yous guys are like the PR firm that named 'Greenland'.
A couple of minutes after this shot we both fell into separate
crevasses at the same time! Put that in your PR release!
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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I like the short/thin.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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how are you going to have an adventure unless you start out on the journey Reilly?
the whole idea is to hang your ass far out over the edge and see if you can reel it in...
we're just helping out a little bit (never been hit by lightning there... nope, not even close)
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, pcutler, and all....
i raelly enjoyed this.... :) thanks so much for sharing everything...
nice to learn more about porcupines, too... :)
*not sure, but i think i heard someone mention this before, here, on the supertopo...
thanks again...
:)
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Great Photos! Thanks!
Ed: I loved the 1980's road photo.
Tell me it isn't paved these days.
Our Sept 1972 drive up to the Bugs was nearly the crux of the trip. The only way we made it in was: the puddles and ruts froze up at night.
In 1972 porcupines were not the problem in the parking lot.
After four days some Canadians showed up and informed us that the dreaded
Grizzly of Bugaboo Lodge had broken into our locked
car-top carrier and spread the uneaten contents
around the parking lot.
After they shared the bear’s rather impressive history of local camp and car raids; we got to walk out in a snowstorm/rainstorm the next
afternoon. Of course we had fresh Grizzly tracks,
steaming bear feces, and finally impressive thumping
noises in the surrounding forest.
And a lightning story for Reilly:
Second trip in -----1975? The first objective was E. ridge of Bugaboo. We stayed in the hut, and around 10:00 PM, after a great thunderstorm-------the door banged open.
Suddenly a pack flew through the portal, and landed in an open area. Then, the packs owner stomped into the hut and yelled: “I’m never f*#kin climbing in the Bugs again.”
He and his party were just down from the thunderstorm, and had climbed and survived: E. Ridge of Bugaboo, in a big lightning storm.
Of course, Chris and I had already committed to that route for the next day.
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adam d
climber
The Bears, CA
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and in fairer conditions...
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