The Coast Range B.C./Mt Bute/Waddington etc.

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

Post a Reply

Messages 141 - 160 of total 251 in this topic

<< First | < Previous | Show All | Next > | Last >>

harryhotdog

Social climber

north vancouver, B.C.

Nov 23, 2012 - 06:35am PT

Greg, do you have any pics of the traverse? I wonder if you were before or after us on Waddington, I can't remember the exact date but I think it was end of July beginning of August 1985 for us.Were there any tracks on the NW summit?

Bruce Kay

Gym climber

Nov 23, 2012 - 07:53am PT

Saugstad. This thing is gnarly

Appropriate. So's this guy


	Don (The Gnarl) Saugstad Credit: Bruce Kay

His Grandpappy was Christian Saugstad, something of a religious fire brand that managed to lead a 100 or so of his flock to the wilds of the Bella coola valley, thus establishing Hagensberg. Mt Saugstad is actually fairly close to town but pretty well guarded by bush, I understand.

Bruce Kay

Gym climber

Nov 23, 2012 - 08:40am PT

still the best thing that's been done in the Coast Mountains.

Glenn, not to diminish D / G / P's traverse, but don't you think The teenage Beckey brothers bagging the 2nd ascent of Waddington way back in the forties all on foot and up a proudly technical route is right up there? There was no Mike King back then, or even a CFB Comox let alone other climbers in the area. I think once you balance out all the factors (like crap gear, food , context of remoteness etc) much of the early stuff really blows the modern stuff away, even if the routes weren't quite as "rad". The south face of Wadd is pretty rad, even by modern standards too.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 23, 2012 - 09:42am PT

Yeah, I forgot about the Beckeys' 1942 trip; posting late last night on the high after the PC talk. The Beckey expedition is up there with the Wadd traverse, all right, maybe above it. Many people try the Waddington south face; few succeed.

Another one that's always overlooked is the 1934 trip by the Neave brothers. They approached from the interior and found what's now the regular route up the Bravo Glacier. They missed the chiimney route, but came so close to success on the NE face of the summit tower, all this two years before the first ascent by W&H. The NE face wasn't climbed until 1950 by Al Steck and Phil Bettler, and AFAIK has never been repeated.

They are great epics, all three of them.

Saugy

Mountain climber

Nov 23, 2012 - 07:30pm PT


	Credit: John Scurlock

Mt. Saugstad. The crown jewel of the Coast Range in my humble opinion


	Credit: from the net

The Reverend Christian Saugstad (my great grand-pappy)

And ya, Bruce, its well protected by the foliage..i found that out a time or three

Jim Brennan

Trad climber

Vancouver Canada

Nov 23, 2012 - 07:47pm PT

Of course after the Devil's Club, Slide Alder, Grizzly Bears and Saturday night razor totin' Chilcotin Marmots, those seracs and ridge flutings are cake !

More pics please Saugy ! ! !

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 23, 2012 - 11:22pm PT

Nice photo of Rev Saugstad and his mountain. Photo taken from the east. FA party on Saugstad did it from the west, climbing the main peak and the lower north peak (near right).

Thanks for posting! More photos?

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

Nov 24, 2012 - 09:07am PT

If we're talking "best thing that's been done in the Coast Mountains" the Devils Thumb group complete traverse (Haley/Schaefer), Kobus's Wadd by kayak trip, and the complete S to N traverse from Vancouver to Alaska (Culbert/Edwards/Millar) should also be on the radar.

Comparing Beckey and Beckey to Culbert, Edwards and Millar is really apples and oranges. Not sure which of those two is the "best thing ever done" in the Coast Mountains, but it's one of those two, IMHO.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 24, 2012 - 09:25am PT

Can't argue with those choices. The box of mixed apples and oranges and other fruit is getting fuller.

Bruce Kay

Gym climber

Nov 24, 2012 - 10:18am PT

I didn't know that the Neave brothers went up the Steck / Bettler face instead of the chimneys. That really is something especially for the thirties. any idea how high they got?

Speaking of brothers ( something of a trend here...) do you know much about the Bitterlich brothers and thier attempts?

Bruce Kay

Gym climber

Nov 24, 2012 - 11:05am PT

Just a little bit of juicy trivia - Mt Saugstad FA was by John Dudra (Vancouver) and Pete Schoening, who everyone should recognize from the famous K2 American attempt. Wasn't it him with the famous boot axe belay?

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 25, 2012 - 05:02pm PT

Any guess on this? Coast Mountains, obviously.


	Credit: Tricouni

Hint: it's not the Waddington Range.

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Nov 25, 2012 - 05:25pm PT

Any guess on this?

Cor fackin 'ell mate, that's bloody amazing.

I haven't traveled in enough of the Coast Range to know all that much first hand, but all the years I spent editing the CAJ gave me a pretty good idea of what is out there. But whatever it is in your pic is new to me. It definitely looks like Coast granite, but from where?