We would normally camp at Applebee camp but since it was still completely snow covered, we booked a few nights in the popular Conrad Kain Hut. Hiking in, the snow began, and was consistent about 100' below the hut, or where we crossed the river.
There was not a lot of talk about conditions as most people were only climbing the south facing routes that were sure to be clear of snow. Laura and I had a different set of plans and the routes we had in mind were both north to northeast facing. The ridges appeared clear but we were unsure if the deeper chimneys would be snow filled. We determined that that for our first objective, the classic NE ridge of Bugaboo Spire, we would go take a look and see what happened. Worst case, we would rappel the route.
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| Morning light on the spires. Snowpatch on the left and Bugaboo on the right. |
The following morning (July 5th) we woke up early, ate breakfast and put crampons on outside the hut. We were moving by 4:30 am. We ascended up toward the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col and, because snow coverage was still excellent, walked directly below rather than going up through Applebee camp. We walked to where the gulley system heads to climbers right and followed an easy gulley for a few hundred feet. Ascending the gulley, we made one mistake that cost us about 30 minutes. Instead of going all the way to the top of the gully where the ramp angles to the right, we should have angled left about 100 feet before the crest of the ridgeline. Rather, we chose to continue straight up and ended up roping up for a 30' section of crumbly 5.7 climbing to reach the ridgeline. Once reaching the crest, the easy walking led us to the base of the route by 7:30 am.
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Taken from the Bugaboo Crescent col, the first look at our route
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| Justin starting up the first pitch of the NE ridge on Bugaboo Spire |
The morning was cold, so I quickly racked up and began climbing. The first pitch is the supposed crux of the route, but I found it enjoyable and felt like I was climbing well. Just before traversing left toward where I would set an anchor at the top of the pitch, I had turned around to look out or talk to Laura. Standing on what I thought was a secure foothold, I slipped off and fell about 10 feet. Luckily, I had just clipped a piton so the fall was uneventful. I continued to the top of the pitch, built an anchor and brought Laura up. Nothing was said about the fall. We just climbed. For the next 4 pitches, the cracks and granite were spectacular, yet slippery, and we really enjoyed the climbing leading to the chimney pitches. We were still unsure if we would encounter snow in the chimneys but luckily, it was melted out enough that we were able to climb above it for the remainder of the route.
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| Climbing on one of the lower pitches of Bugaboo Spire |
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| Laura climbing on Bugaboo Spire |
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| Enjoying a quick break at one of the belays |
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| Amazing views despite a little bit of smoke |
Once through the chimneys, the upper pitches seemed to take forever. Although they’re rated as 5.4 in the guidebook, Laura and I did not simul climb them as we had planned. We pitched out everything all the way to the summit with long 60 to 70 meter pitches. As we reached the summit, snow started falling luckily it was a brief storm and we soon continued to our descent
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| Blocky section near the summit of Bugaboo Spire |
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| Success! Summit of Bugaboo Spire. |
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| Justin setting up one of the rappels. |
Once at the north summit, to descend, you need to traverse toward the south summit and rappel the Kain Route. The traverse was interesting and exposed but luckily dry. The beta is not super clear so we traversed across the very exposed ridge to where you rappel down a v notch. From here, Laura traversed again to a fixed anchor about 100' above the gendarme on the upper pitches of the Kain Route. Rappels ensued, one after another. Luckily, we had rappelled the Kain route in the past and were familiar with where to go. This made the descent far easier and faster than it would otherwise have been.
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| Justin on the exposed traverse toward the south summit |
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| Justin at the V notch at the south summit of Bugaboo Spire |
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| Final traverse over to the Kain route to continue the descent |
From the base of the Kain Route, we rappelled the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col back to the glacier and made the easy walk back to the hut. Our round-trip time was right at 16 hours. The rack that I took was a double set of cams from .3 to 3 and maybe five stoppers along with some long runners.
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| Justin checking out the Snowpatch spire as we changed our shoes |
Back at the hut, everyone was interested in conditions and we learned that we were likely the first people to climb the 50 classics route for the 2026 season - pretty cool!
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| The amazing and comfortable Conrad Kain hut. |
The following day (July 6th) we took a rest day since we were not sure what we were going to climb next. We were looking at the Snowpatch Route on Snowpatch Spire but the namesake snowpatch looked like it reached quite a ways left toward where the route goes and we were unsure whether we could get by or not.
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| Checking out the snowpatch from the hut |
Laura and I decided that we would go scout up to the first technical pitches of the route and take a look to help in our decision-making. It was a great scouting mission and it was evident that nobody had been on the route yet this season. We would now have the chance to open 2 classic routes in the Bugaboos in 3 days - not bad for a couple of weekend warriors!
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| Justin scouting the snowpatch route during daylight hours |
We ended up learning a lot that saved us time the following day. Our scouting took us up a steep snowfield to the initial gullies and all the way up the first couple of pitches and to the first 5.6 pitch of the route. Knowing what the first 1/4 or the route was, we were satisfied, yet still unsure if conditions on the upper portions of the wall would allow passage. We went back to the hut and hung out for the afternoon, chatting with other climbers and just relaxing. It was a great day in the mountains, even though we didn’t climb anything specific.
That evening, Laura and I we were still unsure of what we wanted to do, but in talking with some guides, we learned that they were comfortable with where the snow was and they thought that we could realistically get past and stay on route. They had even mentioned that the snow pushing you to the left was good because it helps you stay on route on the fourth class slabs. Our decision was made and we went to bed, aiming for another early morning.
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| Following the route we scouted the day before with clear skies overhead |
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First few moves off the snow onto the rock
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| Gearing up in front of Son of A Snowpatch |
The next day (July 7th) we were headed for Snowpatch Spire. I figured the route would take us somewhere in the 20 hour range, so waking at 2:30, we were moving in crampons at 3 am. We made the approach across the snow and up the steep snow slope, which is generally a scree gully along ledges and up to the base of the fourth class scrambles. It was about an hour faster than we had moved the previous day since we now understood the route. We traversed across the pinnacles and down to the base of the roped climbing while looking out at headlights heading to the route we had opened just a few days prior.
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| First technical pitch on Snowpatch |
We began roped climbing up the grass filled cracks of what most would consider pitch 4 at 5:15 am. The climbing was spectacular and my favorite pitch of the lower wall was the traverse that lead to a large ledge just below the slabs and the snowpatch.
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| One of the lower pitches of the snowpatch route |
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| The airy traverse that Justin claims was his favorite pitch |
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| Laura following the traverse |
From here, there was running water and some very runout slab. Laura and I climbed in pitches, placing gear where possible and even finding a few pitons within a few feet of the existing snow. I guess it really had melted enough to stay on route! There were a few times where we had to kick steps in the snow to get by but never had to change back to boots for passage across the snow. Just a few days earlier and it would’ve been a little bit more difficult but it all worked out.
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| Slabs below the snowpatch |
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| More runout slabs below the snowpatch |
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| Working around the snowpatch |
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| Yes, it was possible to get around the snowpatch |
Rather than simul climbing the slab pitches Laura and I ended up pitching out most of it all the way to the inverted pear feature that marks start of the more difficult climbing on the upper head wall.
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| Justin on some of the harder pitches above the snowpatch |
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| Climbing above the snowpatch |
Once we reached the upper headwall, the climbing angle, cracks and grade increased a bit. These were my favorite pitches of the climb. Although mostly uneventful, upon reaching what we thought was the hand traverse, I made a mistake and climbed out left instead of going up and ended up having to lower down. Laura and I did some shenanigans to get the gear back before proceeding up the correct line for the last few pitches of the route and to the summit of Snowpatch Spire. This is truly an alpine big wall. We summitted at 2:45 pm after 9.5 hours of climbing.
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| Justin on the dike that many consider the crux of the route |
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| Justin at what some people consider the crux pitch |
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| Do not go this way! It gets hard quickly. |
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| Laura on one of the last few pitches of the snowpatch route |
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| High on Snowpatch Spire |
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| Yay! Snowpatch Spire did not disappoint |
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| Justin on the summit of Snowpatch Spire |
We rappelled the Kraus-McCarthy rappels, and then walked across the glacier to the Pigeon-Snowpatch ice fall rappels. Lots of rappelling (maybe 18) with tired minds led us to the glacier and solid footing once again. We hiked casually across the glacier back to the Kain Hut, arriving at 6:15 pm and completing yet another unbeatable 16 hour day in the mountains. Laura and I were both pleased and felt like we made excellent time based on the fact that there were a few mistakes made, and how long it took us to pitch out the middle section of the route.
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| Pigeon Spire and the Pigeon Snowpatch Ice Fall |
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| Justin looking up at the south side of the Snowpatch Spire |
We relaxed and hung out at the hut that evening before packing up and hiking back to the trailhead the following morning. Now on to Banff to meet up with Hazel and relax for a few days!
