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| The Bugs at last! Jeff and Pascale's Corolla with the Hounds Tooth and Snowpatch Spire. |
I remember the first time I saw a photo of the Bugaboos. I think it was an CMH ad in an issue of Gripped back in 2006. At that point I was doing a lot of indoor bouldering while attending university. I remember that full page ad because it was the first time that an image of the mountains really called to me. At that point top-roping was still terrifying and I dismissed alpine climbing as too risky. Oh how times have changed.
In my climbing trips on the continent, I had avoided climbing in the mountains. Hiking and backpacking yes, but not climbing. That is until some friends invited me to Katahdin in December 2010. That experience, of ice climbing gullies and scrambling over rock with crampons, opened my eyes to the joy and adventure of alpine climbing. Shortly after I moved to the Rocky Mountains.
It took me over a year to get it together for a trip to the Bugaboos. Skills, partners, and
time finally came together in August 2012.
So far I've never experienced anything like the alpine landscape - of rocks, snow, and deep sky. The Wapta felt the same way. I'll be honest though, my first trip to the Bugs was humbling and ass kicking. Type 2 fun punctuated by plenty of honest to goodness fun at the Applebee campground.
I'm looking forward to going back. And I'll leave it at that.
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| Snowpatch after Sunrise from Applebee Camp. |
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| Jamie framed by Bugaboo Spire on Crescent Towers. |
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| At the famous Gendarme on the Kain Route of Bugaboo Spire. |
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| Jamie on the Gendarme with Snowpatch in the background. |
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| Pigeon Spire with Meghan |
