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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 1, 2007 - 07:08pm PT
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Remember those back-to-school essays you always had to write in Junior High? "What I did over summer Vacation"? Anyhow, here's the most recent installment of my summer break.
Jon "JB" Baum and I have known each other for nearly 15 years. We met and bonded over Powell/Peralta videos and Slayer but hadn't climbed with one another for about five years. July 24 we drove up from his place in Kila, MT.
We were impressed by the ingenuity of drivers to ward off rogue porcupines. This guy seemed to have it dialed. We wondered if we were doing it right, but then again we don't exactly live in a culture that teaches you to protect your brake lines from small mammals.
Anyhow, JB hoisted what has to be the biggest pack ever seen...on a human.
There are some nice creeks along the way.
The only bad weather we had all week came on the approach and man are Canadian raindrops big! At long last we made it to the Kain Hut.
The Houndstooth isn't too hard on the eyes either.
Nor is Bugaboo Spire.
Day two we did the Snowpatch Route.
The "snowpatch" is said to be five acres in size. Maybe globalwarming is cutting it down to size.
A couple of dorks on the summit.
The view can't be beat. Pigeon Spire and the Howser Massif.
Even the snow is cooler up there.
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dirtbag
climber
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Awesome, I loved this! Can't wait to see the other two parts.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2007 - 07:22pm PT
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Day two we humped our ways out across the glacier to do the NE Ridge of Bugaboo.
Snowpatch's East Face is particularly rad. The shadow is covering the mighty "Sunshine Crack". Darrel Hatten's "Tom Egan Memorial" is in the sun.
The NE Ridge is another one of Roper and Steck's 50 Classics and of course we slept in. Anyhow, the approach is dead easy and the line is pretty easy to follow.
I felt totally at home up there. If it was the Eastern Sierra or Valley you'd have had a line twelve deep at the base. As it was we had it more or less to ourselves.
Again, you can't beat the views. This isn't Pakistan, it's the Vowell group. Best part? The locals speak English and you can't easily catch The Worm!
Looking toward the South Summit and the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col.
JB following:
JB finishing:
Me? I'm bringing sexy back.
The descent started easy enough. A few raps and some kairns to follow, but then true to form, we got horribly off route. A million miles of manky death-trundle downclimbing, butt sliding, and a chopped bollard later, we were back on the glacier and heading to the hut.
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Duke-
Trad climber
SF, aka: Dirkastan
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Stunning pics, thank you so much.
-Dirka
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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That better be lividity from the hike in under them there nails......
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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great one - thanks for the post!
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2007 - 07:51pm PT
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Okay, day three we rested. JB tried to fatten me up.
The nylon ghetto's pretty rad.
We even got to hang with ArchDirtbag Fred Beckey (note the photo in the background):
The next day we did the sensible thing and actually got up on time.
I'm no naturalist, but that's some nice light.
JB doing the Canadian StairMaster routine:
Those Canucks think of everything:
Crossing the glacier we ran across some very fresh cougar tracks. Rad!
Here are some guided climbers coming up from the SouthWest:
JB starting the West Ridge of Pigeon:
Classic pose down shot:
Again, a couple of dorks on the summit.
Different view of Snowpatch:
Another side of Bugaboo:
Last shot of the Howsers:
JB looking all stoic on the way home:
Rad parting shot of a farm in Brisco:
Summer highlights, so far:
*Soloing Whitney's East Face and East Buttress back to back
*Nailing the tyrolean on Sun Ribbon
*Climbing on the East Side with my uncle, 20 years after he taught me how to climb
*Getting out of the States, if even for a short week.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 1, 2007 - 07:53pm PT
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Kathy and Mark: Next time for sure.
Russ: All this "danger-hiking" has left me with toenails that make Rudy's look healthy. The nail polish was a vain attempt at covering up the funk...to no avail.
Durkadurka: Where you living in the city?
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Ezra
Trad climber
WA, NC
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Amazing, I can't wait to go.
Looking forward to part three!
-ezra
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tooth
Mountain climber
B.C.
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Awesome TR! Can't wait to get up there...
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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WOW!!!
My screen stopped loading after the first few shots from your second post. I'll have to try again. But....WOW!!!!
The porcupine scarecrow and setup is awsome, too. Guess poor-Q's are a bit of a problem up there...
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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These pics deserve a bump. Looking forward to parts II and III.
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Awesome !
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Spectacular!
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Kartch
climber
belgrade, mt
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Wow! ! !
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handsome B
Gym climber
SL,UT
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Fantastic! Great work!
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bobmarley
Trad climber
WAS Auburn CA, NOW Seattle WA
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awesome shots! always wanted to get up there. what are the logistics of the approaches and descents? you need crampons right? what about the descents? do you need to haul up crampons for the descent?
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Ever notice how in every summit shot from a Bugaboo trip the climbers seem so happy and content? Ah...this brings up harsh feelings from long ago when a buddy and I were going head up there for a couple of weeks one summer and he jilted me to go climbing in the Gunks instead. Some day.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Bad-a$$ for sure, nice pics too!
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana
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Very nice photos. These took me back to my first and only trip in '95 or '96?? The snow/glacier pack still looks about the same. I tried to look at older photos on the net to see if it's diminished much, no luck so far. One of my favorite memories was staying in the hut, bs'ing with all sorts of good folks! And, the car brake/radiator hose eating varmints! Spectacular place to be! Thx. for the post.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 2, 2007 - 03:09pm PT
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Thanks for taking a look. The place is beyond rad. We didn't use crampons or even take solid mountain boots. I wore some Montrails for the hike in and had a spare pair of Guide Tennies to alternate with. That wasn't really necessary since the hut's "boot room" is heated and your stuff dries out easily in there. I did the approach to and climb of the Snowpatch Route and W. Ridge of Pigeon in the 5.10ees. A lot of folks seemed to have Trango EVOs, though.
The climbs were remarkably similar to things we'd done in the Sierra, just bigger. Most of the trade routes have been retro-bolted to allow for single-rope raps and pretty much every climb involves some travel over snow. Word around the hut was that the Bensen/Green guide was obsolete as the remaining, living author hasn't been there in close to 20 years. The Piche/Atkinson guide (www.elaho.ca), on the other hand, is remarkable. Liza at the Hut sells it for an even $40.
Here's another thread by some folks who met with success and good weather: http://www.mountainwerks.org/cma/2003/bugaboos.htm
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roslyn
Trad climber
washington
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god, i love that place.
thanks for the tr and pics
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Bodega, CA
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Marty! Awesome. Thanks for posing all these photos. I mean, posting all these. You know, when we were at the Hulk last year I thought you musta just borrowed your wife's shades, but now I know its just your funky style. Gotta love the nail polish... LOL!
Let's climb again soon!
-JD
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 2, 2007 - 05:34pm PT
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Jerry,
It was hard to find a replacement for those Jackie-Os, but the $6 snow-leopards are pretty suave.
Headed to the East Side tomorrow; Evolution Basin Saturday.
Fire up the scanner and post those Hulk shots!
(m)))
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J. Werlin
climber
Cedaredge
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Awesome TR. Man, you guys got the good weather. That Toyota in the lot looks familiar--did you meet Dennis and Eric from Jackson Hole up there?
Nice job on the sends, thanks for taking the effort to post.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Wow, you can't take a bad picture up there if you tried, I guess. Thanks for the inspiring TR!
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 2, 2007 - 07:13pm PT
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J. Werlin,
Nope, but the only other folks from the lower 48 were a couple from Utah,two dudes--one of them named Curt--from Bozeman and Boulder, and two young guys--Felix (Flagstaff) and Eric (Santa Barbara)--who were hanging with Beckey. They were going to meet up in the Adamants to do "IronMan". They picked up a car from some dude on the net and the note Fred left on the windshield said "don't pick up any bikini hitchhikers"! Classic stuff. He's really hard of hearing but still has quite a sense of humor. His 'tastes good...EVEN if it looks like horsedick..." line (http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=417099&msg=425654#msg425654); is one for the ages.
Erik,
If you're out there, lurking, post up. You'll have annals to write I'm sure!
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J. Werlin
climber
Cedaredge
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Thanks Marty--great TR again. Gave me the jonz for sure.
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susan peplow
climber
www.joshuatreevacationhomes.com
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VLG, great TR! The photos are fantastic. Thanks for taking the time to put together these little shots of heaven for our viewing pleasure.
For us, this is as close as we'll ever get to the Bugaboo's. Mussy says, "Beautiful place too bad it's inaccessible". It's true, same reason we don't go to the Needles!
Hope to see you this fall (SSFJT). Isn't it time for you to get back to work yet?
~Susan
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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F-ing teachers, they get all the perks....
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there... thanks for sharing your trip... this is really beautiful... i'm gonna go read about it on the net, somewhere... thanks so very much... great stuff... i usually go take a few stares at the live-cam for the matterhorn, and watch the sun rise or set there... this is nearly as nice.... course, that is LIVEEEE... so it is tops...
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youngharz
Boulder climber
Carpinteria
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Hey Marty,
Cool running into you on the trail back to the parking lot! Awesome pictures man, Sounds like everyone lucked out on the weather that week!
Fred got a little sick in the Adamants but still got up on the Ironman. In between jugging and climbing, he was scribbling "his" topo on a tattered piece of paper so he would have it for a new book he's working on. That guy is such the climber's climber, I think he's off to the Coast Range now...
-Erik
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Allright! Great TR!
Thanks,
Zander
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 8, 2007 - 01:08am PT
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Susan,
Access isn't quite like your back 40, but there's always a chopper that can handle loads of all sizes.
So when's the fiesta grande? I go back to work next week but already need to plan some mental health days.
Erik,
That was quite a coincidence. Good job on Ironman. Post up some photos if you have them.
Jaybro,
So what's new for fall?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Excellence!
You show 'em Marty(r).
Now that's how to make a proper post.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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great stuff two thumbs up!
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Lando
climber
Tulsa
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how'd it go on Ironman??
I heard from another party in there of some party off-route on Ironman that may have had an epic....you guys??
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survival
Big Wall climber
arlington, va
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Feb 13, 2008 - 09:48am PT
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Very cool thread. Looks like you guys nailed some classics and had weather to boot. Thanks for the TR.
Bruce
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Feb 25, 2009 - 08:42am PT
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hey there .... say, bugaboos bump...
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