Climbing Ha Ling Peak in Canmore and Beckey-Chouinard in Bugaboos: Trip Report 1

July 20th:

Ilia dropped me off at the Parking Lot of the Bugaboos Provincial Park. He was amazed to see that every car was wrapped around by chicken wire in the dirt lot. I explained that it was to prevent porcupines from chewing the tires or fuse/break lines. He carried my backpack along the trail for half an hour to where the trail became increasingly steep, then turned back to the parking lot. I continued hiking up the trail with my pack. I had budgeted for 6 hours to reach the Kain Hut, given that I had to carry both the climbing gear and the rope, instead of having this load being shared by a climbing partner. I reached the hut in 3 hours and 10 minutes. Thanks to Ilia's help and my preparation running training!

There were only 2 pairs of climbers in the hut as most of the climbers had left due to dismal weather forecast by the hut custodian Lisa whose forecast had proven to be quite accurate in the past days. They told me that there were 2 pairs of and 1 single climbers camping at the Applebee Dome. I hiked up for 1 hour to the Dome to meet the single climber Daniel. Daniel was actually part of a climbing group with a couple: Beth and Mitch. They invited me to join them to climb should the weather turn to nice the next day.

I came to the hut and learned from the pair of climbers from Seattle that they had attempted West Ridge of Pigeon Spire (5.4), but turned back in 2 pitches because the rock was all rimed with ice. They had come here to climb Sunshine Crack (5.11) route on Snowpatch Spire.

July 21st:

Rain. More rain in the following days. The 2 pairs of climbers started packing up to leave, while I headed up to the Dome. The other pair of campers (from Australia) were also packing up to leave. They would all seek somewhere dry to climb. Beth, Mitch, Daniel and I were all okay to stay and didn't care much about the weather forecast. It seemed that we were more hardcore climbers than those who were leaving. But the reality was that they wanted to climb more than we did. We were just taking in what nature has to offer us: climbing or not.

I was amazed how this small tent could accommodate the four of us while Beth cut cheese on a plastic sheet and Mitch cooked food on a stove. After eating, when the rain and snow paused, we went out for a hike to the Crescent Spire to take a close look of the McTech Arete route, which we would climb should the weather turned a bit nicer the next day.

On our way back to the camp, Mitch and Daniel hiked up the col between Crescent Spire and Central Towers, and then boot skied down. We then stopped at a big rock did some technical bouldering.

I arrived at the Hut and was surprised to see a crowd. Among them are Dave, Suzanna and Travis from Toronto. They were all new to the Bugaboos. I recommended that they scramble up the Eastpost first to acclimatize before doing serious climbing. Dave, Suzanna and I had been regulars at the TCA climbing gym.

July 22nd:

Clear sky in the morning. I arrived at the Dome at 9am to rest my legs while Mitch, Beth and Daniel prepared for and had their breakfast.

Just after 10am, Mitch led the 3 of us to the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col, then up the Kain Route on Bugaboo Spire. Snow began to fall. The wind became fierce. It was turning into a blizzard as we ascended. Mitch kept charging ahead. As I scrambled on wet rock and snow, looking down the slope leading to abyss below, I became highly sensitive that one slip of my footing -- I would be gone. "It makes no sense for me to continue." -- the thought came to me twice. Yet my body kept moving forward and upward. It became a gamble. I thought that descending would be more challenging and dangerous.

I came to a narrow ridge and saw the footprints on a half-foot wide path along the top of the ridge that slopped steeply into abyss on both sides. Apparently, Mitch, Beth and Daniel had just walked along this path under fierce wind. I was shocked by their confidence of their footing in snow on that path. I got on one side of the ridge and used the rocks on top of the ridge as hand holds to traverse the ridge. I had to put my hands on something solid, lest I would be blown off balance by the wind which was strongest on the ridge.

Upon reaching the start of the roped technical pitches of the route, Mitch decided to turn around. We must descent before the snow covered our ascending tracks. It is easier to follow the tracks to descent as they had proven to be firm footing. Daniel and Beth descended much faster than I did. Mitch stayed with me. He had been coming to the Bugaboos every year for 10 years. I really appreciated his company!

While Mitch was far more confident than I was with snow, I sensed in our previous day's short bouldering practice that I was technically stronger than him with rock. At one descending section, I chose to down climb a sheer drop of rock face while faced the rock face. After I got down, I saw Mitch was facing away from the rock face to slide down. He accelerated as he came down. I immediately extended my right arm out to stop his momentum while holding onto a rock tight my left arm, and he extended his left arm to catch my right arm. Our arms met and tightened our pull to each other. He came to a stop. The steep slope to abyss was only 2 feet away from where we stood. Reciprocating his caring mind in accompanying my descent, I had risked my life to save him. Regardless whether he felt it was a dangerous moment for him or not, I was willing to die with him should his momentum was big enough to pull both of us down further.

After descending the B-S Col, I headed straight to the hut to dry my soaked gloves, all the while thinking that this scrambling session was the most scary climbing experience I had ever had! At the Hut, I met Dave, Suzanna and Travis. They had reached the col of the East Post when the weather turned bad, and they turned around, while they saw us attempting the Kain Route.

July 23rd:

It rained in the morning and stopped around noon, as predicted by Lisa. Dave, Suzanna and Travis had returned from their early morning attempt to climb the Lion's Way due to poor weather. I thought about inviting them to join me and my newly found climbing partners at the Dome for a possible scrambling trip in the afternoon. But Dave and Suzanna had gone to bed for a nap and Travis was absorbed in reading a book. I was late for my meeting with Mitch's gang. So I asked Travis to wake up Dave and Suzanna to meet with me at the Dome later.

At the Dome, Mitch told me that they had decided to pack and leave this afternoon instead of next morning as they had initially planned, as there wasn't enough time left to complete the Southeast Spur on Brenta Spire, which we planned for in case of good weather today. They cooked more food in the tent while it rained on and off outside. We became full. Less food for them to carry down. I hugged them goodbye.

I headed up the Eastpost alone. It was sunny. As I rested at the summit and taking in the panoramic view, I was surprised to see a white beard and white haired old man climbing up the last 5th class section to the summit. He was wearing a pair of hiking shoes! We descended together, not quite, as he was faster than me and often waited for me to catch up. Through our friendly chat, I found out that he was 67 years old, Howie Richardson, author of a climbing guidebook for Skaha Bluffs.

I got back to the Hut to find out that it would be sunny and calm the next day, which would be good enough to attempt the Kain Route, despite there would be still a lot of snow on the route.