This summer I got the opportunity to head to Alberta and British Columbia with friends and try to tick off a climbing bucket list item in the famed Bugaboos, a popular climbing destination. The Bugaboos got its namesake from the miners that arrived from Europe in the late 1800s and found mostly nothing worthy of prospecting. They called a dead-end a “Bugaboo”. A funny name but turns out very apt for our trip!
Our team consisted of our studly leader Mike Brumbaugh; a total pro who had been to the Bugaboos several times, and my good friend and also a stud, Charley Mace. We set out to climb the Beckey-Chouinard – named for two super famous climbers, Fred Beckey and Yvon Chouinard, who together achieved the first ascent in the 60’s. Chouinard later started a small company called Patagonia.
The Beckey-Chouinard is a striking granite, 3,000 foot climb, with beautiful cracks – all above a series of glaciers. We were ready and excited, but when we showed up, we were met with pretty horrific weather. We proceeded to pack our food, and wait and wait. Finally, the helicopter flew us in, but as we ascended over a ridge, I felt centrifugal force as the aircraft swooped and jolted.
“What’s going on?” I asked Mike nervously.
“We’re turning back,” he said glumly.
Over the ridge, where we were headed, was a total whiteout. The pilot refused to go further.
Video taken from inside the helicopter by Charley.
We’d heard the route had a giant cornice hanging over the descent route, and tons of snow had fallen, covering the face. Despite global warming happening most places, it’s definitely more correctly like a global weirding. The temps this summer in Denver were often 90+ degrees, but in this part of Canada, it seemed like summer was a myth. When we awoke the morning of our helicopter flight, it was a chilly one degree celsius.
It wasn’t a total loss though. We drove to nearby Canmore and climbed Gooseberry, Sharknado, and True Grit. On our last climb, four pitches up, the sky suddenly unloaded on us. Rain quickly turned into hail with wind whooshing. I had water pouring into the sleeves of my Gortex, and my pants were so soaked, you could have wrung them out like a sponge. Shivering in my double layers of down jacket and rain jacket, we rappelled down. It was what climbers call, “type 2 fun.” A bit of misery is part of the equation of adventure. As we always say to each other while retreating, (with a hint of sarcasm, but actually totally true), “I don’t care about the summit; I’m just happy to be out with you guys!”
Maybe it was a blessing we didn’t get there, because a week later, a massive rockslide poured down the face, sending up a giant cloud of dust which engulfed the entire basin. Enormous boulders tumbled through the campsites below, sending climbers running for their lives. Thankfully no one was injured and luckily, the Beckey-Chouinard route is still there and was recently climbed.
A huge thanks to Mike Brumbaugh for taking time out of his busy schedule of climbing and running six successful bike and ski shops up in the Vail area. Check out his shops at Avon Venture Sports.
And thanks to Charley who loves adventure and is always open to new and exciting trips around the world.
