Surfs Up, IV, 5.9

In 2009 there was quite the controversy as to how safe or not, the Snowpatch-Bugaboo col was in terms of accessing the west face routes on Snowpatch Spire. Considerable recession of the glacial ice revealed unstable rock and a huge rock slide did occur in August (photo). I witnessed lack of overnight freezes (cloud cover) as a good thing at this point as the freezing and thawing cycle would have just made circumstances worse in my opinion. Still, it was best to get up the col before the sun hit it, which is about 6:30am in August. Once up the col, turn left and climb up the easy glacier mound just west of Snowpatch Spire. Head for the Snowpatch-Pigeon col and turn left up the ice and rock debris just before you reach the col rap route (your eventual descent down to the Bugaboo-Pigeon Fork Glacier). Suit up at a nice flat shoulder above the ice (will pass back by on return). Continue to scramble up and right to the base of the route which is not that easy to decipher except for a right facing corner and a slung pinnacle way up high among deep stacked flakes. The route trends right from there. Surfs Up, IV, 5.9, 9 Pitches, Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Park, British Columbia, August, 2009