Current Conditions in the Bugs?

Hey all,

Any recent updates on conditions in the Bugs? Thinking of heading there on August 17th, but wondering if it's worth it at the moment and if anything is going to be accessible for the rest of the month. Thoughts? Advice? Thanks!

-Bria

It's been a very dry year. BS-col was already out when we were there in mid-July, and the Howser Towers would be impossible to get to without circumnavigatory glacier travel. Even getting to the West Face of Snowpatch would be really involved/annoying. If you've never been, it could still be worth it because there's lots to climb without going up BS-col, but if you've climbed out the things around camp, I'd wait 'til next season for your next trip.

Another thread here
mountainproject.com/v/recen…

We were just there for a week and hiked out yesterday afternoon. B-S col is completely out and the Bugaboo glacier is getting tricky. We went up the glacier to climb the west ridge of Pigeon on Wednesday. It's steep ice as soon as you step on the glacier for about a 100 yards. We didn't have ice screws and it would have been nice just to make it less nervy, especially in the decent (but we were wearing trail running shoes with aluminum crampons). Once higher up on the glacier the travel is better but we did have to do a few small crevasse leaps.
Sure there's some stuff to keep one busy on Crescent Spire and Towers but the bigger, more aesthetic formations are a lot more involved to access now.

The entry to Bugaboo Glacier on 8/12/2015: