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> The Bugaboos
Snowpatch Spire Rock Climbing
Routes in Snowpatch Spire
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Becky/Mather (Free) 5.12- (or 5.11+ C1 for 4m) T 5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a |
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Buckingham Route (easy version) T 5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c |
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Bugaboo Corner T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a C1 |
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Flamingo Fling T 5.10- 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a |
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Furry Pink Arete T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b |
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Kraus-McCarthy T 5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a |
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Minotaur Direct T 5.11+ 7a 24 VIII 24 E4 6a |
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Sendero Norte T 5.12+ 7c 28 IX 27 E6 6b |
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Snowpatch Route (aka SE Corner/Wiessner's Route) T 5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c |
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Southwest Ridge - Direct Finish T 5.8+ 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c |
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Sunshine Crack T 5.11- 6c 22 VIII+ 22 E3 5c |
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Sunshine Wall T 5.11- 6c 22 VIII+ 22 E3 5c R |
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Super Direct T 5.10+ 6b+ 21 VII+ 20 E3 5b |
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Surfs Up T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a |
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Warrior Way T 5.10- 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a A2 |
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Wildflowers T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a |
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Wile Flowers T 5.12a/b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6a R |
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| Elevation: | 9,793 ft |
| GPS: | 50.737, -116.782 Google Map · Climbing Area Map |
| Page Views: | 69,863 total · 474/month |
| Shared By: | Steven Lucarelli on Oct 3, 2006 |
| Admins: | Kate Lynn |
Description
The impressive Snowpatch Spire is the most obvious spire when entering the Bugaboo's. It stands just to the west of Applebee campground and is host to over 50 routes from 5.8 to 5.12. The largest wall on Snowpatch is the east face with routes ranging from 12 to 15 pitches and almost all of them being big wall in nature. The south, west and north faces boast numerous classic free routes such as the popular Snowpatch, Surfs Up, Kraus-McCarthy and Sunshine Crack. Snowpatch Spire is also the most difficult spire to climb with no routes to the top rated under 5.8.
Getting There
All routes on the west face are approached via the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col located on the north end of Snowpatch Spire. After climbing over the Col walk south to your desired route.
For routes on the north face follow the trail from the campground or hut toward the Col and north face is to your left once your in the Col.
The east face is obvious from the hut and the campground.
The south face is accessed via the Bugaboo Glacier. There is a trail to the Glacier from the hut, but from the campground its fastest to just scramble over scree straight toward the Glacier.
For routes on the north face follow the trail from the campground or hut toward the Col and north face is to your left once your in the Col.
The east face is obvious from the hut and the campground.
The south face is accessed via the Bugaboo Glacier. There is a trail to the Glacier from the hut, but from the campground its fastest to just scramble over scree straight toward the Glacier.
Classic Climbing Routes at Snowpatch Spire
Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
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Photos
3 Comments
More About Snowpatch Spire
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Guidebooks (6)
Mumbai, India
My partner and I were on Snowpatch 24-Aug-2010. We went down the Kraus-McCarthy with two ropes, without a problem. Big rappel bolts/rings. No need to use any of the slings we saw!
The new Snowpatch Rappels descent is about 5 mins walk down and to [skier's] LEFT, down the glacier and around the corner, where you will see a large cairn on a shoulder. You will most likely need crampons at the least. All the raps are shorter than 30m, so you only need to get one rope wet! It's quite a long hike down to the hut from here with some crevasses en route as well. Note: In warm conditions, with lots of snowfall, expect this to be very WET and cold!
We recommend doing the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col descent. It's a few more minutes walk on the glacier, which is/was in pretty good shape. We rapped with a single rope for the first two raps, and then one double rope rap and walked down to the bottom of the col. If you do the first rap to the third station, your rope can get stuck and we avoided this the second time we did it. The first rap station is somewhat high and hard to see on the big boulder south of the small sign (skier's RIGHT) at the col. The second rap station is at the bottom of the rocks on skier's RIGHT. The third station is down under the [skier's] RIGHT side of the large boulder in the middle of the col. If you do the first rap with double ropes, then you might go to skier's LEFT of the large boulder and not be able to get around to it. Keep a couple of 4' slings handy, as the bolts on this last station are way up high! Note: In warm conditions, this rap is quite crazy with steep, loose mud and lots of rocks to easily knock off! Sep 3, 2010
Golden, CO
Compliments to Sunny for a very useful comment and Kevin Craig for contributing a photo. Nov 25, 2010
N.B.