On the great white headwall.

All Locations > International > N America > Canada > British Columbia > Columbia Mountains > Purcell Mountains > Bugaboos > Howser Towers > S Howser Tower > Beckey-Chouinard (5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b)

On the great white headwall.

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The dihedral on the lower part of the BC, with the headwall above.

Route Overlay Beckey-Chouinard.

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4.9 from 9 votes

Devan Johnson

Aug 31, 2010

“On the great white headwall.”

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abe r
Boise, ID

abe r Boise, ID

my favorite pitch of the climb...sustained and hardest at the top I thought! MP description says use the OW on left side of the photo, P12. Group next to us did that and found some ice in it. They also wished they had (2) 4's for it. Jul 30, 2018

Nearby Photos

South Howser from the approach to the Beckey-Chouinard

What could be better than getting Fred's blessing before hiking in to climb South Howser?

Tim and Grant nearing the top

launching off

The dihedral on the lower part of the BC, with the headwall above.

On the great white headwall.

Route Overlay Beckey-Chouinard.

Erik & Felix super stoked to be on the summit of South Howser Tower.

Bivy site below Great White Headwall.

Looking up from the base of the rap route.

Peter Cole at the top of the B-C/South Howser Tower, July 1979

Harz on the tricky traverse above the headwall.

Tension traverse (or 5.10 free) at start of Pitch 15.

Can use these pins for the tension traverse at start of Pitch 15.

The first pitch of the Great White Headwall climbs a short 5.10 offwidth/fist crack, then up these steep 5.9 cracks to the belay

The rap route puts you on flat glacier.

Sunset on the big bivy ledge below the headwall.

Great White Headwall.

A rimed up view of the route after a four day storm. July 1979

Pitch 8.

Looking down at the lower part of the Beckey-Chouinard from the top of pitch 11.

Perspectives<br>

Samuel somewhere on the slabby, White Headwall

Beckey-Chouinard, South Howser<br>
Photo by Mtn. Proj. contributor Timmy! Tormey

At the Pigeon-Howser Col looking down into East Creek Basin.

Me at the rap station after the crux pitch

At the top of Pitch 15, make a 20m rappel to the right to easier blocky terrain.

5.6 gully on Pitch 15 after tension traverse.

Descent anchors

Dennis Ellsohn jugging snowy iced up cracks on day 2. July 1979

At the summit- with Jon Winiasz. We crushed through adversity!!

The awesome corner of Pitches 6-7.

Pitch 5.

Pitch 4.

Pitch 3.

Pitch 1.

At the split boulders which mark the start of the roped climbing.

Starting up Pitch 11.

Nate during our Patagonian conditions ascent. The chimneys on P12 were completely iced over so we opted for the cracks out left.

Approaching the base of the ridge.

Pitch 2.

Glenn T. follows the second pitch of the BC, which climbs this 5.7 corner crack

A long walk awaited us that night. We were camped at a small tarn above Cobalt Lake. Took about three hours to get there. July 1979

Pitch 9.

Starting up the headwall. When we climbed the route the next chimney section was the crux, as it was swamped with snow and ice! Full value fun!

Pitch 10. The right-hand crack is a bit easier.

The climb ends with ~150-200m of 4th + several short 5th class moves.

Start of Pitch 6.

Rappels 4-5 go down this corner system that faces North Howser.

Rap route off S. Howser Tower, from sign hanging in Kain Hut.

Bivy site below Great White Headwall.

Rap route off S. Howser Tower, from sign hanging in Kain Hut.

First rappel at the top of the gully on pitch 15.

Pitch 11 up Great White Headwall.

On the rap route. With the wind and the lower angle of the first half of the rappel route, we decided to rap the first half with a single 70 rather than double ropes. The basic idea for Rappels 1-3 is to stay on the ridge and don't wander towards North Howser.

Pitch 12.

On the summit. A pair of rap bolts is just around the block Jon (in orange) is standing at in the photo.

Pitch 12.

Partial solar eclipse taken through a pair of very sweaty cardboard eclipse glasses from the top of Pitch 9.