State of the Bugaboos

Dry winters have left the glaciers all in a pretty sad state. The Bugaboo & Upper Vowell may be impassable within a week as snow bridges melt out on the Upper Vowell. If you want to get to East Creek you might need a helicopter, though given conditions in the central spires, many groups are bailing or turning around due to heavy traffic over there. 

The B-S col has been out since the beginning of July, so it's late season conditions. Staying at Applebee is just another hour hiking uphill at the end of your day unless you are focusing on Crescent/East Post/Brenta, which you should probably do anyway. Good news is there weren't many bugs at Boulder Camp. Bugaboo Spire requires using the Snowpatch-Pigeon rap and going around Son of Snowpatch. The glacier from B-S col to S-P col was soft, supportable snow. it didn't need roping up, and there was only a short section of ice at the start that needed crampons. The routes on the west side of Snowpatch require you going up and around Pigeon Spire. Keepers said it's ok if you bivy at the toilets at Pigeon, but that's a long day. Snowpatch SE route is spitting rock above the snow patch which is melting away. We saw and heard several rockfall events, and teams that did the route were surrounded by falling rock. The east side of Snowpatch is more stable, with the glacier still going to the base without much of a moat. The first two pitches of Sunshine Crack are gone and that whole zone is closed officially until May 2024, but the hut keepers say depending on next winter, possibly more.

Holy climate change shit show, Batman.