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New 17-pitch Big Wall Line Opened on Bugaboo Spire

Tutti Frutti Summer Love is the newest addition to the Bugaboos after the hot and dry summer of 2017. It was climbed by Vlad Capusan and Tom Schindfessel in August.

The 17-pitch 5.11+ A3 climbs the 610-metre north face up the well-known Bugaboo Spire in the Bugaboos in eastern B.C. Capusan reported on Planetmountain.com that they travelled to the Bugaboos in hopes of finding a new route.

The two climbers warmed up by climbing Sweet Silvia 5.12 and Sunshine Crack on Snowpatch Spire before hauling gear to the base of Bugaboo Spire.

There was not much sun and the two climbed capsule-style up the lower section. They continued up good flakes and bivied on a large ledge.

On day two, they followed splitter cracks to some offwidths and to a second ledge. There was almost no water on the wall for them to fill their bottles.

On the third day, they left their bivy gear and climbed light up thin aid cracks and nice granite. They reached another ledge but decided to push to the top, a section with big loose blocks. They rappelled to their gear after a 19-hour push and bivied again.

The north face of Bugaboo Spire sees little to no traffic. While the Northeast Ridge 5.8 and Kain Route 5.6 have lineups throughout the summer, the east and north walls likely get only one or two ascents a year.

Other routes up the north face include North Face Direct 5.10 A1 by Ward Robinson and Bernhard Ehmann from the 1980s and the North Face 5.7 A1 by Layton Kor and Claude Suhl from 1960.

Both climb the same upper section of the north face, which Tutti Frutti Summer Love climbs parallel to. Watch a clip of the climb below.

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