10th Annual Bugaboos Teen Climb Camp Big Success

Pat Morrow is one of Canada’s most accomplished big mountain climbers and for the past 10 years has been running the Bugaboos Teen Climbing Camp. Below is a press release by Morrow from July 2018.

The 10th annual Bugaboos Teen climbing camp was an absolute success. Many thanks as usual to our stalwart ACMG guides, Jennifer Olson, Tim McAllister and Kirk Mauthner for steering us clear of crevasses and other, metaphorical, pitfalls on our way to the lofty viewpoints of the Hound’s Tooth and East Post spires.

Warden Chris, from BC Parks, along with his colleagues Ray and Garret and the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) custodians were welcome tag-ons. As usual, the ACC was a heavy hitter, laying on crash pad space at the Conrad Kain hut for the entire team.

Big shout out to Dave Cochrane, manager of CMH Bugaboos lodge for availing the gear needed to make our ascents safe, and to the teens themselves for being game to walk for a couple days in Conrad Kain’s long-vanished hobnailed footprints amongst the nunataks he made famous with his first ascent of Bugaboo Spire in 1916.

And without the enduring support of the Conrad Kain Centennial Society (www.conradkain.com), more than a hundred youth since 2009, from up and down the Rocky Mountain Trench wouldn’t have had the opportunity to “rub their noses” against Conrad’s granite and take back an appreciation for the world class biosphere that extends all the way from the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy along the west side of the range to the border with Glacier National Park in the Selkirks.

At this point I could go a step further and say that this tiny protected alpine park is in danger of being loved to death, and that the formerly vast tract of wildlife habitat in both this part of the Rockies and Purcells that was, in the 50s and 60s referred to as the “Serengeti of the North” has been fragmented so severely by extractive resource roads and overrun by mechanized and pedestrian traffic that it’s going to take a massive effort on both governments’ and citizen user groups’ part to reverse the steep decline of the environment and wildlife populations. But I won’t go there in this feel-good post.

Just back from the annual Conrad Kain Centennial Society Bugaboo Teens mountaineering camp created and facilitated by @pat_morrow_photo. We had a fantastic group of student climbers and guides as well as BC Parks staff and Alpine club of Canada custodian. Thanks to @pat_morrow_photo @timgmcallister @kirk_mauthner @stef_o_scope for another memorable experience! Photo 2 by @pat_morrow_photo Photo 3 by @timgmcallister @alpineclubcan @yourbcparks #conradkain

A post shared by Jen Olson (@wholesome71) on Jul 23, 2018 at 12:47pm PDT