Climbers Injured in Dangerous Bugaboo/Snowpatch Col

The Bugaboos in B.C. are a busy place during the summer as many climbers traverse the glaciers to access the world famous alpine granite spires. One of the biggest issues with the Bugaboos in August is the main access many of the routes is the Bugaboo/Snowpatch col between Bugaboo and Snowpatch spires.

So far this year, a number of climbers have had to be evacuated due to serious injuries. The latest accident occurred yesterday. Kain Hut custodian Heidi Keilli recently shared this information: “Hello hello. I thought I might mention that we had another evac due to rockfall in the col last night.

“Time was 8.30 p.m., rockfall was natural. Took out a climber’s legs and gave him a deep laceration to the calf, as well as some other trauma. I don’t really have much of a forum for posting this stuff, but two rockfall events requiring evac, both in the ‘cool period’ is getting me a bit antsy and doesn’t really seem to be slowing down many of the groups using the col. Thought it might be useful if you were willing to put up a quick post.”

Brent Butler recently posted a mountain conditions report here and said, “The upper 20 feet or so of the Bugaboo/Snowpatch col is melted out now which contributed to several near miss rock fall incidents over the past week. In addition, the bugaboo glacier’s crevasses are opening up quite a bit. We chose to swing far skiers right near the rock buttress to navigate the highest crack when descending from Pigeon.” There are alternative ways to access routes above the Bugaboo/Snowpatch Col. Climbers should do their research and avoid areas with serious rockfall.