New Hard Bugaboo Free Route is Reinhold Pussycat

The Bugaboos have been been abuzz this year with a number of hard new free routes.

The latest was by Bruce Miller and Chris Weidner and it’s called Reinhold Pussycat 5.12c, which they first climbed in 2006 at 5.11 A2.

In the 2007 American Alpine Journal, Weidner wrote, “It follows a natural crack system from bottom to top, including a prominent right-facing dihedral, offering 600 metres of steep and mostly solid granite.

“This beautiful and obvious line had been attempted several times over the last 20 years but never finished.”

They returned twice after their first trip for the free ascent and it all came together in late August of this year. Despite cold and snowy conditions, they hunkered down and freed the route during a weather window to the summit of South Howser Tower.

The first crux is a thin traverse that goes at 5.12c, which is protected by two bolts. Overall, they placed three protection bolts and six belay bolts on the route.

The second 5.12c crux is a steep and very thin seam, which they sent at 6 p.m. and continued five more pitches to the summit of the Minaret. After that, they climbed another seven pitches to the top of the South Howser Tower.

Weidner took a number of great photos of their ascent. Visit his Instagram @christopherweidner to check them out.