Bugaboo Provincial Park
History
In 1969, Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Park and the Bugaboo Alpine Recreation Area
were set
aside to preserve and protect this outstanding
area of the Purcells. In 1972, the Alpine Club of Canada erected
a three story quonset building for climbers. The Conrad Kain Hut
was named after renowned alpinist who made many first ascents during
the early 1900’s in the Purcell and Rocky Mountains. In 1995,
the park and part of the surrounding recreation area were combined
to create the Bugaboo Provincial Park.
Over time the
erosive forces of mountain weather and glacial ice removed much
of the weaker
overlying rock revealing granite masses
and sculpting them into the spectacular spires that characterize
the Bugaboo region. The heavy snowfall of the “Columbia
Wet Belt” continues to create the vast glaciers that dominate
and shape the rugged Purcell Mountains.
The steep V-shaped
valleys of the Purcells challenged early explorers, miners, loggers
and
climbers from Europe and North America. News
of the spectacular spires of the Bugaboos were a magnet for
some of North America’s most renowned mountaineers. Harmon,
Longstaff, A.O. Wheeler and the legendary guide Conrad Kain
visited the Bugaboo
region in 1910. Kain returned with the MacCarthys in 1916 and
climbed the North Howser “Tower” and the south ridge
of Bugaboo Spire, which he considered his most difficult Canadian
ascent.
Thorington mapped the area and then climbed with Kain in 1933
on Crescent Spire. In 1938 and 1939 the Northpost, Eastpost
and Brenta
Spires were ascended by easy routes. Snowpatch, beyond the
techniques used in Kain’s era, was climbed by its southeast
ridge in 1940 by Arnold and Bedayn. By the 1950s climbers such
as Fred
Beckey,
Ed Cooper and Layton Kor put up the first “face” routes
on Snowpatch, Bugaboo and Pigeon Spires. Chouinard traversed
the Howsers in 1965 and Chris Jones pioneered on their 600-metre
ascent
of West Face in 1970.
Today those
early routes, first done with many pitons and bolts, are often
repeated by “free climbers” who
use only the less damaging aluminium chocks for protection
against falls. Free-climbing
techniques enable faster ascents, resulting in reduced exposure
to the frequent lightning storms; modern climbers have continually
opened new lines of ascent in an area where the elements of
glaciers, firm rock, significant altitude and violent weather
all combine
to create world-class mountaineering challenges.
Cultural Heritage
Conservation
Alpine ecosystems
are particularly fragile, and all users are requested to practice
no trace camping and climbing techniques. Gas stoves must be used
for all cooking. Open fires are not permitted.
BC Parks is attempting to rehabilitate alpine meadows damaged
by human activities. Please help us in our efforts by not walking
on these areas.
The park’s lakes and
streams are the source of drinking water. Even “biodegradable” soaps
will pollute water as will food scraps from dirty plates. Help
protect the delicate the water
system by using toilets where provided and depositing human waste
in toilets.
Wash yourself, clothes and dishes at least 30 metres from lakes
and streams. Where there is adequate soil (at least 6 inches) but
no toilets, bury human waste and burn toilet paper, otherwise collect
and deposit human waste in toilets.
