Bugaboos and Sawtooths    8/17-9/2/91

On 8/17 I flew into Calgary and headed for the Bugaboos with
Hal Tompkins.  Since the rates at the hut nearly doubled to $10
a night, we only spent 2 nights there before moving in with the
"aggro critters" at Applebee Dome.  The chipmunks there scaled
vertical crackless rock to attack our food supply and also demolished
our olive oil in PCV bottle.  We did 2 of the grade IV routes on the
West Face of Snowpatch.  First was Wildflowers (5.9), done on a cold
cloudy day, with Hal doing a great job leading the crux pitch in wet
conditions (I nearly blew following).  We suffered until getting some
sun on the last pitch, so for the next route, Flamingo Fling (5.10a),
we waited until the afternoon sun was on it before starting.  In the
(south) summit register we saw a note from Greg Murphy and Annie K.
from a week or so before.  The unstable and cold weather had us
shelving plans for bivouacs and new routes, and I also realized the
large amount of work involved with humping loads over the col to go
for a Minaret route that might eventually be cancelled by poor weather,
so we only tried a couple of shorter things before leaving.  We
climbed Pretty Vacant (5.10b) (L of NE Ridge Bugaboo) up to where a
new free variation (Vacant and Obscure) was supposed to branch off,
but the topo was not very informative and it got shady and cold so we
bailed.  Our first rap hung up and I yarded back up the line, placing
occasional gear to prevent disaster (fortunately all turned out OK).
We also started a new route down below this called Nancy's Flake 5.10a.
It's a right arching thin crack behind a thin flake; I only got up
half a pitch (55') before it started hailing and we had to bail.  We
had hoped to extend it into 3 or 4 pitches.  At this point we ran out
of food and patience with the weather, so we headed for the Sawtooths
in Idaho (just look at the photo on p. 55 of Rock and Ice #44 to see
why).

On the way there, we spent an evening and morning trying to reach
Chimney Rock in northern Idaho, but we were thwarted by a nasty road
and our low clearance vehicle, in spite of careful driving by Hal and
some on-the-spot road modifications.

We picked up some topos for the Elephant's Perch in Ketchum while
waiting out a rainy day, and cooked dinner the following night in a
boulder cave below the Perch while an afternoon/evening thunderstorm
cleared the way for several nice days.  We did 3 grade IVs and most
of a grade V on successive days:  Astro Elephant 5.10a, The Fine Line
5.11a (some A0 for us), Myopia 5.11 (5.10+ A0 for us), and the Direct
Beckey Route 5.11 (A0 again for us).  Myopia was the nicest -- up
corners near the prow, with unclimable rock on either side of us.
Hal led a radical 5.10+ stemming pitch, which I hoped to lieback, but
the crack was too shallow and I was barely able to repeat his moves.
On the Direct Beckey Route, we bailed after the first 6 pitches when
sprinkling started and seemed to be continuing.  We had only one new
pitch left to go before repeating pitches from the Fine Line.  The rock
quality there is incredibly good -- well featured including unique
"crystal pockets" and quite solid.  The lamination and general angle
reminded us somewhat of the Needles (Sequoia), and Hal said it was the
best backcountry rock he's ever been on!