Bugaboos

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The bugaboos
Snowpatch Spire in the Bugaboos

Snowpatch Spire in the Bugaboos

Highest peak Howser Spire ( 3412  m )
location British Columbia, Canada
Mountains Purcell Mountains
The Bugaboos (Canada)
The bugaboos
Coordinates 50 ° 45 ′  N , 116 ° 47 ′  W Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′  N , 116 ° 47 ′  W
Type Fold Mountains
rock Granodiorite
p1

The Bugaboos (English plural for Butzemann ) are a mountain group in the Purcell Mountains in British Columbia , Canada . The group's granite peaks are popular excursion destinations for mountaineers . The Bugaboos are surrounded by the Bugaboo Provincial Park .

geography

The Bugaboos are at the northwest end of the Purcell Mountains, which in turn are part of the Columbia Mountains . They are located in the southeastern part of British Columbia, the closest localities are Radium Hot Springs and Golden . The Bugaboos are commonly divided into four parts: the Bugaboo Glacier Peaks and the Eastern, Central, and Western Peaks. The nearby mountain groups of the Vowell and Conrad groups are usually not included.

geology

Due to its location in the snowy and rainy Columbia Wet Belt , this part of the Purcell Mountains is exposed to severe erosion and large, active glaciers. Originally the Bugaboos were covered by loose rock. However, the erosion caused the granodiorite batholiths to emerge , which represent the famous mountain peaks of the mountain range. The rock surrounding them is between 600 million and a billion years old, while the Bugaboos' intrusion began about 135 million years ago, which eventually led to the formation of what is now the hard granite.

history

Conrad Cain

Originally referred to as "Nunatuks", the Bugaboos were first mentioned by an exploration expedition in the late 1880s. Mining attracted the first European settlers to the region, where a hapless gold rush began near Bugaboo Falls between 1895 and 1896 . The area was searched for mineral resources and claims were staked, but mostly only deposits of pyrite and galena were found. The name "Bugaboo" came from this gold rush, as gold prospectors called resource-poor areas a dead end.

Shortly after the gold rush, mountaineers began to take an interest in the massive granite peaks. An expedition reached the Bugaboos in 1910 under the leadership of Thomas Longstaff and the surveyor Arthur Oliver Wheeler . They were led by the Austrian mountaineer Konrad Kain , who returned to the area six years later and set out numerous climbing routes . Cain described his route on the Bugaboo Spire as his most difficult route in the Canadian Rockies, which also dwarfed his acclaimed route on Mount Robson . Together with Albert and Bess McCarthy and others, Kain made first ascents on the North Howser Spire, Marmolada Spire and Crescent Spire.

Deforestation in the area around the Bugaboos resulted in roads being built into the area in the 1950s and 1960s. This led to a new influx of climbers, including Fred Beckey and Yvon Chouinard , who established new routes on some peaks. The growing popularity of the Bugaboos led the British Columbia government to build the Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Park and the Bugaboo Alpine Recreation Area in 1969 . The Alpine Club of Canada built a large hut below the glacier in 1972 to contain environmental damage on the alpine pastures below the peaks.

The Bugaboos as a climbing and hiking area

There are numerous well-known climbing routes in the Bugaboos. Beckey-Chouinard (South Howser Spire), West Ridge (Pigeon Spire), Northeast Ridge (Bugaboo Spire), Snowpatch and Surf's Up (Snowpatch Spire) attract numerous well-known climbers. There are routes for both free climbing and technical climbing .

Mountaineers and hikers often use the Conrad Kain Hut , which can accommodate up to 40 people and is operated by the Alpine Club of Canada. It is located near the Snowpatch Spire and replaced the original igloos made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic that BC Parks placed there. The Bugaboo Lodge was built in 1967 and is located at the east end of the park and is more geared towards heliskiing and other helicopter-related recreational activities. In winter, the mountain group is also a popular destination for ski mountaineers .

summit

gallery

  • Marmolada Spire and Hound's Tooth

  • Pigeon Spire and Howser Spiers

  • Howser Spiers as seen from the glacier

  • Summit of the Pigeon Spire

  • Bugaboo Spire at sunrise

  • Climbers below the Bugaboo Spire

  • Climbers resting on the Bugaboo Spire

  • Snowpatch Spire

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Chris Atkinson, Mark Piche: The Bugaboos . Elaho Publishing, Squamish, BC 2003, ISBN 0-9733035-1-4 .
  2. ↑ a b Bugaboo Provincial Park . British Columbia Ministry of Environment. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  3. ↑ 082KNE Geological Legend . British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  4. ↑ Glen W. Boles, Roger W. Laurilla, William L. Putnam: Canadian Mountain Place Names . Rocky Mountain Books, Vancouver 2006, ISBN 978-1-894765-79-4 , p. 51.
  5. ↑ a b c Randall Green, Joe Bensen: Bugaboo rock: a climbing guide . The Mountaineers Books, Seattle, WA 2003, ISBN 0-89886-795-9 , p. 11.

Web links

Commons : Bugaboos  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files