Famous routes lost in massive rockfall in Bugs
- Wednesday 28th December 2022
A huge rockfall has occurred on Snowpatch Spire in the Bugaboo Provincial Park destroying a number of famous routes including Tom Egan Memorial Route (5.14).
One of a number of climbers breaking the news on social media, Will Gadd summed-up the significance of the rockfall saying, “This an absolutely immense recent rockfall that takes out a big swath of hard classic climbing. If you’ve climbed in the Bugaboos this will sure shake you up.”
The massive rockfall left an enormous debris field on the glacier whilst a large prominent rock scar is clearly visible on the Spire where the routes used to be. It is understood that several routes have been affected by the rockfall some of which, including the Tom Egan Memorial Route – one of Canada’s hardest rock routes, has entirely collapsed.
Shortly after the rockfall Friends of Bugaboo Park have posted saying that they believe that 11 routes or more have either been lost either completely or in part. The list of lost climbs are said to include the following (the number relate to guidebook route numbers):
422 – Chercher La Femme 5.12+ A0, 12 pitches
423 – Sunshine Wall 5.10
424 – Tekenika 5.12+, 10 pitches
425 – Men With Options 5.12, 11 pitches
426 – Sweet Silvia 5.12, 11 pitches
427 – Tom Egan Memorial Route 5.14, 14 pitches
428 – Power of Lard 5.12, 8 pitches
429 – Hobo’s Heaven 5.13, 9 pitches
430 – East Columbia Indirect 5.12-, 9 pitches
431 – Bugaboo Corner 5.10, 5 pitches
432 – Banshee 5.10, 8 pitches
433 – Stick it Where the Sun Don’t Shine 5.10+, 9 pitches
434 – Sunshine Crack 5.11-, 9 pitches
Understandably, speculation is that the rockfall may have resulted from the ongoing effects of climate change although at the time of the collapse overnight temperatures in the area have been as low as -40 degs at night. On-line reports confirm that in recent seasons chockstones in some of the existing routes have fallen out suggesting that the cracks have been widening which may have been early warning signs of a possible rockfall. As previously reported, the heatwaves this summer were believed responsible for several massive rockfalls also occurred in the Mont Blanc Massif.