Next on the list was All Along the Watchtower, a really big, much harder climb on North Howser Tower that sets you up in (probably) the most exposed and remote section of the Bugaboo Range. To make a long story short, after getting close to starting the route, we chickened-out, and turned around, because we thought the weather looked scary. It turned out the weather was fine ... anyway... we opted to try something smaller and closer to camp, Cameron’s Pillar. I wouldn’t recommend this route, with only a few splitter pitches, a lot of loose scrambling and a very challenging descent, but it was still worthwhile, and offered an incredible vista while big chunks of the glaciers broke off around us — thundering through the cirque.

After our adventures on the backside we began the scenic glacial hike back to the front. We got some quality rest time while it rained and the wind blasted our tent. Between thunderstorms we climbed a few more fun routes: Fuzzy Pink Arete, and Sunshine Buttress on Snowpatch Spire (Sunshine Buttress is now on my list for one of the most fun, sustained and splitter 5.10 romps around). While we waited out our last days of wet and stormy weather, we spent some time at the Kain Hut, which has to be one of the coolest backcountry huts in North Amercia.

See a photo gallery from this trip