[MCR] Bugaboos- East Creek

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

A couple of us spent a few days in the East Creek Basin early last week.

NEW TOILET: We installed a toilet (similar to those in the Bugaboo-Snowpatch
Col and West Ridge of Pigeon), and a pack hanger like the one at Applebee
campground near the existing bivy spot.  This area has seen a steady
increase in traffic and human waste issues were becoming a significant
problem.  We found toilet paper sticking out from under a rock less than one
metre from the main water source! I was, and will continue to be very
careful with how I get and treat my drinking water in East Creek for a few
years yet. This area is outside of the Bugaboo Glacier Provincial park and
has now been designated as a Recreation Site.


CONDITIONS: Getting into East Creek from the Pigeon Howser Col is still
pretty straight forward with mostly snow on the upper half and quite a bit
of exposed ice on the lower half of the glacier.  We managed to get around
without crampons but only because we were not experiencing strong overnight
freezes due to the thick smoke and warm temperatures.  There has been quite
a bit of recent ice and rock-fall from the South Howser Tower on the skiers
right side of the glacier as you get closer to the Minaret and East Creek
camp.  If you are heading to the west face of the North Howser Tower, the
glacier below the rappels from the Howser Bivy Boulder is still mostly snow
covered and easier travel than it often is this time of year.  It is still a
very steep slope that is very exposed to rock-fall from the glacier below
the Central Howser and can be difficult to manage if frozen.

Marc Piché
ACMG, IFMGA
Mountain Guide






-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/mcr/attachments/20100822/bb307afc/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: East_Creek Approach.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 682084 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/mcr/attachments/20100822/bb307afc/attachment-0001.obj>