MCR Observation

Mountain Conditions Report

<p>Climbed the Becky-Choinard route on South Howser Spire in perfect weather on August 1, East Creek - East Creek. Snow and travel conditions nicely summarized in Carls' recent Bugaboos MCR post. Approach up the Bugaboo glacier under the south side of pigeon was just Ok, with the top schrund wide open most of the way across the slope - we got around it with a few easy rock moves on the right, but could see a few wide bridges at the far left end also. Coming back, the lower angled branch (beneath pigeon feathers/marmolata) was straightforward. We left one set of crampons and axe at the pigeon- howser col for descent into East creek, which worked great on a warm day - carried only approach shoes on route. We were wary of the small seracs that threaten the slopes between the pigeon-howser col and the East creek bivvy, and saw a few small (microwave) chunks fall off in the morning sun. Limiting exposure seemed a good strategy here. The snowline is just below the bivvy, but plenty of good sites are dry and running water is easy to find. No bugs. The route has no water, and no snow for melting at any on-route bivvy sites that we noticed. The final rap over the schrund (NE ridge bolted descent route) was straightfoward; although the beaten trail down the glacier from there is breifly threatened by a big serac/schrund block further climbers left. The route was seeing 3-4 parties per day.</p>