1981 - Bugaboos, Center Creek, Stanley Mitchell Hut

The Bugaboos
Location of the Conrad Kain hut.
My Flickr site for more pictures - 

Wonderful views all around.

The bugaboos contain some of the best climbing in North America. The rock forms huge pinnacles with cracks and faces that utterly humble you when you walk beneath them.
The hut a few hours from the parking lot can be a crowded conglomeration of people speaking a wide variety of languages, either recounting their recent climbing tales late into the night, snoring up a storm in the dead of the night, or getting up in the wee hours throwing the last of their climbing equipment into their packs, the clinking and clinging of hardware piercing the still air.
With all the attention directed at climbing, it's easy to miss the simple beauties of the place.
On this trip, we climbed or attempted to climb something. I only remember some of the sounds and smells.

Center Creek Explorations
Location of Centre Creek Peaks

Disillusion Peaks in the background.

A number of us had done some exploring up Center Creek, but Dave Harris and I did a lot to hack out a trail to the base of some slabs in the lower right hand corning of this picture. No guide books existed of this area, except for the major peaks of the Rexford group, so it was fun to feel like we might be the first to be climbing on the rock.
We also did some exploring of the slabs on the south side of this bluff - the ones in the sunshine in this picture.

Chuck exploring new ground.

Chuck and I did some climbing as well on the lower slabs. We didn't get all that far, but that didn't really matter to me. The fact that we were exploring new ground and had to make decisions on our own was reward enough.
It was an interesting mind game to head out on a slab not really knowing what to expect. I had to really be in control of my head. That is one of the most appealling aspects of climbing to me, the balance between the physical and mental. So much of climbing is the mental game. Lost control of that, and you are in trouble.

Keith

Another appealing thing about areas like this was the fact that no one else was around. I was like being in Squamish, before any climbers had arrived.
Dave and Corina and I also did a bit of exploring on the north side of this large "bluff". A road went up into an area on the north side of it, giving good access to some slabs, and a steep east face.

The Stanley Mitchell Hut
Location of the Stanley Mitchell Hut

Chris Espinel with Chris Cooper behind him.

We packed up Chris Cooper's Volkswagen van once again and headed for my first trip to the Rockies in the winter. Chris Espinel, and Chris's brother Simon also joined us.
The ski into the hut is a long one. We got an early start, but still didn't get to the hut till well after dark. I remember having a brew up at the top of the switch-backs and feeling rejuvinated. Just before we got to the hut, we found a small group of skiers sleeping in a thicket of trees because they felt they weren't going to be able to reach the hut that night. It wasn't till the following morning that they discovered they were about 100 meters from the hut!

Keith

This was my first introduction to bottomless sugar snow. When we dug a pit, we discovered this coarse sugar-like snow that didn't support anything. Perhaps that helps to explain the little slide that the two Chris's set off!

But will it start?

The ski out was a long one as well since a lot of it was fairly level. You can see the bridge on the Trans Canada Highway in the upper right hand corner, about three kilometers east of Field, at the base of the big hill.