In less than a week, a group of Toronto climbers will set out to do something that no one’s ever done before in North America – to recreate a famous mountain climb from the early years of exploration in the Canadian Rockies.

Bryan Thompson, Rob LeBlanc, Garry Reiss and Natalia Danalachi will ascend the 10,500‐foot Bugaboo Spire in British Columbia, using only vintage gear and equipment from a hundred years ago to re‐enact one of the most storied climbs in Canadian mountaineering.

Bugaboo Spire was first climbed in 1916 by one of the legendary figures of Canadian climbing – Conrad Kain, a fearless Austrian‐born guide who made dozens of first ascents in the Canadian Rockies and Purcell Mountains. It was considered one of the greatest and most daring climbs of its time. While a resident of Wilmer, Kain ascended most of the peaks in the Bugaboos and nearby Rockies.

“We’re going to climb it in the same way it was done in 1916,” said Thompson, the organizer of the expedition, which is being sponsored by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. “Using the same gear they used, camping out the same way they did, eating the same food they did.”

Thompson scoured army surplus shops, antique stores and eBay to equip the expedition with camping and climbing equipment from 1916, from First World War vintage mess kits and canteens, to puttees, woolen shirts, ice axes and hobnail boots, so‐called because they had nails hammered through the soles for traction.

“Some of the main obstacles we’re going to face on this climb will be climbing in gear that we have no idea how it works,” says Thompson. “I have to learn how to operate a hundred year old camp stove. I have a can opener that’s 100 years old. I have no idea how to use it. And that goes the same with the gear we’re going to be climbing with – hobnail boots. None of us have ever climbed in hobnail boots. No one has in decades. We have no idea what to expect.”

Another big challenge will be camping out under the stars without the convenience of modern outdoor gear.

“A lot of modern climbers today are used to creature comforts that they didn’t have 100 years ago,” Thompson said. “We’re used to sleeping on nice air mattresses, in a down sleeping bag with a really nice alpine tent that protects us from the elements. They didn’t have any of those things. They would sleep on the ground and roll themselves up in Hudson’s Bay wool blankets.”

And that’s exactly what Thompson and his companions plan to do.

“We really want to experience what it was like 100 years ago, and we want people to be able to understand what these people went through and endured when they went out there with much less than we have today,” said Thompson.

“Cell phones will not be allowed,” he added with a laugh.

Bugaboo Spire holds a special place in modern mountaineering. Its granite walls, rising dramatically from glaciers, are popular with climbers from across North America. But a hundred years ago, the region had barely been explored. Wild and forbidding, it was a week’s travel by steamboat and pack horse from the nearest town.

Attempting to climb Bugaboo Spire in those days was a risky and dangerous undertaking. Unlike today’s climbers, who use metal anchoring devices and high‐ strength nylon ropes to create a safety backup in case of falls, Kain and his party had little in the way of technology to aid them. Their only climbing equipment was a few lengths of primitive hemp rope, ice axes and hobnailed boots. If they got injured – there were no radios or helicopter medevac, as there are today for modern climbers.

The expedition, to take place from July 8‐15 in BC’s Bugaboo Provincial Park, will also be the subject of a documentary, entitled Hobnails and Hemp Rope.

Follow the Bugaboo Spire Centennial Climb Project at @hobnailsandhemp.

View the film trailer.

Lead image: Bugaboo Spire, west of Brisco. Marc Piche Photo

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