Bugaboo Mountain Camp
July 29, 2011 — Much of BC Parks’ focus during this year’s celebration of its centennial is toward inspiring our province’s young people to appreciate the vast wilderness areas with which we are blessed. In line with this objective, BC Parks recently held an extremely successful ‘Bugaboo Mountain Camp’ for students in grades 10 and 11 in our region.
The purposes of the camp were several: the students would learn mountaineering skills, develop teamwork, and learn about career opportunities within the parks system such as adventure guiding, park ranger, tourism, photography, etc.
Inside Conrad Kain hut (Photo by Pat Morrow)
A contest was held to select participants who could best answer the question, “Considering that this is the centennial of BC Parks system, what is the significance of parks to society today?” Students were free to respond in any way they wished, such as by writing an essay or story, making a film, or giving a live presentation –- one student even sang an original song to the accompaniment of guitar! The chosen students would earn high school credits.
Ten students were selected to participate in the 6-day camp -– Kalum Ko, Robert Panattoni, Shayla Reid, Kierra Nash and Gregory Wimmer from Kimberley’s Selkirk High School and Ciona Thompson, Tiara Livingston, Thomas Clare, Courtney Noga and Megan Kinley from Invermere’s David Thompson Secondary School.
Partnering with BC Parks was Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) which has been leading thousands of skiers and climbers on thrilling mountain hikes for over 50 years and who contributed two nights at their lodge, guides, meals and helicopter time.
The Friends of Bugaboo Park donated the time of two of their ACMG guides and hired a local chef to prepare and pre-package all the meals for the trail.
Bed spaces at the Conrad Kain Hut were donated by the Alpine Club of Canada which also flew in food and gear. Local photographer and mountain climber, Pat Morrow filmed the event, representing the contribution of the Conrad Kain Centennial Society. Once the footage has been edited, producer Alex Lavigne will post a video of the Rangers and the Teens on the BC Parks website — look for it at the BC Parks Bugaboos site ( http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/bugaboo/ ).
The camp was sponsored by BC Parks and participants were accompanied by park manager Jeff Volp, above. (Photo by Pat Morrow)
Coordinating the event was BC Parks’ climbing ranger, Tay Hanson, who along with parks manager Jeff Volp, accompanied the students on their adventure.
The expedition’s schedule was full from start to finish. On day #1, the students arrived at the camp and were oriented to the plan for the trip. In the afternoon, they did some heli-hiking on a ridge near the CMH lodge. Katie Gibbs, a disabled student from DTSS, was flown in to participate in the hike with a specialized all terrain wheelchair, thanks to local guide Roko Koell.
On day #2, the students practiced on the via ferrata (Italian for ‘iron road’) on Mt. Trundle. The via ferrata consists of ladder rungs which are bolted into the rock on a steep cliff face, along with a cable into which a climber can clip himself, enabling him to scale the cliff face safely and without ropes. Much favored in Europe, this device is swiftly gaining popularity here in Canada because it enables inexperienced climbers and those who normally avoid heights, to experience all the thrills of climbing normally unavailable to them.
On the third day, the climbers left the comforts of the lodge and hiked up to the Conrad Kain hut, about 5 km and 700 vertical metres, where they based the rest of the camp. There, they learned mountain travel skills such as rope work, self-arresting on snow and rappelling. This training continued into the fourth day as well.
Perhaps the greatest lesson of the fifth day was that Mother Nature is always in charge! The plan for the day was to put all their newly-acquired skills into practice with a climb to a nearby summit. They were beset by rain, sleet and snow and only one group actually got to the summit between storms while the other group had to retreat from two separate summits.
The last day was spent packing up and hiking back down from the hut to their waiting families at the CMH lodge parking lot.
Jeff Volp reports, “The event far exceeded our expectations.” He goes on to explain that, in the view of the event’s organizers, one of the biggest successes was the way the students, from two different high schools and who only knew their own school group, bonded in friendship through the experience of having to rely on each other for their safety and survival as they were hooked up together by a rope, on a mountain.
DTSS student Thomas Clare says he has experienced one previous mountain climbing adventure, but admits that this was the most extreme. He has definitely been inspired to continue to explore the mountain wilderness.
“[The] youth camp was a huge success”, adds Tay Hanson. “The kids were blown off their feet by the whole trip –- and they’re all very grateful for the experience. Each one was positive, brave, and enthusiastic. It was a real treat to see them gain confidence, practice their new skills and get super psyched to continue to explore their local mountains. I’m sure we’ll see a bunch of these kids back in the park, reminiscing about their first visit when they were still wide-eyed neophytes”.
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