The Bugaboo Effect Story by Robert Wehrman
Photos by Steph Abegg
Bugaboo Spire
G
iven enough time, tragic events have a way—perhaps once or twice in a lifetime—of leading to something good. Much is learned from the study of great disasters. Because of the Titanic sinking, today’s ships are much safer. Investigations of major air crashes have led to many improvements in air travel safety, and so on. The same is true for wilderness adventuring. But there are some tragedies where it wasn’t clear how much they influenced major events which followed, until many years later. 22
The heartbeat of Cascadia
Such was the case regarding the horrific lightning strike on Bugaboo Spire in August of 1948 that killed two climbers and seriously injured two others. Yet, as sad and unfortunate as the accident was, it was indirectly responsible for one of the most famous backpacking journeys of the twentieth century. Bugaboo Spire rises 10,400 feet in British Columbia’s Purcell Mountains. The spire itself—a near-vertical tower standing 2,000 feet above the surrounding area—has long been a climber’s destination. Lightning strikes, common on such pinnacles, have been a bane to those on mountaintops since we first began seeking the heights, but such storms have
become an acceptable risk to modern climbers. On August 4, 1948, four climbers—Rudolph Pundt, 41, Robert Becker, 21, Ann “Cricket” Strong, 18, and Ian MacKinlay, 21—were just beginning their descent down the vertical rock face of the spire when an extremely powerful lightning storm blew in, forcing them to take shelter in a shallow cave just below the summit. It struck with an intensity that could not be anticipated as they sat trying to eat lunch while contemplating the truth which lurks in the back of every mountaineer’s mind: there is little one can do on a high mountaintop during a lightning storm. It is a hazard you must accept. >>> Go to AdventuresNW.com
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