We met at the helicopter landing zone near the trailhead, sorted our gear one last time, and flew into East Creek on Tuesday morning. The helicopter ride took just 12 minutes to carry us from the landing zone to East Creek camp. It took the better part of the day to establish camp. East Creek was busy, so we had to create our own campsite rather than use one of the established sites, but it actually turned out quite nice.

GPS Track for drive to landing zone. To get to trailhead, just take a right shortly before landing zone.

John and I had originally planned to climb All Along the Watchtower on Wednesday, July 29, but we learned that four (!!) other parties were also planning to head up the route that day. Not wanting to deal with the objective hazard created by multiple parties climbing above us, we decided to shift our plans by a day.

So, on Wednesday, we climbed Solitary Confinement (5.11 [5.10 PG13/R], 6 pitches) on Prince Edward Tower in the Pigeon Feathers.

The Pigeon Feathers are a group of granite spires about a 30-minute hike from East Creek camp, with several high-quality multipitch routes. Solitary Confinement is one of the best. This stunning line follows a continuous series of beautiful splitter cracks straight up the center of the wall, everything from fingers to fists to a brief section of offwidth. The first ascent was made by Sean Isaac, Grant Statham, and Andrew Quener in August 2004. 

John led every pitch while I climbed in fix-and-follow style, making for a fast and efficient ascent. He onsighted the entire route.

We encountered a sketchy PG13/R start caused by snow recession. John kept his cool, found some gear—although whether it would have held a fall was questionable, hence my PG13/R rating—and climbed through to better protection above. The snow recession also meant that the first pitch could not be rappelled with a single 70 m rope, whereas all the other pitches could. We had brought an Escaper, which solved the problem.

It was a great climb to start our trip and a mellow, low-commitment day from East Creek camp.

Below are a route overlay, time stats, our gear list, and pitch-by-pitch photos.

Update: Shortly after I posted this trip report, the first ascensionist gave permission for one or two bolts to be added to the PG13/R start, along with an intermediate rappel anchor on the first pitch to allow the route to be rappelled with a single 70 m rope. This work will likely be completed by the end of the 2026 season, eliminating the PG13/R rating from the route and allowing rappelling the full route with a single 70.

GPS Track for approach to base of route.

Doubles 0.1-3, triple #4, single #5; slings; single 70m rope plus an Escaper or a tag for rappelling Pitch 1 (which is 40+m now due to snow recession).

This was the main objective of the trip.

North Howser Tower is the undisputed king of the Bugaboos—the largest, most remote, and arguably most intimidating peak in the range. One of its most coveted lines is All Along the Watchtower. The route climbs the left side of the west face before gaining a long, left-facing corner system high on the wall, followed by an intricate ridge leading to the summit. The lower section offers varied 5.9 and 5.10 climbing before traversing left into the sustained upper dihedral that defines the route: about 260 m (850 feet) of continuous climbing. It is a serious alpine undertaking that pushed the standards of the day when it was first climbed.

In August 1981, Ward Robinson and Jim Walseth established All Along the Watchtower. Their pioneering ascent involved significant aid climbing and took multiple days to complete. Fifteen years later, in 1996, Topher Donahue and Kennan Harvey completed the first free ascent, transforming it into a sustained 5.12 free route and cementing its reputation as one of North America’s premier alpine rock climbs. More recently, Bean Bowers and Dave Nettle completed the route in a remarkable 11-hour push, believed to be the first one-day free ascent, underscoring both its historical significance and enduring challenge.

Our plan was to climb the route in a single push without bivouacking, continuing through the night if necessary. With a full moon having been the previous night, we expected to have enough natural light to keep moving after dark.

When we arrived at the base, one party was already on Pitch 1. We quickly passed them when they got off route, taking advantage of the opportunity to move ahead. Four more parties arrived at the base in quick succession behind us (for a total of six parties going for the route). It was appalling to see this difficult objective become so popular—and, as we would learn throughout the day, the crowds created serious objective hazards. (Perhaps the crowding was a result of everyone rushing to get on the route while snow still remained on the bivy ledges, avoiding the need to haul six liters of water for a multi-day push.)

In three separate incidents, parties were injured or forced to retreat. In one, a climber fell into a moat and was fortunate to be caught by his pack, escaping with only a badly scraped face. They retreated. The party approaching behind them saw the fall as well as the congestion on route and wisely bailed before reaching the base (I have included a link to their gps track for their retreat route on this page). In another, a climber was struck by a rock that a rope from a party several pitches above had swept off a ledge. Fortunately the injury was slight and they decided to continue. Later, a team that had just established a bivy at the Pitch 7 ledge was hit when snow and ice slid off the wall while they were below it. The injuries were serious enough to require a short-haul rescue.

I cannot help but think that the number of people on the route contributed to these accidents. Climbers were rushing to get in line, the ledges were generally loose, and the bivy sites were crowded. On a route with this much objective hazard, congestion compounds the risks—perhaps exacerbated by a lack of alpine experience, although all the parties on the route appeared to be experienced and competent.

John and I were ahead of all of this, enjoying the climbing, having a blast, and completing a remarkably hassle-free ascent. The haul bag never even got stuck, and neither of us took a fall. We were only vaguely aware of the chaos unfolding around us. There were also a couple of major rockfalls on the wall to our left, adding to the mountain chaos.

At his own request—and much to my delight—John led the entire route. I was happy to follow, knowing that this was probably the fastest way for us to climb it and that it would allow me to enjoy my self-assigned role as the route’s documenter even more. I took lots of photos. John practically cruised the 5.11 pitches, onsighting them seemingly effortlessly. He even gave the 5.12 crux pitch a free attempt and climbed every move free with only a couple of hangs. If we had had more time and had not been trying to complete the descent in daylight, I imagine he would have pulled the rope and redpointed the pitch. Moving this way, we made excellent time.

We climbed in fix-and-follow mode. I carried the follower pack, which held our extra water, clothing, crampons, personal food, ice axe, headlamp, and other gear. John carried a light pack containing the tagline, his food, headlamp, and ice axe. We hauled the corner pitches and the crux pitch. I would definitely not haul the lower or upper pitches, where low-angle terrain and loose rock on the ledges make hauling both difficult and hazardous.

We used my sister’s topos from her 2017 ascent (topos given below), along with Jeff and Priti Wright’s beta from their 2019 ascent. Their beta was excellent, and we never got off route except once near the top of Pitch 1, when we blindly followed a party above us that had gone the wrong way.

The upper corner system—about 260 m (850 feet) of sustained 5.10 and 5.11 climbing—was incredibly good. I have never climbed a corner system that was so long and sustained.

The “5.8 hand crack” noted in the guidebook near the top of the final 5.11 pitch was more like a #5-sized offwidth and felt 5.11. I imagine the flake has expanded since the route was first climbed.

At the top of the corners, we serendipitously ran into Jesse and Maury, who had just topped out on the harder pitches of a new route they were pioneering to our right, on the steep wall directly above Pitch 7 bivy ledge of All Along the Watchtower. We followed them along the summit ridge, simulclimbing with micro traxions. Jesse and Maury eventually unroped, while John and I remained roped together, and they gradually pulled ahead. We got a little lost near the end of the ridge but managed to regain the route with a short rappel from some tat. A couple of pieces of old tat, along with a fresh cord, suggested that we were not the first party to make this mistake. We reached the summit shortly after 9:00 p.m., with about an hour of daylight remaining.

Jesse and Maury had waited for us on the summit and made a welcome greeting party. We descended the East Face together. The terrain was incredibly loose, and small rocks came down nearly every time we pulled the ropes. I would not want to do those rappels with another party above me, which was probably the main reason Jesse and Maury had waited. We had no hitches and reached the glacier beyond the bergschrund just as we needed to turn on our headlamps.

With the full moon brightening the way, we headed back to camp. We enjoyed a nice dinner when we arrived (Jesse and Maury pan fried lamb chops (!) while John and I had ramen and oatmeal, respectively), then crawled into bed around midnight.

Camp to camp: 19.5 hours.

All Along the Watchtower is among the biggest climbing objectives I have ever completed. It may not have been the hardest in terms of pure technical difficulty—I have climbed harder routes, including Moonlight Buttress, the Original Route on Rainbow Wall, and Cloud Tower, all around 5.12, as well as equally long routes such as The Nose on El Capitan. But when logistics, approach, descent, weather, route-finding, objective hazard, length of route, and overall commitment are considered together, All Along the Watchtower stands apart.

This page includes a route overlay, my sister’s topos, a GPS track and map, time statistics, our gear list, and photos from the adventure.

And what an adventure it was. John and I had a blast. I couldn't have asked for a better partner.

Best day ever. So psyched to finally climb this beautiful monster of a route after dreaming about it for half a decade and getting skunked in '23 and again in '25. The stars aligned this time around: perfect weather, bone-dry rock, and a VERY psyched, committed, and capable climbing partner. The quality of Watchtower absolutely lives up to the hype, and I've never done anything quite like it. This is the biggest rock route I've done - somewhere in the neighborhood of 32 pitches and more vertical gain than the The Nose on El Cap. I'm very pleased with how we did. I woke up chomping at the bit, and the stoke never went away. I led every pitch (thank you Steph) and onsighted everything except for the 5.12 crux, which I pieced together with a couple hangs.

I'm not much of a write-up/trip report sort of guy (at least not publicly) but I recon this one deserves a quick take. Brace yourself.

Steph and I have been talking about Watchtower since we first started climbing together in Yosemite. After climbing Astroman with her and seeing how motivated and efficient she is, I knew she was who I wanted to do this with. We agreed to meet in the Bugaboos toward the end of July, whenever the weather lined up. Steph got home from her Europe trip and the weather looked too good to be true - a complete designer forecast. We joined forces with Jesse and Maury (plus a last minute addition of Rush and Marsters!) and we flew in and got established at East Creek. After a six pitch warm-up day we decided it was time to go. We started out at 4am and committed to the rappels into the southwest basin of North Howser. There was already a party starting up the route when we got to it around sunrise. We passed them pretty quickly and had the rest of the route to ourselves. We flew through the first 11 pitches in a few hours and got to the base of the long sustained dihedral right at noon. Here we took a short break and switched from carrying our packs to hauling. Looking up the dihedral stretching into infinity and beyond, the next 7 pitches all 5.11 or harder, I went into WAR mode. The dihedral pitches were all just absolutely stellar climbing - sustained finger cracks with sections of laybacking and pure stemming. Very few rests, and the crack was rarely larger than fingers. Sorta reminds me of Moonlight Buttress insofar as there are few moves that are actually hard but there aren't really any easy sections either and it all just kinda builds. After building a belay at the base of the 5.12 roof traverse crux pitch and starting to analyze it, I thought it looked hard as hell. While Steph climbed the preceding pitch, I tried to look for footholds and gear placements. This pitch has a reputation for a lot of things. I personally only have one buddy that's actually freed it, and have heard stories of people ripping the entire pitch. I felt full of energy starting into the pitch and mentally committed to giving it my very very best. I didn't flash, and I played around with a few different betas until I figured out a sequence that worked for me. Starting back at the belay I pulled the crux moves and got to the rest before the bizarre bombay squeeze chimney sequence. I pride myself at being good at squeeze chimneys, but man this thing was pretty hard! I hung again working through the moves to get established in the chimney. After finishing the pitch and getting to a decent belay ledge, I thought about resting, pulling the rope, and giving it another shot. But then I looked up at the remaining two 5.11 pitches and thought about poor Steph having to sit at the last hanging belay for another hour, and I decided that I was happy with how it went and that I would let it go. The final two 5.11 pitches were the best of the route - crazy stemming to a corner change and then sustained laybacking to a crack switch. Looking up at the final 5.11 pitch I felt fatigued - it looked hard - but I told myself "c'mon man-you've got one more in ya!". I battled through the crack switch and through an unexpected off width section and topped out the massive dihedral system onto the easy summit ridge. I fixed the line for Steph and chilled and took in the magic of the mountains. Not five minutes later Maury popped out right behind me! He and Jesse had been working a new line to the right of Watchtower. As we each waited for our partners to follow, we watched as a heli flew in and did a rescue lower on the route, performing multiple short-hauls. Steph and I tried to keep up with Maury and Jesse on the long summit ridge but lost them after a while. We all regrouped on the summit and rappelled and walked back to camp together. We all shared a beer back at camp (except for Abegg, who I'd brought a celebratory root beer for) and reveled in how fun of a day it was as we made dinner.

The day feels a bit paradoxical to me. While our effort on the route felt incredibly controlled and went really smoothly, there was chaos all around us. Massive rockfall kept occurring in the gully to our left, and there were several accidents that took place below us. While we were high up on the route, a helicopter flew in and short-hauled a party off the lower route that had been hit by icefall. In separate incidents, someone bailing from the route was injured from falling into a crevasse, and someone else was hit by rockfall. The mountain will have the last word.

For approach from East Creek and rappelling the East Face.

Aerial photos of North Howser Tower, taken on March 9, 2013 on a aerial adventure over the Bugaboos with John Scurlock.

My sister Jenny made this excellent topo when she climbed the route about a decade before I did.

GPS Track for approach to base of route from East Creek.

GPS Track for descent back to East Creek.

GPS Track for a straightforward route for retreating from base of All Along the Watchtower (courtesy of Travis Soares, whose partner and him wisely bailed when they saw five parties already started up the route).

Climbing:
- Doubles 0.1-#3 Camalot, single #4, triples in finger sizes, stoppers
- Dozen draws (10 of them alpine)
- 70m 8.5mm Beal Opera
- 60m 6mm Petzl Pur tag line
- Hyperlite Prism 40 (for follower and hauling)
- Black Diamond Distance 15 running pack (for leader)
- 2x Gri-gri
- 2x anchors
- 3x micro-traxions
- no aid gear needed for the C2 pitch - standing in slings and having follower in fix and follow mode are sufficient

Personal gear:
- harness, climbing shoes, helmet
- aluminum crampns, light ice axe, approach shoes (TX4 for me)
- headlamp, extra headlight, extra headlamp batteries, phone, phone tether, portable battery charger for phone, Garmin watch, small roll of tape
- clothing
- food, 1.5L water each, vitamin I

Bivy gear:
- Bivy gear if you plan to bivy (we did not bivy so we did not bring anything more than a puffy and a bit extra food and extra batteries for the "just in case")

Friday was a rest day for John, me, Jesse, and Maury. Rush and Ryan hiked out, as they had planned to stay for only a couple of days. The weather was warm and pleasant, and we spent the day reading, napping, snacking, and socializing around camp.

We woke up Saturday to cold temperatures, wind, and a forecast calling for rain beginning around mid-afternoon and continuing through Monday morning. Beyond that, however, the forecast looked absolutely stellar. We debated what to do and eventually decided to try to extend the trip by a few days. Jesse was unable to stay longer, but Maury and I both had the flexibility to add several days, and John could extend his trip by a couple of days.

Since I’m someone who would rather be productive than sit around in a clammy tent, I decided to hike the three hours out from East Creek to my van at the trailhead. My Garmin watch reported 5228 ft loss, 1505 ft gain, 6.8 miles. It took me 2 hours 54 minutes from East Creek camp to Bugaboos trailhead, and another 23 minutes hiking along the road to get to the landing zone near the lodge. John, Maury, and Jesse chose to go climbing before sitting out the next two days in their tents.

GPS Track for hike from East Creek out to trailhead. 

Sunday and Monday were weather days. I worked on this trip report all day Sunday while it rained. John, Jesse, and Maury hung out in chilly East Creek in good company, with everyone hunkered down waiting for the better forecast to come.

Monday turned out better than expected. That morning, I hiked back into East Creek and tagged Pigeon Spire along the way. I had climbed it back in 2006, but it was worth doing again.

The West Ridge (5.4) of Pigeon Spire is one of the most classic climbs in the Bugaboos. The route is not technically difficult, consisting mostly of 4th-class scrambling, but the position and exposure are spectacular. The route follows the crest of the ridge for nearly its entire length, climbing up and over two intermediate summits before reaching the true summit.

There were plenty of parties on the route, all roped up. I soloed the West Ridge, taking 32 minutes up and 30 minutes back down. It was a worthy detour.

Stats: The hike back to East Creek was 6.8 miles with 5,228 ft of gain and 1,505 ft of loss. The West Ridge of Pigeon Spire added another 0.9 miles and about 650 ft of gain and loss. From the trailhead to East Creek took me 4 hours 25 minutes, but that included climbing Pigeon. Excluding the scramble, the hike itself took just 3 hours 13 minutes. The Pigeon climb, from the col back to the col (including about 5 minutes at the col before and after the climb), took 1 hour 2 minutes.

GPS Track for hike from trailhead to East Creek and climb of West Ridge of Pigeon.

After climbing our main objective, All Along the Watchtower (5.11 C2-, 19+ pitches), John and I still had a few days left in the Bugaboos to enjoy some of the area's other classics. We had originally planned to helicopter out on Tuesday, but poor weather moved in late Saturday and lingered through Monday, forcing us to extend the trip a couple of days. During that time, I hiked out to my van to get some work done, then hiked back in on Monday.

From our camp in East Creek, we couldn't help but look up at the elegant ridge of the Beckey-Chouinard route on South Howser Tower. Both John and I had climbed Beckey-Chouinard before, but neither of us had ever finished via the steep 5.11 splitter cracks on the Great White Headwall, just right of the standard finish.

The Beckey-Chouinard is one of North America's most famous alpine rock climbs—a true Bugaboos mega-classic that attracts climbers from around the world. Originally known as the West Buttress, the route climbs an elegant rib up the full 600-meter west face of South Howser Tower. Pitch after pitch of superb 5.8–5.9 climbing, with occasional short 5.10 sections, leads to the summit in an incredible alpine setting.

I first climbed the route in 2007, during my second trip to the Bugaboos, when I was still relatively new to alpine climbing. I returned in 2016 with two teams of two. That time, we bivied on the spacious ledge below the Great White Headwall, making for a relaxed midday approach, an enjoyable ascent the following day, and an easy walk back to Kain Hut.

Ever since, I had wanted to return and finish the route via one of the 5.11 crack variations on the Great White Headwall. The guidebook lists two options: Lost in the Towers (5.11, 5 pitches) and Your Girlfriend Gave Me RP's (5.11+, 6 pitches). Both eventually rejoin Beckey-Chouinard at the crux traverse pitch. Of the two,Your Girlfriend Gave Me RP's sounded like the more appealing (and also harder) line.

We also decided to add a direct start via Welcome Intrusion (5.10, 4 pitches), rather than scramble to the traditional start. Welcome Intrusion climbs the left side of the lower left wall of the Catalonian Wall accessed just minutes above East Creek basin, and intersects Beckey-Chouinard at the top of its first pitch. It would add a few pitches to our day's adventure.

We got a relaxed start, leaving camp around 10:00 a.m. Welcome Intrusion took a little longer than expected since it was somewhat dirty, but the climbing was actually pretty interesting and enjoyable. From the top of Welcome Intrusion, we simul-climbed the ridge in one long pitch to the base of the Great White Headwall.

At the base of the Great White Headwall, we caught up to two other parties on Beckey-Chouinard. But we were headed straight up the headwall while they were headed left on the standard line. We initially started up what we thought was the first pitch of Your Girlfriend Gave Me RP's (5.11+, 6p), but it turned out to be the first pitch of Lost in the Towers (5.11, 5p). (Your Girlfriend Gave Me RP's begins up the crack just a few feet farther left.) Thanks to a serendipitously dropped cam, I was able to toprope-solo the first two pitches of Your Girlfriend Gave Me RP's to investigate the line. The climbing was excellent, although the 5.11+ crux felt quite difficult. We had hoped to continue on Your Girlfriend Gave Me RP's, but the trigger wire on our #4 Camalot had broken (another casualty of ultralight trigger wires) and we read about an offwidth higher on the route (which, judging from my photos of the headwall, I suspect is fairly short). Moreover, after finding the first 5.11+ pitch quite challenging on toprope and discovering a fresh rappel anchor at the top of it, we decided to play it safe and continue up Lost in the Towers instead.

Interstingly, Lost in the Towers was an accidental first ascent—the 1980 first ascentionists Wayne Kamara and Jim Walseth, August 1980 thought they were climbing Beckey-Chouinard—but it turned out to be its own unique adventure (FFA Geoff Trump and partner, August 1999). The route wanders up the first half of the Great White Headwall, with some dirty sections and numerous bail anchors, before traversing right on a hand traverse (more bail anchors to nowhere), climbing a dihedral system (more ancient climbing debris), and eventually rejoining Beckey-Chouinard at the base of the final pitch. It is not as direct or as classic as the actual Beckey-Chouinard finish, but it was a fun and adventurous line in its own right. I would still like to return and climb Your Girlfriend Gave Me RP's, though based on my toprope solo of the first two pitches, I suspect it is a very stout 5.11+.

We rejoined the standard Beckey-Chouinard route below Pitch 15 and caught back up with the other two parties. From there, we passed both groups on the way to the summit. After tagging the summit, we began the descent, completing the 11 rappels to the glacier in just 48 minutes. We were very thankful for the bolted rappel line, which certainly adds safety and speed to the descent (in 2007, the bolted rappel line was not there, and Clint and I had rapped tat anchors on a face and encountered many stuck ropes and even got ours forever stuck and had to rappel off an ice screw to get past a bergshrund). From the base of the rappels, we hiked back to camp, never needing crampons (which we had not brought anyway) or headlamps (which we had brought just in case).

It was a fun day out exploring some new terrain on South Howser Tower: 19 pitches of alpine climbing up to 5.11 in 11 hours 24 minutes camp-to-camp from our East Creek camp.

This page includes route overlays, descent beta, time statistics, gear list, and pitch-by-pitch photos from our climb.

GPS Track for approach to direct start from East Creek camp.

GPS Track for hike back to East Creek from base of East Face rappels.

Aerial photos of South Howser Tower, taken on September 24, 2011, May 15, 2012, and March 9, 2013 on three separate aerial adventure over the Bugaboos with John Scurlock.

On Wednesday, we planned to climb Gravy Train (5.12-, 7 pitches) on Fingerberry Tower, but ended up climbing only the first pitch (5.11-), which was quite good. It was still only mid-afternoon, so I decided to hike out and spend the evening working from my van. With a full day of driving back to my parents' place in Canada ahead of me due to forest-fire road closures, it seemed like the best use of the time. John and Maury stayed at East Creek to prepare the helicopter load for the following morning. Maury would fly out with the gear, while John planned to hike back to the trailhead. Jesse had hiked out that morning as he had commitments to get to.
 
The hike out from East Creek to the trailhead took me 2 hours 41 minutes, 25 minutes more to cars at landing zone.

GPS Track for hike from East Creek out to trailhead. 

On Thursday, the helicopter was scheduled to arrive in East Creek at 8 a.m. to fly out our gear and one person. We designated Maury for the flight, since I had already hiked out and John had volunteered to hike out that morning. However, heavy forest-fire smoke had moved in overnight, delaying the helicopter. It finally arrived at 11 a.m. and was able to pick up Maury. We all met back at the landing zone, loaded our gear into our vehicles, and then headed our separate ways. We had not put chicken wire around our vehicles, but fortunately, the brakes seemed to be working. Whew.

I drove to my parents’ place in Chilliwack to regroup for a couple of days before my next adventure. The drive was a bit like something out of an apocalypse movie, with heavy forest-fire smoke blanketing the highway and turning the sky an eerie orange-gray.

Video taken while flying around the Bugaboos doing aerial photography, March 9, 2013.