Northpost Spire
August 26, 2023
Mountain height: 2913 m
Elevation gain:
approximately 1600 m
Round-trip time: 9:05
Scrambling/climbing
with Raff.
Before Raff
suggested it, I had never heard of Northpost Spire. Obviously, it was in the
world-famous Bugaboos, but overshadowed by the more popular spires: Bugaboo,
Pigeon, Snowpatch, and Howser to name a few. However, I was immediately all-in
for a second visit to the Bugaboos. 
The area is world-famous for good reason,
boasting some of the best granite climbing on the planet and unmatched scenery.
Seeing the granite spires piercing through the glaciers is an experience you
won’t soon forget.
The crux of the
trip is the long drive. We left Calgary at 5 am and arrived at the Cobalt Lake trailhead
at 10 am – not exactly an alpine start! 
Nevertheless, we made good progress up
the excellent trail, eventually arriving at an amazing viewpoint, highlighting
our objective and several other spires.
We then left
the trail, traversing beautiful alpine meadows towards Northpost. The few ups
and downs and a surprise run-in with a beautiful tarn later and we were
ascending the main ascent slopes of the spire. The crux of the actual ascent occurred
right before the summit. Although most routes on Northpost are advertised to be
4th class to technical climbing, Raff had a GPS track that was
reportedly only 3rd class scrambling. He led the crux, making it
look easy in boots. I’m glad I wore my approach shoes – there were two steps
definitely straddling the border between difficult scrambling and 4th
class climbing. Getting up the steps was not terribly difficult, but we both
knew they would be downclimbed with extreme caution.
Above the crux
the summit was only a few metres away and what a view that summit provided.
Many expletives were uttered, all with the qualifier “Holy..” preceding them! Even
with fairly cloudy skies to the west, I would put the view from Northpost in my
top five of all time. Cobalt Lake was simply stunning, adding so much colour to
the view; and of course, the surrounding peaks and glaciers were nothing short
of spectacular. Shockingly, a large, newly formed glacial lake sat far below us
on the north side. The lake was not on any of the topo maps I could find. We
should have been looking down on the expansive Vowell Glacier, but obviously a
massive section of that glacier has now melted.
We stayed at
the top for 45 glorious minutes and then begrudgingly started the descent. The
two crux steps were very carefully downclimbed. Everything after that was easy hiking/scrambling
and very scenically rewarding. Even the uphills lost their sting! We made it
back to the car at 7:30 pm and then back to Calgary around 12:30 am, both very
tired but extremely satiated.
Wow! What a
trip – only senility or death will make me forget that one! Big thanks to Raff
for the awesome suggestion.
At the trailhead and ready to rock (photo by Raff)
A very straight, dead tree (i.e. I needed an excuse to catch my breath because the trail is relentlessly steep!)
The terrain levels out in this larch-filled valley
Raff with the larches behind him
Approaching the ridge and a jaw-dropping view of the Bugaboos (photo by Raff)
The first sign of wonderfully colourful rock
The second
The jaw-dropping view
Raff and the view that includes Bugaboo Spire (left), Brenta Spire (centre), and our objective, Northpost Spire (right)
Houndstooth Spire in front
Snowpatch Spire
The Howser Towers in the background
Rudolph is the most famous reindeer of them all and Bugaboo is the most famous spire of them all
Northpost Spire is not even close to the most famous of them all, but
it sure boasts stinkin' crazy views of all the famous ones!
The trail continues up to minor highpoint ahead (Cobalt Hill, I think)
We skipped the Hill and started traversing open slopes towards the
objective. Cobalt Lake is now visible and will be one of the major
highlights of the trip.
Raff checks out Bugaboo, Brenta, and Northpost, surrounding Cobalt Lake
Northpost is dead ahead, but requires some ups and downs to get to
Bug and Cob
The spires west of the Vowell Glacier are also a highlight (photo by Raff)
There they are without me ruining the view
Spoke too soon! (photo by Raff)
Tried to get some views of the streams and waterfalls draining Cobalt Lake but they were too distant
Not sure what the spire on the right is, but Holy #$@%!
Love the geology of the Bugaboos - tons of great colours and lots of solid rock
Case in point
Raff in the distance
This small tarn also provided us some scenic pleasure
We took a break on the ridge above the tarn
Resuming travel (photo by Raff)
More super fascinating rock
Raff and the tarn
A glacier still resides on the northeast side of Northpost
Better view of the tarn
Finally on the Northpost ascent slope
Looking down the glacier
Working our way up increasingly steep terrain (photo by Raff)
The slopes are littered with huge quartzite boulders
Cobalt Lake draws our attention again
Shattered slabs
Same as above
Raff approaches the crux
He's up
My turn (photo by Raff)
There is one big, stretchy move but a key foothold makes it easier (photo by Raff)
Raff approaches the other tricky step
Gaining the ridge and only a few metres from the summit (photo by Raff)
Raff leads the way
Yesss!! (photo by Raff)
Cobalt Lake is not looking very cobalt in colour. Possibly because of
the increased amount of silt pouring into the lake from rapid glacier
melt
This lake on the north side of Northpost doesn't even exist on most
maps and is but a fraction of its present size on others. There should
be a glacier down there.
Cobalt and a happy person
Bug and the Howsers
The tarn and the lake above Cobalt are more cobalt in colour than Cobalt
Stunning view with both lakes and a ton of magnificent spires.... "You
know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen...". Bet you sang that!!
The Vowells
Raff and The Vowells. "Can I have an "i"?"
Raff and the Bugs
A whole lotta' cool!
The three lakes should be renamed from left to right: Cobalt Lake,
Pretending to be Cobalt But Not Fooling Anyone Lake, and I'm Cobalt But
Get No Love Lake
That one should be Holy Glacial Melting Lake! (the exclamation point is part of the name)
A strange helicopter landing on the ridge below us. We were hoping they
would wait for us, but they left. Maybe the nearby McDonalds was
closing soon!
Can't get enough of this view
Raff famous summit pose
Raff's other famous summit pose
Self-timed by Raff (photo by Raff)
Same as above (photo by Raff)
Raff sizes up the first downclimb
Me downclimbing the first step (photo by Raff)
Downclimbing the second (photo by Raff)
On descent we stuck closer to the Cobalt Lake side of the ridge to see the lake from a slightly different angle
Looking back at Northpost
The peak above Cobalt Lake is Cobalt Lake Spire (but it's not fooling anyone)
Last look at the lake of the day
At the end of the ridge (photo by Raff)
Last look for me (photo by Raff)
Also took a different descent route to the tarn. Raff at the far left.
The ridge northeast of the tarn looked easy and oh so tempting!
Very colourful rock abounds
Same as above
A very random chunk of super white quartzite
Raff on one of the uphill sections on return
Things look very different later in the day
Raff at the right and one of our last views of Northpost and The Vowells
Passing by a random big rock
Raff's view (photo by Raff)
The panorama to the east has many cool peaks
Like these ones
With a tree
Descending from that amazing viewpoint
Not sure what mountain this is, but it sure is impressive
The End
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