Will Stanhope and Leo Houlding have linked the three west faces of the Howser Towers in the Bugaboos in a day.

Their 2,000-metre, 5.12+, 58 rope-length, 23.5-hour link-up is the first to include the three big walls.

They climbed Chocolate Fudge Brownie V 5.12 on Central Howser Tower, then Spicy Red Beans/All Along the Watchtower VI 5.12 on the North Howser Tower and then The Beckey/Chouinard IV 5.10 on the South Howser Tower.

Big Bugaboo link-ups are not a new thing. Over 20 years ago, Peter Croft linked South Howser Tower, Bugaboo Spire, Crescent Spire and Snowpatch Spire in 14 hours.


In 2005, Jeff Relph and Jon Walsh made a variation to the classic four-spire link by climbing Northeast Ridge of Bugaboo, The Krause/McCarthy on Snowpacth, The Cooper/Kor on Pidgeon and The Beckey/Chouoinard on South Howser.

In 2007, Matt Madadaloni completed two record link ups, the first in Squamish where he climbed University Wall 5.12, The Roman Chimneys 5.11, Northern Lights 5.12 and Freeway 5.11, all free, leading every pitch in 16.5 hours.

The second was a week later, when he visited the Bugaboos and soloed five routes on five peaks in a day, including McTech Arete on Crescent, Northeast Ridge of Bugaboo, West Ridge of Pigeon, The Beckey/Chouinard on the South Howser and The Krauss/McCarthy on Snowpatch Spire.

In 2015, Will Stanhope made the first free ascent of Tom Egan Memorial Route 5.14 on Snowpatch Spire. In 2016, he and Houlding made the first free ascent of the 600-metre Retinal Circus 5.12 on The Minerat on South Howser.

Watch the 2009 ascent of Chocolate Fudge Brownie 5.12, featuring Jason Kruk, Stanhope and Matt Segal.