What's in a weird name?

Touted as North America's equivalent of the French Alps, the granite spires of the Bugaboos tower over glaciers in eastern British Columbia. How did the mountain range get its offbeat name? A late-19th century gold rush gone wrong led disappointed prospectors to deem the area a 'bugaboo,' their term for a dead end. What gold seekers abandoned, mountaineers soon championed, and one after another the flinty spires were summited. The last of the Bugaboos to be conquered is seen here in our image—Snowpatch Spire was first summited in 1940. This peak, along with the rest of the range, lies within Bugaboo Provincial Park.