I guided an ascent of Coire Dubh and the first rock pitch of the Integrale
yesterday, Dec 10th. The ice is in good shape and there is a lot of it, several
flows are formed in the amphitheatre that the ice route finishes in. The common
corner crack that starts the Integrale, and is the crux, is exceptionally cruxy
right now as it has a record amount of ice in it. It is quality mixed climbing,
just much harder than when the corner is dry and you can climb it without
crampons and bare hands. I placed a 13 cm screw and a 16 cm screw as well as
half a dozen stoppers and three cams on the lead.
The old two bolt anchor at the top of the ice route is down to one bolt. We
rappeled the highest ice pitch from a single bolt on the front side of the big
boulder 20 meters above the ice. I backed up the bolt with small redirected nut
that I'm sure someone will scoop. That anchor could use a piton back-up. There
is a new two bolt anchor close to a man sized tree climber's right of the snow
slope leading to the last ice pitch.
We punched trough several small pain-in-the-butt windslabs en route. None of
them wanted to move.
Happy trails,
and Merry Christmas!
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com
First pitch of Coire Dubh Dec 10/12:
A modern mixed masterpiece waiting creation just right of Coire Dubh:
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