Coire Dubh Integrale

For my thirty-second birthday Colin and I went for a mini-alpine climb in the Bow Valley. The route starts on the ice of Coire Dubh and continues up through some mixed climbing (ice and rock) to the ridge line just shy of the summit. As warned in the guide books, the ridge was extremely windy - a few time I was almost blown over. The top left photo with Colin and I in it shows the route; it follows the shaded area on the bottom of the face and then veers off to the right near the summit. The vertical relief and winter classification for this climb is 550 m III, 5.7 WI 3. "This is one of the few winter mixed routes that is also climbed in the summer and is rated 5.4. But in winter, a 5.4 climber would find it pretty 'out there'". To complicate the climb, the area was experiencing a warming event resulting in large section of ice not being formed. So instead of an easier ice pitch we were left with a polished rock surface not suitable for crampons and ice tools - after a bit route finding that would be considered 'out there' for a 5.13 climber, we overcame this minor setback. Once we were onto the main face of the climb it was a quick push to the summit.