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Saturday, February 12, 2011

[MCR] Rockies, Cobre Verde

I guided Cobre Verde today, Feb 12th. Moderate snowfall all morning with accumulation of 7 centimeters when we walked away at 2:30 pm.

The road to the route is marked well in the guidebook (fourth edition, if you can find it). The gate is locked right now and has a "Closed, Staff Only" sign. Walk straight down the road avoiding a left hand branch, past a metal quonset hut, to the far north end. Five minutes northward in the trees puts you below the route. It appears that the correctional facility mentioned in the guidebook is gone.

The first pitch could be made WI 3, 45 meters to trees. We busted a trail to the second wee pillar and along the way exposed a subice broom closet with lots of running water. Not the kind of thing that you see everyday and it would suck to fall into it. Found a second one at the base of the pillar. Above the pillar we walk through some exposed running water then headed up into the ice inundated forest to the right. A last pitch of WI 2-3 lies above on the right. From the top of this we traversed left to avoid some rappeling and walked down the drainage. Two 50 meter rappels from trees gets you to the ground. A fine adventure route.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com