Spineback Ridge, Fernie, BC | 5.9 - 3 pitch + scramble
On August 1, Justin, some friends, and I set out to climb Spineback per Vic’s suggestion. Like she said, it was very nice. What’s not to like about an enjoyable, non crumbly, short, limestone multipitch in Fernie, BC?
The approach was about 3.5km from the Island Lake Lodge (which is about 25 minutes from downtown) and has about 600m of elevation gain. See highlighted map.
The approach didn’t take too long. I would guess it took about an hour and a half? Note: Justin and I were #wrecked from our 56km Rockwall run two days prior so the time estimate may not be correct. Anyway - to approach, we took the Spineback trail until we got to the Goldilocks intersection and went left onto Goldilocks. About 200m down the Goldilocks trail, we saw a small climbers trail to the left of the buttress.
You’ll see that you have arrived at the start of the climb when you see bolts + a beautiful runnel running down pitch 2.
Base of climb
Looking down from the top of Pitch 2 down runnel
The pitches are broken down as follows:
- Pitch 1: 5.7, follow very well bolted line up to two ring anchors. Note rapp rings to the right.
- Pitch 2: 5.8, step right and follow the stemmy runnel up to two ring anchors.
- Pitch 3: 5.9, climb left, pull over small roof, and continue up to two ring anchors. Probably the crux move.
- Pitch 4(ish): 5.2, scramble up two bolt final “pitch” and use the horn at the top as an anchor.
Spineback summit horn + Justin
Enjoy some lovely Fernie alpine views!
Descent:
- Scramble down or down lead climb from the horn to the last bolted belay
- Rapp 3 times to the bottom