Mt. Wintour - South Ridge, Alpine I, 5.4

On Saturday, September 10, the resolute Martin Siddles and I had a fantastic late summer day on little Mt. Wintour (2700m).  We ascended the faint East Ridge to the South Ridge then onto the summit; mostly moderate scrambling with one 30 metre pitch of 5.4 slab just below the summit. 

The Valleyview Road this road is now permanently closed, so we had to park just off the highway and hike up Opal Creek. Good trails on both sides of the creek, but best choice (we discovered on the way out) is to take the left (north side) trail, just where the creek meets the gravel road, up the bank, then up sharp ridge just above the north creek bank.

This trail leads to the gully north (left) of Opal Falls. This gully is loose and steep, but becomes wider and more stable near top. Once above Opal Falls, we found excellent game trails leading into Opal Creek, about 100 metres above creek once on the south slopes of Mt. Wintour.

Continue on good trails to round obvious steep rock buttress on south end of Wintour. Continue rounding north to intersect drainage from East Ridge of Mt. Wintour (about GR 365170) then up steep scree/dirt combo to East Ridge.



Where grass slopes end, head up East Ridge, slightly to right, up easy gully (looks steeper than it really is) and continue up gully to South Ridge. Once on the long summit ridge head north towards obvious summit.

Mostly moderate scrambling, but very, very loose and sections of high exposure. Route finding is easy, just stay on ridge top. From the gully access northward, before the halfway point to the summit, a few sections below the ridge, on the east side, would provide a respite from the high exposure, but we didn’t bother and just travelled on the sharp ridgeline. 

Moderate scrambling, with the odd short section of difficult steps, leads to the crux, about 120 horizontal metres from the summit. A steep rise in the ridge blocks easy travel. Here we stashed the poles and roped up.

We chose a line, left of the centre of the ridge, where a slab meets a steep wall, a good crack provided a belay station with two bomber nuts. Easy slab climbing (5.4) with good protection, with nuts, for 10 metres, then the line tended right onto easy ground (5.2), but no protection until a short corner. Climb short corner (5.4), with sketchy pro to easy ground above (30 metres from belay). Belay off rock piles, some more solid than others.



Easy scrambling to summit. Martin and I were about 4.5 hours to the top. We lounged and enjoyed the windless summit, hot sun and the mega blue bird sky. Back to the car in less than 3 hours from summit, all in, about 8 hours car to car. Great weather, great fun, recommended for a fun and short day of scree and exposure.