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As part of my Centennials push, I was looking to do Columbia Pt but wanted something a little more exciting than the route from Colony Lakes. While doing research for the route, I wasn't able to find a ton of beta beyond a few sentences and a couple of photos so this is my effort to add to what I was able to find. This ended up being one of the more enjoyable climbs I've done so far.
First, an overview of the route from the KC descent. The "1" is just above where the climbing begins and the "2" is where you turn towards the fin (side note: up close, this is one of the cooler rock formations that I have seen so far)
Overview of our entire route from KC descent
From the bottom of the avenue to KC, continue straight on a path that descends slightly and travels around a rock rib. When you come around the rib, you will see a scree and talus filled gully that ascends the area between KC and Columbia. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos here but rambis_21's "Tour de Sangres Part II" trip report has a photo that shows our route to the base of the climb past the avenue (the bottom part of the photo with the yellow "Crux" label in it). Once the gully comes into view, we located a large, flat-topped boulder in the middle of it that pretty much marks the start of our climb. From here, you will be very close to the next two photos. Both of these are taken from just below the "1" in the route overview photo. The points marked "A" and "B" are the same rocks in each photo and together these should give you an idea of where to look for a starting point. The bottom left of the first photo below shows part of the scree gully.
This was the best entry point to the route that we found and taking the line marked by the orange dots kept everything to class 3/4. Taken from the flat-topped boulder mentioned above
Opting for a more difficult low 5 route to start things off. Also taken from the flat-topped boulder
There is a narrow ledge from the spot above "B" to "A" that takes some careful footing but once you get to "A" and look up, the route is pretty clear. Follow the crack/dihedral straight up to the point marked "2" in the full route overview photo.
Looking down on the route from near the "2" marker
As you reach the top of this section (near the spot marked "2") there will be a drop off between cliff bands ahead and an obvious cairn to your right. Turn right towards the cairn and on the opposite side is a small drop shown in the photo below.
Photo of the area marked by a "2" in the overview photo. Cairn circled with the climbers heading down the small drop
After the small drop, the climbing becomes easier and the path more obvious. The photo below shows this easier section and is taken from just after the small drop
The path from the small drop off with the fin in all its glory
Once you reach the notch pictured above, turn left for a short climb to Columbia that is easy and straight forward. If you remember these landmarks to aim for on the way down, the downclimb shouldn't be an issue. We were dreading it while climbing up but it went much more quickly and smoothly than we expected.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thanks for this nicely detailed report.
Especially for someone like me who has looked at Columbia more than once thinking about the route.
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