Irish Dreams

Irish Dreams

Irish Dreams

Unclimbed route 100m before Irish Dreams

Mixed terrain near Irish Dreams

Irish Dreams is a prominent ice runnel 1/3 up the face of Vimy. It usually forms every year, but in varying quality. The approach is a little long for a one pitch route, however looking at it from the townsite, it is one of those routes that begs to be climbed. The only feasible approach requires the middle lake to be frozen over. Luckily this happens every season. Take the side road that goes past th horse stables. Take the right fork, driving as close as you can to Camp Columbus. Be wary, winds can cahnge roads conditions substatially, so even though you may not have any trouble driving down the road, by the time you come back fro your route things may have changed. Access to the lake is directly behind the Camp Columbus builidngs. Walk across the lake (20min), and then hike up the deep snow to the gully where Irish Dreams is located. (30min) A long slog up the open talus(30min) passes by a couple of potential routes. The ice is often brittle. It is broken up by serveral ramps making the climbing easy for the grade. Near the top, a bottle neck often has ice of varying thickness. Often the bottleneck is completely devoid of ice. This will shorten the route.