Integrale

The route “Integrale” (V 2 M2, 10000m) is a super route which includes a consecutive (and complete) climb in winter conditions of the routes “Korakas ridge” and “Western traverse”.

Therefore, the name “Integrale” has been given in advance, before it has even been done, not to a regular route, but to a combination of two routes with successive climbing and with winter conditions.

The route, which has no known complete repetition, will start from the Koprisies plateau and will include consecutive climbing of the routes “Korakas ridge” and the entire “Western traverse” with Gidovouni. After completing “Korakas ridge” we will find ourselves at the top of Korakas, from there we descend to Megas Kampos and from there to the POA refuge or to Meterizia col.

Until now, there have been various repetitions of large or smaller sections, such as that of K. Mougkolias - L. Karachalios - F. Dimopoulos on 9/12/2017, who climbed the entire “Korakas ridge” and the “Western traverse” up to the Pyramida - Gidovouni col, skipping Gidovouni peak. The attempt began with an overnight stay plateau of Prophet Elias and on the first day they climbed “Korakas ridge”, Skoufia, Soufles and Alogorachi, where they made a bivouac at the top of Alogorahi, to continue the next day by climbing Plaka and Pyramida. On “Korakas ridge” two ropes were needed for the rappel. A more complete attempt (with Gidovouni) is not known, but maybe this has been done without being reported.

The gear needed for the route depend mainly on the skills of the climbers. With one 8mm rope we can belay at the difficult parts of the two ridges, but for the rappels two ropes are necessary. The rest of the gear includes a harness, a helmet, a set of nuts, some small friends, several slings and carabiners. A hammer and pitons are optional and useful only in case of an emergency abandonment. In case of poor visibility, loss of orientation is almost certain, so we must have a map and a compass (or GPS) in our backpack. In addition to these, our backpack must contain everything we will need for an overnight stay in the open air (bivouac).

Note: The length given above is approximate and only concerns the climbing section and not the intermediate sections that are done by hiking. The descent by hiking from Korakas to the POA refuge is 2Km and from there to the base of Skoufia is also 2Km. The circular route, with the starting and return point at Prophet Elias, is estimated to have a total length of approximately 20Km, including access, climbing and return. At hellaspath.gr and el.wikiloc.com one can find exact access and return hiking routes.