CASTLE PEAK
July 3rd, 2016
For the July 1st long weekend, I had planned to lead a trip through the ACC on a long ridge walk extending from Victoria Peak all the way to Waterton. As the date neared, I still hadn’t gathered any participants for the trip. Maybe I was a little too optimistic to plan such a through-hike, but regardless, I needed to call it off and figure out what I was going to do with my extra day off. I decided that I would enjoy a little more relaxing excursion than my typical weekend and go camping at Window Mountain Lake.
The night before I left, James got in contact with me. He also had some plans fall through and was struggling to find partners, and he brought up the idea of summiting Castle Peak. Castle Peak is a pair of towers that make up the northwestern outlier of Windsor Ridge, a beautiful and prominent headwall in the Castle Crown. The massif can be seen easily from highway 3 and is a striking landmark in the region. For years, I had stared at the peak wondering who had been up there, and what it would take to tackle the objective on my own. When James brought up the idea, I knew that he would be the right partner to take on such an objective. James has become a prolific peak-bagger in Southern AB, and if you name a peak in the area, James has done it. He asked me to join him for the scramble and lead the technical pitch of climbing, because he did not feel comfortable taking on such an unknown pitch of climbing. I can’t say I was feeling particularly confident either, but James trusted me, and from what limited info I had about the climb, I knew that it was something I could take on.
My camping trip was only planned for one night, and after some well-needed R&R at the lake (despite the fire restriction that may or may not have been obeyed by all parties at the lake) I headed home and packed up for a big day in the mountains. So much for my relaxing weekend!
We left town at first light and headed out towards Beaver Mines Lake, where the rough road begins. We brought bikes to help with the approach, especially because we were unsure how far the vehicle would make it. Although 4x4 is definitely required, the road is pretty straightforward. Eventually we parked at a washout and began our bike approach. It was also here that we decided on what gear and protection to bring. I opted to bring a healthy selection of small cams and passive pro, foregoing the majority of my medium to large gear. I made this decision in hopes of saving weight and also catering to the type of limestone.
We biked for quite a few kilometres, and it felt way more strenuous than I expected. Not only did we have bags full of rock gear, but as I told James later in the day: even though the road seemed flat, it was way too tiring of a ride to not be uphill. Sure enough, we gained about a hundred metres total on our bikes. We rode until we got to a familiar area based on James’ best recollection. We found the main drainage that would be our major handrail for the beginning of the hike, but we backtracked a bit and headed up a small clearing that we had spotted a few hundred metres earlier. We ditched the bikes and headed upwards, and before long we came across an amazing horse trail that took us exactly where we wanted to go, pretty terrific luck to start off our day! Eventually the trail spit us out in the drainage and we continued upward. From here we just continued uphill, eventually bailing out of the drainage and heading straight up as we circled below the prominent cliff bands protecting the upper ridge. A detailed route description isn’t really required here, especially considering that I would probably never do this section of hike the same way twice. It’s pretty hard to get it wrong here, if you’re going up, you’re going to get there as long as you avoid the cliffs.
Eventually we broke out of the tree line, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and continued up to the ridgeline. It was here that I started to really monitor what was going on around me and get in the frame of mind to climb. The weather forecast was pretty nice for the day, right around 20 degrees with a bit of a breeze (no surprise there!). All day we could here the wind rushing through all around us, and the clouds above us were moving very quickly. We pulled up higher on the ridgeline and started to experience the wind first hand, and it was more than a little breezy. It was also around this time that there were other rock outcroppings that we moved through, and so I started to check what kind of rock quality I should expect. If anything is known about this climb, it’s that the rock is loose, like a typical Rockies alpine route, but this one is especially loose as the legend has it. The limestone along the top is extremely featured and pocketed, and looked exciting! If only it held together a little better.
And so we pushed onward, soon the tower came into view, and shortly after it was looming high above our heads. It’s certainly an imposing monolith, and an intimidating structure to stand beneath. We walked around to the southeast side where we found our route. We didn’t really grasp the strength of the wind until we stood below our route; it was certainly going to be an added challenge for our ascent. I stood there, battered by the wind, but as I craned my neck and looked upwards at this imposing structure, I was absolutely elated. A fun hand crack followed by a sketchy looking traverse led upward into a chimney that we struggled to see. The wind could not damper my excitement. But I pointed out the route to James, and his response was a little different. He was shocked to see overhangs and exposed traverses at the moderate grade of 5.7, welcome to the Rockies!
We discussed how we would proceed, and ultimately our dilemma was the wind and the traverse. For those unaware, being the second on a rope team is the safest and easiest, but that is not necessarily the case for traverses; the rope can hinder you and possibly pull you off, and if the traverse is not protected well by the leader then a fall could mean a big swing, similar to a lead fall. The wind would ultimately prove the biggest challenge for me, and I decided that the route was sheltered enough that I could handle it. We decided to get on route, and as I got to the traverse, I would assess how well I could protect it. If it was unable to be protected, we would bail, otherwise I would continue on upward, committing to finishing the route.
There is an exposed rambling section to start the route that led to a large ledge. We decided to scramble unroped to the ledge and belay from there, rather than 15m below the real start of technical climbing. From the ledge, there is a large and obvious off-width/squeeze chimney that heads up the corner. Our route however, follows an unlikely hand crack to the left that heads out and around the face with wild exposure and varied climbing (much less direct, but way better in terms of protection). I started up route, immediately kicking off some loose stuff, but finding decent rock as I jammed up the crack. After a few metres it steepened, I plugged some small passive pieces, and pulled through a juggy and fun overhang, leading me into a bit of an Au Chavel on a flake as I plugged my first piece in the traverse. I traversed along the face, as the exposure got more and more exciting! Small footholds and large flakes above provided a feeling of security, and as I got more protection in above me, I called down to James and let him know that I was continuing on, excited to summit and confident that he would be safe as a second.
Nearing the end of the traverse, there was an awkward mantel to step up on a ledge, balancing delicately as I stood up (the crux) and moved over without handholds (the face above the ledge was absolutely rotten rock, seemingly held together with sand) and made a big footmove into the chimney, plugging some good pieces and moving upward once again. From here, Rick Collier described the route as “thrutching and stemming up the dihedral.” I found, however, that it was definitely a chimney, with occasional pockets along the face to help move upward. The rock was solid here, but the protection was sparse. It was here that I regretted my decision to bring small gear. I had used nearly all my medium and larger pieces to protect the traverse well, and now I was in a chimney with passive pro and small cams. The climbing was secure though, which was very needed with the immense rope drag at this point. I found the occasional chock stone and cleared out what loose rock I could as I thrashed my way upward, grunting as the rope tried to pull me off. I found some blocks up top for a great belay, and James followed confidently.
James pulled up to the belay, exhilarated from the climbing and glad to have made the call to try the route. We scrambled up some loose blocks and stood on the summit in gale-force winds, the fourth group to have ever been up there. What a feeling! Not only is it a great pitch of climbing, but it’s such an aesthetic and iconic tower, it really was a remarkable experience to have conquered it. Rick Collier and the some of the Old Goats brought up a summit register for their summit in 2004, which had been signed again in 2012 by Blair Piggot and partners.
Some larger blocks provide plenty of opportunity for rappelling, and with some creativity to mitigate rock fall we headed downward. We packed the gear and headed back down the mountain grinning ear-to-ear. Our descent was a little less straightforward than we wanted, but we made it down just fine and before long were getting on the bikes, complaining about the uncomfortable seats and rocky terrain as we rode back to the car.
All in all in was a big day, and looking back, most climbs would not be worth humping a big load to the top of a mountain just for a single pitch of climbing. But, given the context of the region and the aesthetics of the tower, I’m delighted to have gone for it and pulled it off safely. I’m happy to answer more detailed questions regarding beta and approach for anyone who may want to give it a go themselves, and there is also a relatively detailed report of the pitch itself from Rick Collier that is available if you do some digging.
Go climb a rock
- CG
