“Frankie Peak” & “Larry Mountain”

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September 8, 2024. A long ridge walk tagging two lesser-visited summits in the Castle.

  • Region: Castle Wilderness. Traditional territory of the Ktunaxa, Tsuu T’ina, and Blackfoot First Nations
  • Distance: 15.7 km round-trip
  • Total Ascent: 1403 m (elevation is lost and regained a few times)
  • Elevation of Objective:
    • Frankie Peak: 2320 m
    • Larry Mountain: 2320 m
    • These figures are as recorded by one of my apps and they match the contour lines of the topo map. They are at odds with Nugara’s of 2375 m for both peaks. One of my other maps read 2367 m as my max altitude, which is pretty close to Nugara’s figure.
  • Total Time: 6h 40m
  • Safety and Disclaimer
Map of the route. The base map incorrectly labels Whistler Mountain and other online sources do, too. As per Natural Resources Canada, the official summit is as labelled in red in this map.

It has been more than 4 years since I visited Whistler Mountain, and I had always meant to return and continue beyond the summit to tag “Frankie Peak” and “Larry Mountain”. These two unofficial summits are of equal height and stand side-by-side overlooking the prairies to the north and the Castle River to the south. They were named by Andrew Nugara and are described in More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies 3rd ed. “Frankie” was named in honour of his mother, and “Larry” in honour of his step-father. (From here onward I’ll be dropping the quotation marks from the names.)

I was prompted to finally get this trip done by All Stone Adventures. His inspiring video, posted mid-August from a late July trip got my butt in gear and i decided to make this my next objective after returning from my Idaho trip. Smoke from a summer of fires still hung in the air, putting a mild damper on things, but it wasn’t too bad and overall I had an enjoyable day out.

The first part of the trip involved climbing Whistler Mountain. Trail access as well as the ascent to Whistler Mountain is the same as I described in my Whistler Mountain post. As I walked along, I was interested to see a lot of new flagging along the trail, as well as the occasional yellow post in the ground. These were temporary route markers for some sort of ultra-marathon type race, though I’m not sure which specific event they were for.

After tagging Whistler Mountain I continued along the ridge to the slightly higher point to the southeast that is often mistakenly called Whistler Mountain. I carried on from there towards an even higher point which Dave McMurray over at Peaks and Streams has named “Eagle Peak”. This point is a junction of sorts – one can follow the ridge south towards Frankie and Larry or turn north and walk the ridges to Table Mountain. I turned south and descended to the col then ascended towards Frankie Peak. Along the way I encountered some scrambling terrain as I got myself up on the rocky crest of the ridge. At the summit of Frankie Peak I found a small cairn and register.

Proceeding to Larry Mountain involves a crucial bit of route finding. There’s a tall cliff between Frankie Peak’s summit and the intervening col. I walked to the edge and peered downward as I descended to the right. I eventually found a weakness that looked reasonable. I was incorrect, finding that after I descended a short way I couldn’t see a good route to continue downward. I climbed back up, then found a better route immediately adjacent to the one I just tried. This might have been what Nugara described as a “left-trending ramp”. A little bit of it was ramp-like and trended left. In any event, I was able to get down to the col. Anybody considering doing this part of the trip should be confident in their route-finding ability.

From the col there are no further route-finding or scrambling challenges. Much of the terrain is of a sort that I find particularly annoying – piles of small boulders/talus of variable stability. Ankle fracture territory. With some wobbly strides and a stumble or two I managed to reach the summit of Larry Mountain. Once again, there was a cairn and a register. There weren’t too many entries in the registers. I don’t think there were any 2023 entries, and just a handful in 2024. The weather was pleasant, but smoke was hanging in the valley obscuring distant views. Mount Gladstone, Castle Peak, and the huge cliffs below Frankie and Larry drew the most attention as I looked around.

For the return, it is possible to create a loop by continuing along the ridge from Larry to North Castle, then descending through the woods to the South Castle road. All Stone did it this way and Nugara suggests it in his book. However, I wasn’t enthusiastic about that option. I’d previously taken that route through the woods when I climbed North Castle and Mount Gladstone – I had found it unpleasant and didn’t want to do it again, so I went back the way I came.

Route overview looking north.
Morning light on Barnaby Ridge. The best part about climbing Whistler Mountain is this view across the valley.
The view to the south was mostly smoke and silhouettes early in the day.
Since my last visit a new sign post was added where the trail reaches the col between the fire lookout and Whistler’s summit. Interestingly, they don’t list Whistler Mountain’s summit on the sign even though the route to Table Mountain goes right over it.
The summit of Whistler Mountain, looking to the southeast. It looks unchanged since my last visit aside from the pink ammo box in the cairn. I carried on from here down to the col.
Passing through the trees on the intervening “False Whistler” peak. The next high point along the ridge is “Eagle Peak”. All along this route I was encountering flagging and the occasional yellow post marking out the route for an ultramarathon of some sort. Beyond Eagle, Larry and Frankie are now clearly seen.
Ascending through some trees on “Eagle Peak”s ridge.
The summit cairn on “Eagle Peak”. This is the view looking back the way I came. I parted ways with the ultramarathon flagging here – it carried on towards Table Mountain.
Looking over at Larry and Frankie. The big cliffs on their northern aspects were slowly becoming visible.
Heading down to the next col.
There was a clear game trail down on the col that branched as it neared these rock bands. One branch descended and the other headed for the rocks.
The trees on the left meant that the easiest way to proceed was on scrambling terrain. There’s nothing tough here, though in one or two places higher up it felt exposed to the right.
Another scrambling section.
A short distance beyond the rock bands there is a more substantial rock band. I went to the left and found a spot to scramble back up to the ridge top.
Looking up at the rock band. Maybe there’s a way to ascend through that chimney, but I wasn’t going to explore it.
After deviating left I found a place to climb back up on the ridge top.
Continuing onward on the ridge top towards Frankie Peak.
On the final ascent to Frankie Peak.
The summit of Frankie Peak. The cairn is hard to see in the picture – it blends right in with the surrounding rocks. Larry Peak is in the background with Mount Gladstone and Victoria Peak further in the distance.
Looking back the way I came. Lys Ridge is across the valley on the left. Barnaby Ridge is beyond that.
Looking towards Larry Mountain. The cliffs below the summit are now clearly visible. In this picture you can also appreciate the sudden drop-off next to Frankie Peak’s summit. Getting down to the col is the next challenge.
Looking down from the first apparent weakness. Nope.
Walking to the right along the edge of the drop-off, looking for a viable route to descend.
I very quickly found this weakness in the cliffs. It’s fairly broad at the top and the first spot I chose to down-climb turned out to be untenable. I climbed back up and went further right along the top of the weakness.
Here’s where I climbed down, more or less. The view is a little deceptive – this looks more sketchy than the previous picture, but it’s a trick of perspective. Suffice to say that you should be confident in your ability to route-find if you’re doing this trip.
Looking back at the down-climb.
Looking back from a little further along. It would be possible to avoid the whole thing by descending above the cliffs (for a pretty substantial distance) then hooking around the end where the cliffs peter out.
Moving on to Larry Mountain.
A great look at the big cliffs below the summit.
Much of the ascent to Larry’s summit was on this kind of terrain, which is not my favourite.
Approaching the final ascent.
Looking back at Frankie.
The final bit of climbing below Larry’s summit.
The summit of Larry Mountain.
The view to the east. Mount Gladstone, Victoria Peak, Windsor Mountain, and Castle Peak are visible.
The view to the south/soutwest. Lys Ridge is across the valley. Numerous recognizable peaks are in the far distance.
The view to the west – a great look at the cliffs below Frankie Peak’s summit.
The view to the north, towards Table Mountain.
Walking back.

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