St. Eloi Mountain

September 11, 2020. Straightforward scrambling to a summit on the Continental Divide. Region: Castle Wilderness. Traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Tsuu T’ina, and Ktunaxa First Nations Distance: ~13.5 km round-trip (my 3 tracking programs varied wildly on this: 12.6 km, 13.3 km and 14.9 km) Total Ascent: 1414 m Elevation of Objective: 2500 m Total […]

Spread Eagle Mountain (Mount Roche)

August 23, 2020. A scramble to the summit of Spread Eagle Mountain and its impressive western outlier in the Castle Wilderness. Region: Castle Wilderness. Traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Tsuu T’ina, and Ktunaxa First Nations Distance: 17.8 km round trip (I estimate that omitting the outlier summit would shave about 2-3 km off that distance) […]

Victoria Peak

August 4, 2020. A scramble to the summit of a distinctive mountain in the Castle Wilderness. UPDATE September 3, 2021: This post has been updated to reflect changes to access. Old access instructions have been deleted but time and distance information below still reflects the old route. The new route can’t be bike easily. Region: Castle […]

Drywood Mountain

July 10, 2020. A full-day excursion involving biking, scrambling and ridge walking in the Castle Wilderness. Region: Castle Wilderness. Traditional territory of the Ktunaxa, Tsuu T’ina, and Blackfoot First Nations Distance: 25 km round-trip Total ascent: 1417 m Elevation of objective: 2473 m (official summit), 2485 m (ridge high-point) Total Time: 7h 33m Safety and Disclaimer Climbing Pincher Ridge last […]

Pincher Ridge

July 3, 2020. An easy scramble (with some unpleasant bushwhacking) to the summit of Pincher Ridge in the Castle Wilderness, followed by a quick visit to Drywood Falls. Region: Castle Wilderness. Traditional territory of the Ktunaxa, Tsuu T’ina, and Blackfoot First Nations Distance: 14.7 km round-trip Total ascent: 1082 m Elevation of objective: 2426 m Total Time: 4h 49m Safety […]

Whistler Mountain and Lookout

June 10, 2020. A steep on-trail ascent to a summit and abandoned fire lookout site in Castle Wildland Provincial Park. [September 2024 note – having recently revisited this route I can say that the information below remains up to date] Nearby the well-known and justifiably popular Table Mountain in the Castle Wilderness, is Whistler Mountain. Whistler […]

Yarrow Ridge

June 1, 2020. A straight-forward scramble with rewarding views in the Castle Wilderness. Region: Castle Wilderness. Traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Ktunaxa, and Tsuu T’ina First Nations Distance: 8 km Total Ascent: 632 m Elevation of Objective: 2052 m Total Time: 3h 23m Safety and Disclaimer I had intended to visit Waterton today, the first day of its reopening following […]

Mount Haig

August 3, 2019 with August 2023 update. A straightforward scramble up a peak on the continental divide. Earlier in the summer I had set out to climb this peak, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I salvaged my days by exploring the trails to Haig Lake and Paradise Lake, both of which are now being marked […]

Paradise Lake

July 2, 2019 with August 5, 2023 update. A short hike to a tiny blue lake in the Castle Wilderness, with a return via Haig Ridge. It was another cloudy day with rain in the forecast, so I decided to return to the Castle Mountain Resort and explore another one of their newly marked-out trails. […]

Haig Lake Loop

June 23, 2019. An enjoyable rainy day hike to a picturesque lake. Distance: 8.3 km loop* Total Ascent: 460 m* Elevation of Objective: 1800 m Total Time: 2h 25m *Due to the fact that I wandered around en route, these figures may vary from the most direct route. Castle Mountain Ski Resort is the closest […]