Mountain height:
3084 m
Elevation gain:
1420 m
Ascent time:
10:35
Descent time:
7:35
Snow-shoeing and mountaineering with Mark.
We’ve had a few long and physically strenuous days in the
mountains, but weren’t expecting Castleguard Mountain, the dwarf of the
Columbia Icefield, to provide us with the biggest #$!-kickin' of our short
mountaineering lives. Even though the ascent of Castleguard was considerably
shorter than our 30 hour epic on Andromeda and 27 hours on
Normally ascended on skis in early spring, we opted to try
the ascent on foot and take our snowshoes instead. The thought of carrying skis
about 8 km to the toe of the glacier was about as appealing as pizza without
cheese. Hoping the approach would take about 2.5 hours, it was a little
disheartening to run into difficult terrain right before the glacier. We stayed
on the left side of the
Near the beginning of the long approach
Typical scenery en route to the glacier
Same as above; the southeast flank of Mount Andromeda at the right
Same as above
One of many unnamed peaks on the south side of the valley
A rock with a surprisingly symmetrical fracture pattern
Approaching the Saskatchewan Glacier; Castleguard is at the distant left
The lake at the toe of the glacier
Same as above;
The turquoise lake
Ascending
the Saskatchewan Glacier bares an almost eerie similarity to the experience of
driving to
We started with crampons, but soon had to trade them for snowshoes. This was a decent method of ascent, but anyone who has snow-shoed long distances knows full well how the extra weight on your feet soon takes its toll on you physically. It took us 4 grueling hours to finally arrive at a point up the glacier where we could turn south towards Castleguard. At this point, our turn-around time was nearing and we were both wiped-out. The summit was still a fair distance away and we pretty much wrote that idea off. Of course, we at least had to get a look at the intended objective and so we started south, up a steeper and again brutally foreshortened snow slope.
Ascending this slope, though long, at least gave us some
elevation and soon the giants of Columbia Icefield started to pop up over the
horizon to the west and north – first Snow Dome, then
More scenery on the south side of the glacier
A very foreshortened view of the glacier
One of several breaks along the way
Another break
In need of another break
Now only 200 vertical metres from the summit, an attempt
was obligatory, though it almost guaranteed that some of the descent would be
done by headlamp. The northeast side of the mountain was beautiful: fresh snow
glistening in the sun, the curves of the snow slopes, and a significant bergschrund
lining the face. We picked a line where the ‘schrund was completely filled in
and enjoyed a problem-free ascent to the ridge. It was also the wrong ascent
line, as steep cliff bands guarded the summit. This necessitated a small
elevation loss into a small bowl, after which we regained the correct ridge to
the south. By now
Finally, the
biggies of the Icefield make an appearance:
Columbia to the left and The Twins just
right of centre
Castleguard Mountain
Traversing the northeast slopes
The beautiful northeast side of Castleguard
Leaving the snowshoes to kick-step up to the ridge
On the ridge with the summit block ahead
Same as above
Traversing over to the correct ridge
Same as above
Mount Bryce
Same as above
Mark makes the final few metres of the ascent
We arrived at the summit more than 10.5 hours after leaving
the car. Admittedly, we were both very surprised to have made it, given that we
were ready to turn around numerous times during the ascent. The summit view was
astounding – possibly the best we’ve ever seen. Seeing the expansive
Columbia Icefield stretched out to the north was extremely gratifying, as was
the phenomenal view of
Checking out Mount Bryce from the summit of Castleguard
Mark at the summit; Mount Saskatchewan to his left
The view to the south; the highest peak in the distant centre is Alexandra
A closer look at Bryce
A farther look at Bryce
The descent was straightforward, but mind-numbing. We tried, with little success, to Crazy Carpet down the slope that joins Castleguard to the Saskatchewan Glacier. Unfortunately, the snow was too soft. Once back down to the glacier the return slog ensued and it was as tedious as the ascent of the same terrain. I thought the end of that glacier would never come. The last couple of hours were excruciating, due to exhaustion. We were both physically depleted and struggled to just keep moving.
On descent
Same as above; the snow covered peak at the right is the top of the Skyladder route on Andromeda
The snow sculpted northeast side of the mountain again
More terrific scenery on descent
Same as above with Bryce to the right
Mark attempts to Crazy Carpet down the route
I just walked with my Crazy Carpet in hand
Andromeda and Unnamed behind
A close-up of the above
Another repetitive photo of the same thing
The same thing from a different angle
A common scene on descent
A last look at the Saskatchewan Glacier and Mount Castleguard in the dying light
Overall, an outstanding day out. Besides the phenomenal scenery and summit views, perhaps the best part of this trip was that since we did make the summit, we’ll never have to endure the Saskatchewan Glacier again!