Syncline
Mountain
– December
29, 2005
Mountain height: 2,440
m (8,003 ft)
Elevation gain: 1,020 m
Ascent time: 2:50
Descent time: 1:20
Solo scramble.
Not exactly what I was looking for on my first trip in the west Castle area: a vicious headache and crumby weather really put a damper on the day.
Having never seen any of the peaks in the area around the
Castle Mountain Ski Resort, I decided to drive down and see if anything looked
feasible. A seemingly straightforward route up the eastern-most peak of the
triple summits of
Unfortunately, as I gained elevation, the minor headache I started with, grew into a pounding one, and the blue sky I started under, turned into a thick wall of low cloud. On more than one occasion a considered turning around, but plodded on, at a very slow pace, eventually gaining the top of the ridge and then the summit.
Needless to say, the summit view was very disappointing, due to the cloud cover and a bone-chilling west wind ensured my summit stay would be very short. It appeared that Syncline’s two other summits were slightly higher than the true summit (as identified on the topo map), but I was in no mood or physical condition to go and find out for myself, so I started down. Crampons helped to make the descent very fast and easy.
Neither a great day, nor a terrible one, but this mountain definitely requires a return trip.
Syncline Mountain, seen from Highway 774
The easy route I took
Looking up at the summit block
Southfork Mountain and Barnaby Ridge to the east
Part of the summit block
The west summit of Syncline
Gravenstafel Ridge (where the Castle Mountain Ski resort is) and Mount Haig behind, in the clouds