These are fun scrambles in the Castle Mountain Area. They are well described in "Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies" by Alan Kane. Be forewarned that it would take a very long time for most people to complete all three of these ascents on the same day. It took me all day and then some.
For my first of 3 days of solo scrambling, I decided to head up Castle Mountain to finish a bunch of scrambles all at once. While I was looking at the map I noticed that Pulsatilla Mountain is in the same area. After looking it up online, I found out that it could be scrambled from Castle Mountain. It would be a very long day with 20km of hiking just to get to it. I figured that if I was fast enough, that I could do it.
I slept at the trailhead and started hiking at 5:30 in the dark. The sun came out shortly after I arrived at Rockbound Lake. I headed first for Stuart Knob after ascending into the bowl. The low temperature helped me out greatly as I was able to travel faster without over heating. There was some snow up on Stuart Knob that made scrambling interesting. I got a great panorama from the summit. After getting back down from Stuart Knob I continued North along a ridge that ended between Television Peak and Pulsatilla Mountain. It was a little slow going because of the snow. I figured that I might have enough enough time to ascend Television Peak and Pulsatilla. I went up Television Peak first which had a lot of snow on it. By the time I got back down my time was dwindling. I went part way to Pulsatilla then decided that I wouldn't have enough time to ascend it. So I returned to Stuart Knob, but not via the ridge. Instead, I descended into a bowl then went back up to the ridge. I figured that this would be faster, but it was slower and less pleasant.
Once at Stuart Knob I headed up Helena Ridge, which was very nice to ascend. This one was snow free, unlike the previous 2 summits, which was great for relaxing. Once down from Helena Ridge, I headed toward Castle Mountain hoping to bag all 4 summits. I decided about half way there that I didn't have enough time for it and turned back. It was a good decision since I barely made it back to the car before it got too dark to hike without headlamps. So in retrospect if I hadn't detoured toward Pulsatilla I couldv'e gotten all 4 peaks in one day. But this way I can come back and bag Pulsatilla Mountain and Castle Mountain in one day instead

Click on the play button in the top left to start the slideshow or click on any picture to enlarge it. Use the icons on the top left to navigate.

Please send me any comments, suggestions or mountain/flora identifications ecoulthard@gmail.com

All Content © Eric Coulthard. All rights reserved - Commercial use without express written permission of the copyright holder is expressly forbidden.