Castle Mountain - West Face

One of the most unique mountains featured here, Castle Mountain is a 5km long wall overlooking the Transcanada Highway just before Lake Louise. With better rock than elsewhere in the Canadian Rockies, short approaches, a cute little hut from the Alpine Club of Canada and fairly moderate climbing (if you don't count Sonnie Trotter's 5.14 route, Castles in the Sky!), it should be no surprise that this is one of the more popular venues for alpine rock climbing in the region.

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Route List

1: Lookout Buttress 5.9, Auger, Congdon, 1986
2: Iron Donkeys., 5.10c, Ballard, Learn, Walsh, 2004
3: Another Little Sweatbox, 5.10c, MacLeod, Sampson, 2001
4: Bastion, 5.10c, M. Laird, A. Slootweg, 2024
5: Sickle Ridge, 5.5, Crocker, Gude, 1968
6: God Lives, 5.6, Dickinson, Reisenhofer, Schaller, 2009
7: Seventh Buttress, 5.5, Vockeroth et al., 1975
8: The Pillsbury Dough Boys Go on Holidays, 5.9, Haden, Stirling, Stoliker, 1993
9: Forgiven, 5.9, Campbell, Stoliker, 1994
10: Rim Job, 5.11a, Haberl, Jagger, 1993
11: Bass Buttress, 5.6, Farrand, Greenwood, 1968
12: Kraut Pinnacle, 5.6, McKeith, Sterner, 1971
13: Bass Buttress, Direct Start, 5.7, Calvert, McKeith, 1972
14: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t, 5.10, Gross, Koffmann, Quinn, 1985
15: Catch-22, 5.9, Greenwood, Jones, 1971
16: Papillon, 5.7, Jones, Kallen, 1980
17: Beckey-Marts Route, 5.?, Beckey, Marts, 1963
18: Sitsika Nation, 5.9, Haden, Stoliker, 1995
19: Happy Corner, 5.10a, Everett, Reisenhofer, 1996
20: Labour Day Buttress, 5.10c, Arbic, Auger, 1990
21: Tous Ensemble, 5.9, Homer, Jones, Rogan, Wood, 1972/Arbic, Auger, 1986
22: Ultra-Brewers, 5.9, Auger, Sheehan, White, 1987
23: Velcro Grip, 5.9, Beardmore, Holeczi, 1999
24: Brewer Buttress, 5.7, Brewer, Irwin, 1961
25: Cadot Buttress, 5.7, Boisselle, Cadot, 1975
26: North Ridge of Eisenhower Tower, 5.6, Boss, Wallace, 1971
27: Grassi Route, 5.5, Cerutti, Grassi, 1926/Newhall, Zwicky, 1927
28: Southwest Face Direct, 5.7, Lofthouse, Peyer, 1967
29: Southwest Buttress, 5.7, Lopeteki, Scott, 1965
30: Hickson Route, 5.6, Feuz, Hickson, 1926
31: Naeve Route, 5.6, Greer, Naeve, 1929
32: Castles in the Sky, 5.14a, Trotter et al., 2013
33: The Moat, 5.11+, Pullan, Trotter, 2015
34: Sam’s Gift, 5.13a, Eastman, Lambert, 2014
35: Traditional, 5.6, Campbell, Everett, 1996

Sources

• “Banff Rock, A Guide to Rock Climbing in Banff National Park, Canada,” Chris Perry, Cimatech Press, 2012

• “The Climbers Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada, Volume II: Rockies Central,” David P. Jones, High Col, 2015

• Mountain Project

• Gripped Magazine

• The American Alpine Journal

• The Canadian Alpine Journal

• Sonnie Trotter

• Sam Eastman

Updates

Jun 7, 2023: First version published.

May 15, 2024: Graphic design update

Sep 19, 2025: Added Bastion (line 4) from 2024, graphic design update with new colors