The striking north-west headwall of Castle Mountain jumps out in the setting sun while driving south from adventures beyond Lake Louise. This face called out to Gavin, as faces sometimes do. He pitched the idea of exploring it, and I was sold immediately. Having no idea what we were up against, we packed cams, nuts, plenty of pins and cord. Our intention was a bolt-free alpine ascent, but we were open to it turning into a ground-up sport climbing adventure. Twenty bolts, two batteries, and a drill got added to the pile. No room for bivvy gear, we’ll just descend at a sensible time if things get out of hand.
We spent 3 hours of approaching and another hour exploring the base of the cliff to decide our line. Some negotiation about where to start ensued. Ultimately the chossiest, but also easiest, line was selected. A name floated from Gavin’s mouth. “Confessions of a Choss Gobbler”, a play on Marcus Baranow’s series of books about backcountry skiing in the area. He’d documented the line of descent we intended to take, should we summit. Perhaps I was just a bit exhausted from the approach, but I loved the name immediately. The first pitch honoured this name well.
The next few pitches went smoothly. Beautiful dolomite edges led to a steep, wide crack. The wide crack led to a cave belay. Then, a tips crack brought us to a ledge system halfway up the face.
A classic Rockies “if you don’t like what’s above you, traverse” ensued. Thirty metres right, an overhanging chimney of choss blocked access to what seemed like a plausible crack system above.
This is when a sensible party would have retreated, or perhaps explored other options. But the choss gobbler in me could not resist, and a run-out start led to vertical choss that was just as bad as it looked. The gear was questionable, and the holds more so. But I was determined that we’d make it through. An hour later, I pulled past the final roof and brought Gavin up to join me. I left behind a fixed #4 knifeblade, marking our passage.
We had invested too much now. The climbing above must be better, and we had plenty of daylight left. I joked that we’d get home at 7 am, and that we’d finish covered in blood and tears. We continued upward.
The climbing was not better. Gavin’s next lead, while not as steep, contained some of the worst rock we’d ever surmounted. Cams sat limply in gutters of kitty litter while Gavin stemmed up an exfoliating dihedral.
We were approaching a roof that capped twin crack systems. We’d seen it from the approach trail and knew that it was very close to the ridgeline. We had to keep going. A quality pitch got us incrementally closer, and we thought the difficulties had eased. The next pitch had other ideas.
I found myself pumped, at the end of a sequence of technical climbing I knew I could not rewind, scooping textbooks of loose rock out of a horizontal slot. I was desperate for any feature that would allow me to shake or provide meaningful protection. The fall would be terrible, and I was entirely out of control of the situation. Painful jams in a gravely slot slowly let me get control of my pump and my mind. I moved upward, found one cam placement and then another. I finished the pitch at the first stance that vaguely resembled a ledge. My mind was shot. There was no way I could safely take us any further.
It was Gavin’s turn to take the reigns, and it was now 10 pm. I gently but repeatedly suggested that I would be okay with trying to descend. Some part of it was a suggestion, some part a plea. But if Gavin was willing to take us to the top, I would follow. And he was game.
Night had fallen, our trad anchor was questionable, and for the first time that day, we yielded to the call of mechanized drilling. A two-bolt belay went in quickly. We had climbed everything free to that point, but we were no longer trying to pioneer a free, clean line. We were just trying to get home safely. Protracted clean aid climbing ensued, as Gavin inched us close to the roof looming above. A free sequence and a questionable belay later, Gavin called to me that he was secure.
I didn’t even attempt to climb to him. Pulling on gear, ascending the rope, and swinging between crack systems. Anything I could do to finish the pitch. Once again, the anchor inspired little confidence in our addled minds, and another single bolt was sunk into the rock to calm our nerves. The roof turned out to be easily bypassable. A final committing traverse and an aided roof pull led Gavin out the top.
Topping out on Yamnuska often involves a phone call telling your climber they’re on belay as you sit in gravel behind a boulder. Castle was no different. Gavin hunkered down in the scree and plugged in a few cams to back up his stance. We had a quick phone call, which felt like an anachronism in the midst of our alpine toils. He brought me up. There were no tears, but there was blood, a bit of vomit, and it was 2 am.
The descent was more time-consuming than arduous. We scrambled down seeping steps of rock until we reached the Castle end of Protection Valley. We had photos from Marcus’ descent, but could not figure out what they rappelled off of. We scrambled further down, with waterfalls on both sides, before putting in a bolted rappel station. A rope stretcher of a 60-meter rappel brought us down to the top of a snow cone.
Further below, we were cliffed out by waterfalls again. Exploring, we found an incredible cleft running into the rock ledge and descended it, crossing under a natural bridge with a waterfall streaming over it as we exited.
There comes a time in many alpine journeys when the exposure, the excitement, the fear, have all subsided, and what remains is an endless march back to civilization. It was 6 am, and the sun rose over gray skies as a light mist came down on us. After what felt like an interminable slog, we finally made it back to our truck at 8:30 am, 26 hours after we started.
My confession is that I don’t know why I like to gobble choss. I can’t in good conscience recommend this route to anyone fond of their personal well-being. But if you’re as much of a choss gobbler as we are, perhaps this can be a bit of a test piece, and perhaps you might want to make things a bit more sensible with a few protection bolts.
Confessions of a Choss Gobbler
Castle Mountain
5.11- A0 440m TD
Gavin McNamara, Greg Barrett
July 12-13, 2025
This is the first route on the stunning north-west headwall of Castle Mountain. The climbing is steep and sustained, and in many places very high quality. However, some of the rock is almost irredeemably chossy. If that isn’t what you’re after, look elsewhere. But if you’re a gobbler of choss, have a high risk tolerance, and you’re looking for a big day of adventure climbing, this may be your ticket.
Approach
Park at a pullout near the Castle Mountain Campground. Approach as for the Protection Valley winter climbs, continuing past the scrambling step and bivvy boulder into Protection Valley proper. (This had good flagging tape as of 2025.) Head south, up to the base of the wall. Traverse west along the base until you come around to a large screen bowl below the steep north-west headwall. The route begins in a steep, chossy crack, 20 meters right of a prominent ramp/dihedral.
Approximately 51.33702, -115.97855
3 Hours.
P1, 5.7, 55m
Climb the chossy crack (not quite as bad as it looks) to reach better rock. Continue upwards and belay on easier ground. Enjoyable after the first bit.
P2, 5.0, 20m
Climb up and right on solid but run-out terrain, continuing up a rightward ramp until you are near an indistinct high point. There will be a shallow, left-facing corner system above and to your left. To your right, you will see a pair of steeper cracks leading into a generally right-facing corner system. Belay here.
P3, 5.9, 55m
A steep, physical, quality pitch. Traverse right to gain the pair of steep cracks. Climb these. Continue upward, generally taking the leftward of the possible crack lines. You will reach a small cave behind a giant flake. Belay here.
P4, 5.10-, 35m
Step up and right out of the cave to gain a steep tips crack. Enjoyable technical climbing leads to a ledge. Continue up a short wall and belay on a large ledge.
P5, 5.7, 60m
Head up steeper walls from the belay to gain an extensive ledge system. Traverse right for 40m, targeting a pillar below a series of steep chossy cracks. Belay just before the pillar.
P6, 5.11-, 30m
Move your belay behind the pillar. Starting from slightly left, venture upwards into the almost irredeemably chossy chimney. Get gear where you can, trust nothing, struggle upward, and eventually pull the roof on the left. Belay up and right on a small ledge at a fixed piton. Experience a profound sense of accomplishment, tempered by regret for your questionable life choices.
P7, 5.10-, 35m
You aren’t done with choss. Climb better rock leading to a large corner. Place cams in kitty litter as you stem upward on exfoliating face holds. Continue up until confronted by a large roof, and move awkwardly right and up onto a ledge to belay.
P8, 5.10-, 45m
Step left along the ledge and climb a delightful, steep hand crack to ledges. Trend considerably rightward on these ledges, eventually stepping right around an arete. Climb a steep ramp back left into the main crack system. Continue upward, trending left beneath a roof before gaining a comically chossy ledge. Belay here. A quality pitch, if you can appreciate the funkiness of the rock at the end.
P9, 5.11-, 30m
Trend up and right to find easier ground, then move back left into the main left-facing corner. Climb up deceptively steep rock through a pronounced crux (adding a bolt to this sequence would probably be a good idea). Continue up a steep left-facing dihedral. Reach a two-bolt belay at a semi-hanging stance. Excellent climbing if you can keep your head together.
P10, 5.8 A0 (5.10+/5.11-?), 35m
Continue up the left-facing corner with difficulty past a bulge (aided by FA, likely quite enjoyable to free climb). When the angle eases, traverse left into the right-facing corner and continue up to a single bolt and cam belay.
P11, 5.10 A0 (5.10+/5.11-?), 40m
From this belay, surprisingly easy ground leads up and left below the roofs. Then, climb a steep wall and make an exposed traverse back right to regain the crack system. Difficult climbing leads through a roof and onto a ledge (aided by FA). Continue up more easily to reach the summit plateau and belay off boulders. In daylight, the position of this exit sequence would be hard to beat.
Descent Scramble down to the southeast to reach the extreme southern tip of Protection Valley. Between the many waterfalls, one buttress permits moderate scrambling further down than the others. Scramble as far as is reasonable to reach a two-bolt rappel station (51.33399, -115.96911). A rope stretching 60m rappel led to a snow cone in the middle of July. Continue 500m north to reach another series of waterfalls, which can be bypassed on the right, or by descending a very cool cleft in the middle of them (51.33798, -115.96966). Continue down the valley to rejoin the approach trail.
Rack Doubles from black totem (.2) to BD #2, single 3&4. A full set of nuts. A selection of pins is not mandatory but is useful. 60m half ropes.
