Decided to rendez-vous with some friends from high school so we decided to head to Banff. One of the first times I saw Castle Mountain, I thought wow what a mountain and I want to climb it one day, and today was that day. It's a pretty straight forward hike up to Rockbound Lake and from there we gained the upper ridge and came around the lake to the high point looking over at Eisenhower tower. On the way back we decided to take the lower shelf and it shaved off a bit of time and distance. Beautiful scenery and beautiful day. The rock on the upper shelf was pretty interesting and thanks to multiple cairns we found our way nicely. It was a long day but worth every minute. I later discovered that there is an ACC hut on Eisenhower tower, I'm no expert rock climber but that would be quite the undertaking to climb that thing and to stay at the hut. Also of note this hike was relatively quiet compared to other areas in Banff, so if you want to avoid the crowds and get an amazing view, this is one to do.
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| For the first while we were in the trees and then got this view of Eisenhower |
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| Perfectly calm Tower Lake with the towers behind it |
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| Rockbound Lake |
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| Heading up looking back at Rockbound Lake and the objective is just to the right of Eisenhower |
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| From the upper shelf looking down on the lower shelf meadow |
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| Another view of Rockbound and our objective on the right |
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| Looking back at where we came, you can see the meadow of the lower shelf that is the way we returned |
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| What a view of Eisenhower Tower |
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| Summit view |
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| Heading back, the afternoon/evening sun was spectacular on the lake |
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| On the lower shelf meadow |
Photo Sphere on Summit
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