Stuart Knob Scramble Banff Castle Mountain
Castle Mountain from Castle Mountain North Peak, Banff
Stuart Knob and Castle mountain North – true summit.
Long walk – about 29 or 30 km and 1600+m and 12.5 hours with breaks.
Gained basin and across limestone pavement then cut right up scree through weakness in rockband(no trail currently?) to gain col/ridge between Helena and Stuart knob. See pics. Followed ridge to base of stuart summit and then left along base and ledges to bypass snow. Stuart has short scramble on back. Good views. Then along ridge to Castle North. Easy on dirt and then broken rock along RH side. Rolled some rocks to improve path which helped on way back. Much better viewpoint than Stuart – see pics.
Note on Castle – can bypass top of bump on left side above lake and cross lower plateau and up ramp on castle side. Shortens the walk and saves wasted elev gain.
