Candidate: #19
Location: Alberta, Banff National Park
Elevation: 2,766 metres (Bivouac reports 2,850m)
Range: Canadian Rockies
The view that met James Hector’s eyes in 1858 when he traveled down the Bow Valley must have been as impressive to him as it still us to those of us who visit for the first time. Some 19 kilometres away, there is a mountain that appears to sit in the valley on its own, a mountain that resembles a gigantic castle. It was easy for Hector to name this mountain. Indeed Castle Mountain, with its nearly horizontal strata and near vertical cliffs and towers is known as a castellated mountain. As it is easily seen from Highway 1 it is one of the most photographed views of the Canadian Rockies.
The mountain enjoyed nearly one hundred years of its appropriate name before it was suddenly changed to Mount Eisenhower in 1946. The name change was made by Prime Minister Macenzie-King in honour of the American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the last battles of World War II, a day before he was to visit Ottawa. The abrupt name change irked the government of Alberta who were not keen at all to have their mountain’s name changed. After 33 years the name was finally changed back to Castle Mountain, with the lone tower at the south end retaining the name Eisenhower Peak, when Joe Clark, an Albertan, became prime minister.
Despite its imposing cliffs from the highway view, Castle Mountain has a few routes that are relatively easy to climb from the backside. From Rockbound Lake it is a long slog to the top that came require 12 hours for a round trip. There are no trail markers once up on the rock route above. In winter it is possible to climb with crampons. Arthur P. Coleman was the first to reach the summit in 1884.
Castle Mountain is known as a classic example of a Middle Cambrian sandwich. The upper cliffs are composed of Eldon limestone, the lower cliffs are Cathedral dolomite, and the ledge in between in Stephen shale which correlate to the rocks that contain the Burgess shale fossil beds in Yoho National Park. One other classic sandwich mountain in the Rockies is Mount Rundle.
Below Castle Mountain are the few remains of an internment camp from WW II where mostly people of Ukrainian descent were detained. Conditions were harsh and the camp is now considered one of the dark spots in Canadian history. More information can be found on the Wikipedia link below and here.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Mountain
http://rmbooks.com/Peakfinder/peakfinder.asp?PeakName=Castle+Mountain+(Alberta)
http://peakbagger.tripod.com/Scrambles/Castlemtn/castlemtn.htm
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/154040/Castle-Mountain.html
http://bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=1536
http://www.peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=2357
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=castle%20mountain&w=996543%40N20&m=pool
Next: Mount Rundle
100 Famous Mountains of Canada 