Lat 51; 13; 40 Lon 115; 33; 45 - Click for SATELLITE Image Cascade Mountain is a local Banff mountain and thus a popular scramble objective. Banff National Park is one of four adjoining national parks making up the central Canadian Rockies. Perhaps the most active climbing however occurs in winter on its south facing ice waterfall route which is in clear view from the TransCanada Highway. Cascade Mountain was named by James Hector and 1858 after the same cascading waterfall that is so popular to climb. It was first ascended by Steward and Wilson in 1887.
Its native name is Minihapa, which translates to "Mountain Where the Water Falls”. Whiskey Creek Meadows located below the south face of Cascade Mountain is used as an emergency air strip for small aircraft. As one of my photos reveals, the famed Banff Avenue is lined up with the mountain making it a popular photograph in many visitor albums. Despite its proximity to town, this is one of the few mountains I have actually experienced a grizzly encounter.
Getting There The Trans-Canada Highway dissects Banff National Park east to west as you come in from Calgary. Take the second Banff town exit and turn right towards the Norquay Ski Resort. Climb the Norquay Ski area access road for 6 km until it dead ends into a parking lot on your left. There is no parking restriction for this lot.
Red Tape You will be required to purchase a national park pass as you enter the park. This pass is good for all four national parks. If you plan many visits to Canadian National Parks within one year, you should purchase an annual pass. There are no permit requirements to climb in Banff National Park, but all camping is regulated. There is also a backcountry permit required if you plan on spending a night in the backcountry versus the town campsites. This can be obtained via the parks website which is included in the camping section below. Park headquarters are located in Banff and you will drive through the manned kiosks as you enter the park.
This is active grizzly country, therefore, you should always have bear spray on your person. We had a grizzly fatality in Canmore, June, 2005 and another 2005 attack at Lake Minnewanka not far from Cascade Mountain. A grizzly approached my vehicle when I descended Cascade Mountain to the parking area. The Norquay Ski Resort summer caretaker had advised me of his presence and it was an ironic case of being in the wilderness all day and finding a grizzly back at the parking lot. I advise checking with Parks Canada for any area and/or trail closures.
When To Climb As with most scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, the driest time is from June through September. I climbed Cascade Mountain in June and the route still had considerable snow at the higher elevations. There are no published ski mountaineering routes up Cascade Mountain.
Camping You can go on line at Banff National Park to pick your camp site and obtain your camping permit. The closest camping is back in the town site of Banff. You will also be required to obtain your backcountry permit, if you are going to use a backcountry site, which is separate, but can be obtained simultaneously.
Mountain Conditions The National Park website has weather, wildlife reports, trail closures, etc. Outside of the parks web site, Canadian Avalanche Association is also useful, particularly for winter travel. Canadian Alpine Accident Reports is also extremely relevant. There are 24 accident reports relating specifically to climbing Cascade Mountain, surprisingly quite a few of them relate to the scrambling route, including fatalities, therefore, caution is advised.
Route-Scramble This is a 4200'+/- ascent day. The ascent starting point and parking area is the same for Mount Norquay and Cascade Mountain. The trail that takes off north of the Norquay Ski Resort parking area passes the lift area and continues for approximately one kilometer where it splits. Take the right fork for another kilometer to a major trail junction. Stay right on the Elk Lake Trail for approximately 1.4 kilometers until you reach the Cascade Amphitheater trail on your right. The Cascade Amphitheater trail is a 3.6 kilometer trail of steep switchbacks gaining approximately 1500’ to the Cascade Amphitheater, a breathtaking grassy plateau at 7000’+/-. In 2003, we found the remains of a devoured goat in the Cascade Amphitheater.
To continue the scramble, you leave the trail and gain the right hand sky line immediately and stay on this ridge to the summit. There are cairns that divert you off the ridge and flank the ridge line to the east, but I preferred to stay on the ridge and down climb where necessary. Once I gained an obvious false summit, I rappelled down for the final hike to the summit ridge.
I had taken a rope with me for good measure. The back side (east) of the false summit was still completely under snow in June; making the traditional scramble route extremely dangerous. I chose to place several cams and rappel down the false summit for the remaining mild hike to the real summit. Climbing back up the false summit was not overly challenging, but of course is exposed and inherently dangerous. The rock on the backside (east) was extremely nasty and loose. I discovered this when I went over there first to have a look and ended up climbing up very loose (and large) pieces of Canadian Rockies to gain the false summit ridge again. No matter what time of year, I suggest taking a short rope and dealing with the false summit straight on versus the deviation to the east. The less time spent on a mountain and/or below its objectionable hazards, the safer the trip.
We saw fresh grizzly scat on the trail going in (dog, wife and horse accompanied me to the amphitheater for a family picnic). On the way out, the summer groundskeeper at Norquay Ski Resort called out a grizzly to me. He indicated he was angling out to my vehicle in the parking lot. I never saw him, but there was a lone deer in the parking lot right next to my vehicle. Perhaps he was stalking dinner. There was a friendly Hoary Marmot on the top ridge line towards the false summit as well.
Crux- Not overly daunting, but you need experience and a rope if you are going to descend and ascend the false summit. Several photos show the view looking down the false summit onto the final ridge (some cornices).
Route-Cascade Falls The Cascade waterfall, WI-3, is a classic for the Banff area. It is approximately 1000’ +/- of extremely accessible waterfall ice right off of the Trans-Canada at the first Banff exit as you come from the east. It also has to be one of the most viewed waterfall ice climbs in North America. We had our share of onlookers in February, 2006.
Turn right at the first Banff exit heading north and pull off to a small parking area on you left. There is a trail that starts at the eastern end of the grass airstrip that leads right to the start of the ice. Most climbers avoid the first pitch or two of walk up ice by flanking the route to the left. Even once we gained the ice higher up, we soloed for several pitches more.
There are bolted stations in the rock on both sides of the falls. We roped up for a total of four fairly full 60 meter pitches that took us to the top of the falls. There is no bolted station at the top and everyone appeared to be putting in temporary stations, i.e. drill two holes with a screw and run a cord or runner through. (please chop out any old runners or cord to prevent littering).
It took four full rappels on skiers right which brought us back to a spot that was relatively easy to descend through the shrubs and rock. This area was littered with runners from rappels off trees, but we found the down climbing here fun and never felt overly exposed. A little route finding can result in a cleaner environment in this location.
Crux- The third pitch (2nd to last) was the most challenging with a small bulge forming and some thin ice on running water. But all in all the ice was in bomber condition in February, 2006. The views of Mounts Inglismaldie, Girouard and Peechee on our ascent as well as Cascade Mountain itself from the top of the falls were rewarding.
Essential Gear Ice Tools, two 60 meter ropes, crampons, ice screws, draws, runners, helmet, rappel and belay equipment, several pairs of gloves, etc.
Route- Rogans Gully Rogans Gully is the ugly stepsister to Cascade Falls, the classic Canadian Rockies WI-3 located in Banff National Park. For the most part, Rogans Gully is a WI-2 but the last pitch can be in such condition to be considered WI-3. Unlike Cascade Falls which should be ice from top to bottom, Rogans Gully normally will have a few dry breaks in the line. Even a boulder or two will protrude in places almost giving you a feel for mixed, but not really. This, in my opinion, has to be one of the best beginner multi-pitch ice routes in the Rockies. Unlike Cascade Falls, most of Rogans Gully is hidden from the TransCanada, yet another reason it is not nearly as popular.
As with Cascade Falls, Rogans sits below a snow filled gully that can be a formidable avalanche hazard. There have been several fatalities on these routes. Check with avalanche conditions before you head out. In a February outing, we found the gully almost dry and the route extremely safe. Rogans Gully is about the same length as Cascade Falls, approximately 1000’+/- vertical. Climbers do make the mistake that they have topped out when in fact there is more to go. You just have to coil the rope and proceed on possibly dry ground to find what is really the better ice towards the top of the route.
Turn right at the first Banff exit heading north and pull off to a small parking area on your left. There is a trail that starts at the eastern end of the grass airstrip that leads right to the start of Cascade Falls. About three quarters of the way up you will spot a trail that takes off to the left. Follow this trail for less than 10 minutes to Rogans Gully. If you caught the right trail, you should be able to start on ice as soon as you come to Rogans Gully.
The first two pitches are easy going. Then you come to a narrow gully (bomber rappel station on your left) that trends to the right. Many would move through this area un-roped to the next pitch. After topping out on what could be called the 4th pitch, you might hit a dry rocky area where it would be a good idea to do a mountaineer's coil and move on to several small pitches of steeper ice through narrow sections. These are fun, interesting challenges for beginners.
Eventually you will work your way to the best pitch on the route which is a broad curtain with some mushrooming effect. You will run into ice icicles here and the ice overall can be a different texture. Depending on conditions, this is the crux pitch. I started out right and moved left for the upper section of this curtain. Unlike Cascade Falls in 2006, there is a rappel station at the top.
The views are not nearly as dramatic as Cascade Falls, but it is a worthy route to at least say you got on some Banff ice. If I remember correctly, we only took three 60 meter rappels and walked down some of the intermediate ice in between.
Essential Gear- Ice Tools, two 60 meter ropes, crampons, ice screws, draws, runners, helmet, rappel and belay equipment, several pairs of gloves, etc.
CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS 1. Cascade from the Transcanada to the South 2.-6. Cascade Falls, WI-3 7.- 10. Rogans Gully, WI-3 11. The upper reaches on the scramble ascent 12. Cascade Mountain from the town of Banff 13. The crux of the Scramble 14. View of the Bow Valley and Mt. Rundle 15. Fresh Grizzly Bear Scat-Encounter 16. Resident Hoary Marmot on the Upper Ridge 17. Cascade from the summit of Mt. Norquay 18. Approaching the crux of the scramble
