Escaped the snow in the Central Rockies with a trip to Castle/Waterton. We chose Gladstone for our first day.

The route is in really good condition. We crossed one supportive (and inconsequential) patch of snow, but it was dry otherwise. Mill Creek was running swift, mid-calf depth. The rocks in the creekbed were a bit slick, but it was an easy, though very cold, barefoot crossing.

From a macro perspective, route finding is easy, but there are a few challenges on a smaller scale. First, we went too far south on Mill Creek. We diverted from the ATV trail (due to a downed tree), and caught a horse trail which led us to a crossing a bit far upstream. Fortunately, we were able to cross on a log jam (easy), but this was followed by some bushwhacking (deadfalls) to get back on track.

We found the correct hiking trail, but it is badly overgrown. The ground is clear (and has good footing), but you need to bust through veg from waist up. In need of a good machete. This improves as you gain elevation.

The ascent drainage was straightforward. Just follow the easiest line. It is all very steep hiking, and a bit of a calf burner.

By the time we reached the black rockbands, we were climbers right of the summit. We easily avoided the lower band, then traversed a snow slope to reach the upper. The upper band has plenty of weaknesses, and can be mostly avoided as well, but we chose a more difficult line for variety. Good, solid rock, but lichen coloured. Be more conservative if wet....this rock would get slick!

We had beautiful weather until we hit the summit, where we were greeted with high winds and a short, but intense snow/sleet storm. Getting hammered by ice-pellets crushed our enthusiasm to tag North Castle (mearly a treed bump anyway), but we took the alternate decent from the Gladestone-North Castle col. After some really nice scree skiing, we jumped in the drainage to avoid the bush, and easily found the hiking trail. One section of this trail was washed out, but the detour was easy.

We took the hiking trail out, and crossed the creek at the correct spot. Nothing to aid the crossing this time, so it was a bit "refreshing".

Overall, the scrambling itself is dull, but the scenery is really nice. Cool isolated valley, and the best views of Castle Peak I have seen. Recommended.