Distance

6.1 km to summit

28.3 km total

Elevation

1,412 m start

2,645 m max

Vertical

2,889 m gain

Time

3 hr 52 min to summit

13 hr 56 min total

Let's begin the season. Castle PP Traverse: Syncline - St Eloi - Haig - Gravenstafel, 27.4km with 3,130m gain in under 14hrs.
Bring the second car, otherwise add extra 4km and 40mins.

Got changed in the very last moment (initially Ya-Ha-Tinda was planned) and it was my first time in Castle Provincial Park. Believe it should carry the second, unofficial name: "Escape from crowds". With all busy places anywhere from Kananaskis to Jasper, it's such a drastic contrast. The only our company was a goat family that was showing a way for most of the day, from Syncline to almost Haig.

The route was 99% dry and free of snow. Actually, the worst section in terms of snow was the ski resort. It still does have lots of it and was really annoying. For the rest - either bare dry or some minimal amounts that didn't affect at all and will be gone by the next weekend.


Mt Syncline
A massive mountain with three distinct summits, with prominence of at least 150m each. Guess they ran out of names and it got called as Syncline 1 ("East") - 2 ("Midway) - 3 (main); 2,441m, 2,482m and 2,503m correspondingly.
The second biggest patch of snow was on east slopes of the First Peak. But was avoidable completely and didn't bring any troubles.
The technical crux of the whole trip is Mt Syncline traverse. A GPS track is very handy in route finding there. Even with it, you will practice and test your skills.
Main summit's register was placed in 2013 and there was just 8 records since then. Only one each for 2017 & 2018.


St. Eloi Mountain (2,497m) and its SW summit (2,483m)
Just a slog for the former and surprisingly a bigger dip than expected for the latter.
Do NOT attempt a traditional/direct route yet: those avi slopes still hold lots of snow, as well as all creek are full of water, so not even sure about the whole approach.
After, a very scenic ridge walk with views to an isolated valley, Flathead Provincial Forest. Just wondering how often it is visited by people.


Mt Haig (2,618m)
The highest point of the traverse. Just a slog. The summit sees more traffic than Syncline, about 20-25 records in its register since 2017.


Gravenstafel Ridge (2,400m)
Descending off a ridge to Haig-Gravenstafel col was spicy. Solid moderate scramble (well, "solid" in terms of difficulty; nothing is "solid" in Rockies anyway, it was loose as hell and better double or triple check where you are stepping and planning to hold onto). It was completely dry though; no snow at all, nada. Which was good, otherwise it would've been an "adventure".
An ascent to the ridge is long and far, especially after 2,800m day.


Overall: a great trip in a very quiet and rarely visited area. For the most part, ascending was just a slog and descending was bringing some challenging sections with required route finding.

Route name

Syncline Midway Knob 28.3 km route

point-to-point/traverse
Obstacles

routefinding, stream crossing, bushwhacking, blowdowns, rockfall/loose rock, snow on route, weather

Key gear

helmet, trekking poles, GPS device

Other peaks climbed on this trip