Just got back from a three day circuit on Castle.
Went up Eisenhower tower on Canada day:
Lots of Bear signs on the lower part of the trail that leads to rock bound lake.
The climbing was free of snow, a bit of snow on in the trench before the boulder move and some snow on the left hand rappels but nothing that needed much special management.
The Raps off the Dragons back also free of snow.
We spent the night of the 1st at the hut after traversing mostly snow free all the way to the hut.
On the second we climbed Brewers:
Despite some angry looking skies and a few flurries the climb was as good as usual. On the traverse to the descent gully, we found that the east side of the mountain had snow up to 1m deep all the way to the descent gully however a good deep track of steps was already in place! I think some boys from Golden might be to thank for that one!
In the gully small sections of snow were unavoidable none posed any real management issues. The snow was quite soft despite the cold temperatures.
We had a bivi on our second night (2nd) do to a full hut and woke up to trace amounts of snow cold temps (5C) and a soggy feeling. We headed to Canmore for a late Bagel Co. and climbed Eeors tail.
Eeor's Tail:
Just a reminder, this route has scene a retro fit. So don't let the bolts down low miss lead you. We helped another party who was heading in a wrong direction find the route today.
Currently a single bolt with a black hanger marks an alternate start and a tree bolts protects the clean slab above and left, one more bolt on the tower above leads to the first anchor (55m).
All above climbing routes were perfectly dry despite the rain of the recent days.
Cheers
Patrick Delaney
ACMG ALPINE GUIDE
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures