Cascade Mountain 9,833' (2997m) October 8, 2010




View of Cascade Mountain from the trail.

 


View of the last portion of the trail heading toward the top.  Two hikers were coming down and are visbile on the trail.




View of the Amphitheatre. If you look to the left of the amphitheartre you can see the ridge we took to start the hike up!




Lake Minnewanka and Two Jake Lake




Phil and Marilyn at the top!




Keith starting the descend with a view of Banff and Norquay ski hill.




Phil resting with the false summit in the background.




View of the trail coming down with Norquay ski hill in the background.

 Phil, myself and a friend of ours Keith, scrambled to the top of Cascade Mountain.  The trail head starts at the Norquay ski area parking lot and is well defined in the 'Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies' by Alan Kane.  The weather was great for mid October and because we have been having reasonable warm weather the last few weeks we didn't run into any snow on the trail at the top.  This is a very arduous hike/scramble to the top. Nothing technical but just a long day!  Took us 4 hours to reach the top and about 4 hours to return.  Total elevation gain is listed in the book as 4,347' but it felt more like 4,500'! We didn't spend too much time on top as it was windy and cold but got some great pictures of Lake Minnewanka, the Cascade Amphitheatre and Banff townsite. If you plan on going, start early.