The Beast over Banff.

So if you've been to Banff, you've no doubt noticed the monster of a mountain looming at the end of Banff Ave over-looking the small town. Well almost 2 years later I finally decided to conquer i

Now might I note most of all residence of the town of Banff have climbed this, some fit, some stupid and some just for the fun of it. But none the less have still done it. For me its taken a while to get around to doing it as my first summer here was spent either in the Kannanaskis Country on my days off work or all day in the bar slogging away and then this summer every time I tried to plan going it was either very poor air quality due to smoke or thunderstorms. So the logistics never seemed to pan out as planned. So I spent most of the time up towards Lake Louise where the air quality deemed breathable. I mean, looking at this mountain from town

is a little daunting as it looks enormous.

Finally found out one day that a girl from my old world was heading up so decided to tag along so I could tick this off the list (finally). With a 5am wake up time and a few pick ups en route myself and 4 other girls were finally on our way.

Heading up Norquay towards the ski hill the start is hidden down the back of the slopes behind the Mystic chair, someone has kindly put a massive hand painted sign there directing hikers. Before even getting onto the ascent you need to make your way to the Cascade Amphitheatre. It may not look it but Cascade is a range and the backside is more like a large bowl which you enter and then go up and around to summit.

Firstly you start after passing the ski chairlift and follow a well developed dirt track- also used by horse trekkers, through the woods winding all which ways including down. Coming to the base of the valley you end up crossing the river and then starting the ascent to the amphitheatre. This is a slow gradual climb through the woods with some sneak peaks of the mountain ranges to the left which include Mount Brewster, Mount Louis and Mount Edith which look especially magical in the morning sunrise lit up with an orange glow. Eventually the gradient levels out and you will come across forks. I got told to follow the orange tree markers. I was super confused as there was also blue. The first fork GO LEFT! The right takes you further up towards the ridge. Follow this until reaching another large fork almost resembling a round a bout around a tree. We went left- this takes you to the amphitheatre and later found out if we had gone right it would have followed the ridge up above the amphitheatre which you make your way to anyway.

You will come across a large rock slip which will indicate you have reached the amphitheatre. Here the trees open up and spread out with a large meadow. If you're early birds like us there will be a frost still and you will be able to see the sun pear over the summit. Take note of land marks here. Facing Cascade summit you will note a few different peaks. Firstly the ridge to your immediate right, you follow that up to the first note-able peak, which is aptly named the "first peak"(seen far right of photo), from this you won't be able to see the trail you follow as you will hug that first peak and go around to the front side of the mountain AROUND the actual peak before coming back onto the ridgeline. From there the middle peak is the false summit. I personally don't see why its called that cos you can see the real summit the entire way up and it is super daunting. Then on the left is the actual summit which looks a lot further away than it actually is from where you stand.

From the meadows take the right turn at the next fork which is not the most defined, this route is easier than the one that you would take going left as that hugs the bottom of the cliff. This is a steep short ascent onto the ridgeline

View from he ridgeline above the amphitheatre

Make sure to look behind at the view of the amphitheatre and Brewster range. Following the pink markers is a winding route through the trees which took me a little navigation as coffee was either yet to hit or long but passed. As on of the girls pointed out the recommended paths are not the most defined. At the first peak once clearing the trees the rocky path begins. Here the view of Norquay and the valley you've just moved up makes your efforts worth it (just don't look ahead as you'll realize how much further you've got).

Rock piles which go around the first peak

We followed the route to the right which hugs the mountain around rather than over. Here navigation takes time. Follow the inukshuks which are far and few between but close enough to semi see a "path" and every so often there are "red" markers painted on the rocks, this shows you are going the correct way. PLEASE be careful in this area and the rocks are large and slip often. Next time I attempt this mountain I'll be sure to bring spray paint to mark the way so some poor soul like myself doesn't lose faith in the path.

Keep on going around and you eventually pop out away from the large rocks onto dirt track on the other side of the first peak.

Okay going to get super too much information here but by this point the urge to pee was beyond suppression. So being super lady like I decided to pop-a-squat over looking the amphitheatre and let me tell you, it was the most scenic pee I have ever taken.

Follow the dirt track switchbacks up and up and up. Eventually you will come to a little drop, there are some inukshuks to mark where you descend down a small drop. This was where us girls got the most confused as we couldn't see a defined path to follow so nearly spent a solid 50 minutes searching and wandering around. The actual path follows the small cliff face before veering right across the scree and back up towards the false summits flanks. You want to aim to the right of the false summit so you are looking towards Banff. Again there are the red markers to follow here but they aren't super obvious or well defined.

Literally jumping down the ledge on the flank of the false summit the track stays on this side of the ridge over looking Banff and veers around hugging the false summits peak. At this point Amy and myself had taken off ahead of the others. I got to the point where if I kept stopping and waiting as much as I was, I was going to seize up and my muscles would get cold. I felt like a bit of a b*tch doing so but us two had a lot more experience hiking than the others. One admitted she had only climbed Tunnel and Sulphur Mountain down in Banff. I even said aloud that it was stupid and almost idiotic that she thought Cascade would be easily do-able (which probably came off super b*tchy). Even for me who has done many hikes that season but by no means was an amazing hiker or super fit, felt Cascade wouldn't be a walk in the park. What also amazed me at this point was there was some ice STILL. I climbed up Cascade late summer! How could there still be snow up there!?

From here is the last slog. And what a slog it is. One last maneuver around and down a large boulder and the switch backs up scree begins. This just keeps on going and careful footing is required especially as you are so tired at this point. Amy and I kept on slogging slowly making our way up the steepest part of the hike. The others trailed behind slowly but steadily. They were a relatively a way back so I am kind of glad I kept going at my own pace which at this point was almost snail pace.

From there the path weaves around and multiple routes can be taken up to the big boulders which make up the summit. One last clamber up the rock face and you've made it.

Lake Minnewanka as seen from above

With the Inukshuk marking the summit and a crystal blue Lake Minnewanka in front, the slog all seems worth it and you're finally able to catch back that oxygen, which felt like it was avoiding your lungs like a plague. To your right is the almighty Mount Rundle being the most prominent mountain. Even further to your right in the far distance is the towering Mount Assiniboine making all the other peaks small in comparison. Just sitting atop this beast made me feel so small. Be warned it is cold up there. being the highest mountain peak in the immediate Banff area at just under 3,000m (literally just under at 2,998m) the wind is bone chilling. But knowing that you've also gone higher than Mount Rundle which is only short of what you've done makes it even more worth it.

Me in front of the Trans Canada highway, Banff township and Mount Rundle

Unfortunately for us even though Banff town and the lower elevations of the hike were crystal clear with no signs of smoke once getting higher it was very obvious that it was still lingering. Hence the photo with the super blurred mountains.

And so the descent begins. It is long and tiresome and you are over it before you even reach the amphitheatre. Whats even worse is the fact that you have to go up again just before reaching Norquay ski area. But trust me, it is a hell of a lot faster on the way down and you can also clearly see the path that needs to be taken unlike the way up which seemed super confusing.

It took us just under 10 hours. I know i could have shaved time off this and done maybe 8 1/2 hours pushing it (maybe, just an estimate), but thats all okay because I still enjoyed it. After all its not how long it took just that it was done.

If you're in the Banff area and want an all day hike with amazing views that isn't super technical this is your guy. Be careful as reading about the hike prior to attempting is recommended as a lot of route finding is required and it you take the wrong route it could be fatal. Which is obviously not what we want.