Haldan Borglum | Peak by Peak

Cascade Traverse
July 20 2023

I had done Cascade Mountain's main summit years before I went for this trip to bag all the other prominent peaks along its massif but I had definitely wondered if anyone had ever explored the other high points on the mountain. As you drive past Cascade on highway 1 you're greeted with the impressive south face of the peak but many don't realize that Cascade Mountain is actually quite huge and comparable in size to Mount Rundle. It stretches over 10km north from the main peak and with the lack of trails or information on this area of the mountain it is largely untouched.

Despite the name of this report I didn't actually traverse the entirety of Cascade Mountain. Having done Mount Brewster a few months prior and getting a good view of Cascade I had gotten some useful beta on what the ridge leading north from the main summit looked like, and it was clear traversing from there would make the endeavor a technical climb. As a result I opted to traverse the rest of the prominent peaks while bypassing the main one and a few other less prominent technical high points.

I took the standard approach for Cascade Mountain until I reached the amphitheater, and then broke north at a good opportunity to head towards a tame ascent line I could take up the west side of Cascade 2. The section after reaching this high point required a bit of route-finding with a gully and a system of ledges to the south leading to another lower peak slightly west where I could continue on to the next peak. I followed the ridge and then went for Cascade 3 by attacking a line up the south face directly which presented some fun scrambling. The ridge leading to Cascade 4 that followed had some hands on sections as well with one bypass to the east necessary to skirt around a cliff band. From there it was just another rubble trudge exit that eventually led to treeline and not long later I was pleasantly surprised to find an old trail while I was still quite high on the Cascade massif which ended up saving me a lot of time. This old trail led me to a more official one that runs up the valley between Brewster and Cascade, and that eventually reconnected with the standard Cascade route.

links: STRAVA | GAIA
elapsed time: 10hrs
DIFFICULTY: difficult ↔ climber's scramble

Other related trip reports: Mystic Peak | Brewster Traverse || Lady MacDonald to Princess Margaret Traverse | Anklebreaker Traverse

The Canmore Mountain List