When I announced this trip a few days prior, I knew that it would be long, but still under-estimated how long. My previous visit to Television Peak had been part of the scenic but mammoth 1A, mine, TV, Stuart Knob, Rockbound Lake, Castle Junction traverse which took us 14 hours in 2005. This time I hoped to descend from TV Peak via Kane’s alternate descent route (page 212). It was not to be.

We left Assumption school at 6.30am and were hiking on the good but unsigned trail to the disused mine by 8.30am. The huge osprey nest on the railway bridge at Castle Junction was fully occupied. There is a good pullout for parking on the west side of the 1A, by a stream 12.4km north of Castle Junction and a few kms south of Baker Creek. The trail to the mine was in good shape and from some recent saw cuts seems to be maintained by someone. It took us 2 hours to the mine. We then gained the ridge of Protection Mtn. by Bill’s recommend route, essentially straight up, steep but less scree, and turned left (north) to lunch on a bump (Protection Mtn north summit??). Great views, but many irritating black flies.

A Northern Bump on Protection Mtn. Sim, Gerald, Susan and Damian

Refreshed, we proceeded south along Protection Mtn ridge to Television Peak. Although this looked intimidating, it turned out to be easy scrambling with a few harder moves (all SC5 or maybe SC6 in Rambler terms). We arrived at Television Peak at 3.00pm, 6.5 hours from the car, and took another break. Someone has replaced the original, useless, controversial Alberta Centennial Register white container with the usual robust black plumbing plastic tube. But we were only the fourth entry this year (all in August).


Gerald arrives at Television Peak

Television Peak summit Damian, Gerald, Susan and Sim

Television Peak Summit Damian, David, Susan and Sim

South from Television Peak to Stuart Knob and Castle Mountain

To quote Kane (page 212):”Confident scramblers wishing an alternate return can descend the southwest side of TV peak below the repeater building to gain the road. Downclimbing a short, steeper wall right near the top is the crux”. We descended a 100metre or so and looked down. Wherever we looked was ugly. There seemed to be at least 3 significant cliff bands barring the way to an open basin, and we could not see a clear route through any of them. I have never liked descending junk without knowing that it “goes”. Apparently, somewhere down there, it “went”. Now, did not seem the time to find out how. We decided to return via the mine and our up track.

Back along Protection Mtn we went and with some side-hilling made the mine about 6.30pm. At least the views remained impressive. Looking back at TV peak, there was no obvious direct descent route from TV Peak, though I know at least one Rambler and Kane have done it. Obviously, more confident than me. An endless sweaty plod down the trail brought us back to the car by 8.30pm, 12 hours after we started. Why so long? 1860m elevation and 24km had something to do with it. After some refreshments, the highway was still busy, but thankfully safe for the ride home in Damian’s comfortable car.

Thanks to Damian, Sim, Susan and Gerald for joining me C&S David on this long trip. Your 65 year old scribe was moving even slower than usual the day after. I hope that Gerald managed to get out of bed after his first Rambler trip this summer. Protection Mountain and Television Peak are worthwhile destinations for the stupendous views. But I suggest biting the bullet and doing the traverse including Stuart Knob and maybe Castle Mountain to exit at Castle Junction. Its only 2 hours longer!