BOU AVENUE
Ostracized Peak
Zosia Zgolak and I kicked off the Labour Day long weekend with an ascent of unofficially-named Ostracized Peak in Alberta's Castle Wildland Provincial Park on 2 September 2023.  The peak is labelled as "Sentry Mountain" on some maps such as Canada Toporama (at odds with its own GPS coordinates for Sentry Mountain) and ArcGIS World Topo, but So Nakagawa coined the currently accepted name since he felt that the peak had been neglected by geographical naming authorities.  Nakagawa was also the first, as far as I know, to describe the relatively straightforward ascent route via the connecting ridge to Alan Kane's Sentry Mountain, and Andrew Nugara has subsequently published a description of the same approach in his guidebook, Popular Day Hikes: The Castle and Crowsnest.

From Highway 3, turn south onto the road leading to PEAKS Campus (formerly an Alberta information centre), 26.0 kilometres east of the intersection with Highway 43 in Sparwood, British Columbia or 9.2 kilometres west of the intersection with Forestry Trunk Road 940 in Coleman.  Immediately turn right onto a gravel road, and in another 350 metres, turn left onto a rougher road guarded by a barbed-wire gate (please close the gate after driving through).  This rougher road winds uphill for another 1.9 kilometres to intersect another road running east-west, but on this day, a wet and rutted section forced me to park my Honda CR-V about 800 metres past the gate.

From where we parked, Zosia and I walked up the continuation of the road, and after a brief wrong turn, we found a well-defined double-track which shaves off a bit of distance by making a beeline for the east-west road.  We then headed westward along the east-west road which soon turns south and ends at the foot of a steep forested slope.  We picked up a trail here and climbed steeply for a bit before levelling out and breaking out of the trees onto an open hill with far-reaching views.  From there, we entered an obvious gully on the east side of Sentry Mountain and climbed about halfway up before traversing to climber's left to ascend the adjacent grassy rib.  Upon gaining the crest of the connecting ridge above us, we turned left (south) to tackle the north ridge of Ostracized Peak.  Partway up, we had some route-finding problems and wandered into Class 4 terrain consisting of down-sloping slabs.  Although we were able to scramble past this problematic section, we were already contemplating a different way down as we made short work of the remaining comparatively easy route to the summit.

Zosia and I took a well-deserved break on the summit before retreating down the north ridge.  At the aforementioned problematic section, we were relieved to discover that we had completely missed the correct route which is less exposed and no worse than Class 3.  Past this difficulty, we had no further issues as we descended to the low point of the connecting ridge to Sentry Mountain and then dropped down the grassy rib and eastern gully we came up.  We both had already climbed Sentry Mountain previously and did not feel the need to revisit that summit.  The remaining descent to the road and back to our car was uneventful.
I could've probably driven a bit further, but the approach isn't long. Ostracized Peak is visible in the distance as Zosia starts hiking along the access road.
Excellent short cut!

Sonny leaves the access road to follow a double-track through the forest.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
We're already gaining some elevation here! Zosia follows another road to the base of Ostracized Peak (far left) and Sentry Mountain (right).
This hill would be a fine half-day hike if time and energy are limited.

Zosia breaks out of the trees onto an open hill below Ostracized Peak.
Let the grind begin! Zosia follows a steep trail up an obvious gully on the east side of Sentry Mountain.

I wonder if these slopes would be good for skiing in winter...

Here is a comprehensive view of the Crowsnest Pass region from partway up a grassy rib..

 

No problemo! Zosia traverses to climber's left to avoid some slabs guarding the connecting ridge between Ostracized Peak and Sentry Mountain (not visible here).
Not a simple walk-up, that's for sure! The north ridge of Ostracized Peak is quite rugged.
Looks like we'll have to use our hands at some point! Good route-finding is necessary on the upper part of the north ridge.
Fun stuff! Zosia scrambles up a steep section on the ridge.
Not the best way up... Zosia is off-route here and finds herself on some exposed down-sloping slabs.
Easier than it looks! After ditching her hiking poles, Zosia tackles this section of the ridge with verve.
Truly, we're almost there! Past all difficulties, Zosia walks the last easy section before the summit.
It's good to be back in the Canadian Rockies! Sonny and Zosia stand on the summit of Ostracized Peak (2484 metres).
Maybe I'll get around to climbing this one someday... Chinook Peak dominates the view to the southeast.

Seems like ages ago when I climbed that!

Directly to the south is Mount Ptolemy.

 

Hard to distinguish all the peaks on the left! Part of Crowsnest Lake can be seen to the north.  At distant right are Seven Sisters Mountain and Crowsnest Mountain.
Thank goodness the slabs were dry. Sonny returns to the down-sloping slabs to retrieve Zosia's hiking poles.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
Much easier to climb Sentry Mountain from this side than the Kane route (west ridge). Sentry Mountain is more distinctive here as Zosia descends the north ridge of Ostracized Peak.
Good scree run! Zosia takes advantage of loose scree on the east side of Sentry Mountain to quickly lose elevation.
Back on easy street! Zosia returns to the top of the open hill.  Mount Tecumseh (left) is more discernible from here.
A very pleasant scramble--highly recommended! Total Distance:  9.5 kilometres
Round-Trip Time:  6 hours 31 minutes
Cumulative Elevation Gain:  1033 metres

GPX Data