Spotlight on Castle Mountain

Castle Mountain is my personal favourite of the Rocky Mountain peaks within Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Perhaps because it stands somewhat... more

by George Cousins

Title

Spotlight on Castle Mountain

Artist

George Cousins

Medium

Photograph

Description

Castle Mountain is my personal favourite of the Rocky Mountain peaks within Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Perhaps because it stands somewhat alone and can be accessed from many different angles, I find it a delight to re-visit and photograph again. This day in September, the cloudscapes were changing almost by the second, with high winds in the upper atmosphere. After taking many shots in the different light and cloud conditions,and with rain in the air, I was almost heading for cover when a break in the storm clouds allowed the sun's rays to break through and highlight the near end of the ramparts.
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. The park, located 110–180 km (68–110 mi) west of Calgary in the province of Alberta, encompasses 6,641 km2 (2,564 sq mi) of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. The Icefields Parkway extends from Lake Louise, connecting to Jasper National Park in the north. Provincial forests and Yoho National Park are neighbours to the west, while Kootenay National Park is located to the south and Kananaskis Country to the southeast. The main commercial centre of the park is the town of Banff, in the Bow River valley.
In 1984, Banff was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with the other national and provincial parks that form the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, for the mountain landscapes containing mountain peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, canyons and limestone caves as well as fossils found here. With this designation came added obligations for conservation.
The Columbia Icefield, at the northern end of Banff, straddles the Banff and Jasper National Park border and extends into British Columbia. Snow Dome, in the Columbia Icefields, forms a hydrological apex of North America, with water flowing from this point into the Pacific via the Columbia River, the Arctic Ocean via the Athabasca River, and into the Hudson Bay and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean, via the North Saskatchewan River. Saskatchewan Glacier, which is approximately 13 km (8.1 mi) in length and 30 km2 (12 sq mi) in area, is the major outlet of the Columbia Icefield that flows into Banff. Between the years 1893 and 1953, Saskatchewan Glacier had retreated a distance of 1,364 m (4,475 ft), with the rate of retreat between the years 1948 and 1953 averaging 55 m (180 ft) per year.Overall, the glaciers of the Canadian Rockies lost 25% of their mass during the 20th century.

Uploaded

January 9th, 2014