GR653287 “Hassle Castle” - North Ridge, 5.4

 

View up North Ridge of "Hassle Castle"

Smoky Friday August 6 in Jura Creek. I teamed up with my intrepid scrambler bud, Cornelius, for a great day on “Hassle Castle”. This cool little feature is located just south of “Morrowmount” along the high ridge between upper Jura Creek and CMC Valley. Some sources refer to this as “Old Fort Peak”, GR about 653287. 

Map of area summits.

We approached up Jura Creek, up orange scree slope close to “Morrowmount” and traversed on the ridge south to the north side of “Hassle Castle”.  

Sticking to the crest of the North Ridge, a vertical wall is soon encountered; about 7m tall, solid 5.4. We soloed up this. A second wall about 25m of low fifth class and then fun difficult scrambling to the top. Tons of loose and exposed rock. We left a new register and rebuilt the old collapsed cairn. 

On the descent, Cornelius downclimbed a slabby line to skier's left of the 7m wall section. Too much slab for me, I returned to downclimb the 5.4 wall. In this slab section, I found two old piton rappel anchors. Fun down climbing and the hike back down Jura Creek. Tons of fun.